“Strategy” can be a mysterious thing in business.
The Leadership Industry devotes a lot of literature to it, as do most large organizations & Management Consultants, but many leaders just don’t understand it. They are also likely to be afraid to admit that they don’t. Many organizations see “Strategy” as a box to be ticked, not a tool to be leveraged, or a strategic advantage. Certainly not a key part of their Culture.
This is a pity because “Strategic” Plans – the creation and communication of longer term directions, objectives and priorities for organizations are vital to achieving success.
Your Strategy is a part of your Culture..
Creating Strategy – or Strategic Plans – should be like making Pottery.
Firstly it’s an art.
You start with a lump of clay and shape it until it matches the idea you have in your head. It maybe a copy of another piece, in fact most are. As you go along the shape may change, its really up to you to decide, depending on the material you’re working with, and the skill of the potter…
Secondly, like Pottery, Strategy is also partly science
There are some basic principles that should be learnt and applied. Over the next 5 weeks we will show how the 5 Decisions in BalancedKaizen apply to Strategy. We will also show how they take most of the mystery out of making Good Strategy.
Finally – like Pottery, Strategy has to be useful.
Of course there are beautiful pieces that sit in galleries, but it’s everyday utility that creates progress and helps society..
This final idea of utility is the rock on which Poor Strategy is too often broken. That something should be useful is so obviously true that it is often ignored.
“Strategy has to be useful”
2 ways to help make Strategy useful:
1. It’s not about the Presentation..
I’m lucky to recall a time when the only people who had “Strategy” were marketing people. The rest of us had budgets. The reason was very simple, and it wasn’t because leaders didn’t have vision or ideas to change things.
In the mysterious days before PCs and PowerPoint, creative presentation making was difficult and time consuming. Overhead Projector slides could be made, by hand, or later on a photocopier, but they were mainly limited to text and line charts, often without color and impossible to edit once made.
Organizations managed to make fantastic progress without lots of visual aids.
A good presentation is a wonderful thing – when it’s presented. A good strategy outlives the theatrics of presentation, and lives on – more like good advertising.
Don’t be seduced by the need to just make a good presentation – it’s important and stimulating (and maybe good for your career profile) but it won’t drive results by itself. In fact if you only focus on the presentation, it is pretty much guaranteed to fail.
“Your Strategy is part of your Culture..”
2. It is about Connections.
There’s no point creating a Strategy that isn’t connected to how your organization operates.
At first this sounds contrary to the idea of “disruptive” strategy which seeks to overturn old ways of doing things, but it is based in how humans think, and it is even more essential when disruption is needed.
Human brains are pattern seekers, and respond differently to things that make immediate sense versus those that don’t. A totally new Plan that uses new language, new concepts and unfamiliar objectives can of course be understood, but is likely to be subconsciously ignored. Not a good start, especially for a disruptive or new idea. Familiar ideas go to a different part of the brain and gain understanding faster.
Good leaders are careful to shape plans based on structures, capability and processes that already exist, or at least identify how those structures, capabilities and processes have to change to meet the Plan. Poor leaders don’t consider such details as important as the targets or objectives set.
All leaders set Strategy, whether they know it or not.
Do you understand how you can leverage Strategy to drive Performance, or is it a box to be ticked?
Is Strategy something just to be Presented?
Does Strategy provide Connections to how your team works?
More in coming weeks…
Image Credit: www.naiz.eus