Strategy – springboard or distraction?
- Summary:
- Strategy is sometimes positioned as old hat but in today's complex environment, strategy serves as a placeholder for the important decisions.
- What do we do?
- Who are we doing it for?
- What will make us better?
Along the way to answering these questions, we can ask ourselves about our process, plans and results to improve our chances of success.
Strategic planning is a critical skill today, both for technical and business leaders. Yet, many struggle to produce actionable plans that further business goals and generate value for the business. That’s actually not surprising, since there are many leaders who believe that 97% of strategic planning is just a waste of time that robs the organization of essential energy. Yet, at the same time, everyone is under pressure to do more with less and there is an expectation to think or, better yet, be strategic.
There are many signals that you could just be doing it wrong. So question your approach:
Did you take an ivory tower approach to the strategic effort? – We’ve all seen consultants who don’t have a clue about the real relationships for a business and what they mean. They define new organizational structures and client interactions. If you’ve paid them enough – they must be right.
I remember one organization where the foundational value provided to the marketplace was actually viewed by this strategic consulting firm as a detriment. Instead they wanted to shift the business focus on things the consultants could understand and measure. That organization started a slide that still continues today. It wouldn’t be so back except that they came back 10 years later and said “Who thought basing a business on that was a good idea?”
It is very easy for strategic planning efforts to mistakenly focus on internal functional constraints, measures, and priorities, resulting in an approach that is misaligned with business objectives.
In today’s business environment there are no lone wolves. Strategic planning efforts need to reach out to customers and even suppliers early and often in the process and understand their priorities through timely, structured interactions. Someone will say that bouncing strategic concepts off others telegraphs the changes being made (and that may be true) but it also cuts down on the big negative surprise that turns a strategic effort into an operational disaster.
Is the strategy clear and measurable? – If created in a vacuum the strategic plan can easily become a list of theoretical, idealistic ideas rather than a credible, measurable plan that can be executed and adjusted as needed (when confronted by harsh reality). I’ve talked with teams and individuals who have 15 or even 20 objectives and maybe 30 or more measures. That’s not a plan. That’s a hope.
A consulting firm once said: “When doing strategic planning you don’t need to perform a current situations analysis.” My view is if you don’t start with understanding where you are, it’s going to be difficult to articulate what needs to happen to get where you want to be.
Understanding the as-is and the to-be is a powerful tool for recognizing the gaps and prioritizing what needs to be done. Let’s face it, strategic planning is about figuring out where the next dollar gets spent. We’d all like to get it all done and soon, but reality said we’ll stay on track by identifying metrics for measuring progress against the plan. Keep in mind though that it is not about the numbers. It’s about people at the end of the day, in most cases.
Both the vision and the metrics should be communicated as broadly as feasible. Transparency and light are great disinfectants and if you have good people and they know what needs to happen – you’ll want their creativity applied to the change. If the front lines connects with the strategy and adjust their routines and behaviors accordingly, a tremendous amount of momentum can be developed quickly. If everyone can internalize what is in it for them (aligned to their goals and the objectives) mountainous problems can be turned into speed bumps of progress – sure you’ll feel them but it won’t stop you.
Are you really committed? – No matter how great the plan, it will fail if it doesn’t have the resources. Granted you always should strive to have a plan B (since we can never be sure what will really happen) but the team needs to know that the leadership is committed to the change.
The Strategic Plan needs to be clearly and concisely communicated to all stakeholders. Empowering a drive toward alignment and action. There needs to be one message that everyone can put their weight behind.
By asking ourselves a few questions we can glean a clearer perspective on if our ‘strategic’ effort is going to bear fruit or just drain our creativity.
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