If you have a business that operates in multiple locations, you might face some challenges in implementing your strategy consistently and effectively. How can you align your teams, processes, and systems to achieve your goals and deliver value to your customers? Here are some best practices to consider.
The first step is to clarify your vision and values as a business. What is your purpose, mission, and culture? How do you want to serve your customers and stakeholders? How do you differentiate yourself from your competitors? Your vision and values should guide your strategy and actions across all locations. Communicate them clearly and frequently to your employees, partners, and customers, and make sure they are aligned with your brand identity and reputation.
Defining your business's vision and values is akin to setting the compass for a grand journey. It's about crystallizing the purpose, mission, and culture that will be the North Star guiding your enterprise. How you serve customers, differentiate from competitors, and the essence of your identity should be woven into this narrative. Think of it as the soulful melody that plays consistently across all your business locations. Communication becomes the instrument that shares this melody with your employees, partners, and customers, creating a symphony of understanding and alignment. In this way, your vision and values become the harmonious anthem that resonates through every corner of your business landscape.
Saturate, (with culture, process and practice) before making any move to new locations, establish a core group of contributors, define and fine tune strategy, game plan, people, processes and practices. Establish core values and culture, then move by replicating what works
best way is the way that you used before and knew well.. plus best way is the shortest way..( short implies you can reach-connect-see-talk-get data-visit at required time)
It's true but isn't at the first step. Vision and mission come from Strategy. In otherword, vision and mission is a statement base on strategy.
This is very important of course. this can be around branding and perception of business values is key in this current business world we live in, but at the same time be mindful of how that is delivered in different geographical cultures. How we deliver the vision and values can change from region to region for all the right reasons. Work with your regional teams too to define what those values mean before fully defining and rolling them out. This should of course be easy if you are already operating in those markets but be mindful when entering new markets.
The next step is to set your goals and metrics for each location and for the whole business. What are the specific outcomes and results you want to achieve? How will you measure and monitor your performance and progress? How will you align your goals and metrics with your vision and values? Your goals and metrics should be SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. They should also be aligned with your customer needs, market trends, and competitive advantages.
The goals and targets not equal to Strategy. Targets determine Critical Success Factors and help to define Key Performance Indicators.
Regarding assigning goals, targets to different locations you need to use corporate vision and values as an anchor. But of course your need to accept the strategies may differ from ona location to other, one culture to another. You have consider these variables according to the location or the culture that the location has.
The third step is to create your action plans and processes for each location and for the whole business. How will you execute your strategy and achieve your goals? What are the key activities, tasks, and resources you need? How will you coordinate and collaborate across locations and functions? How will you standardize and optimize your processes to ensure quality, efficiency, and consistency? Your action plans and processes should be clear, detailed, and flexible. They should also be aligned with your vision, values, goals, and metrics.
Crafting action plans and processes is akin to composing a symphony, where every note contributes to the harmony of your business's expansion. Each location, like an instrument, plays a unique role, yet synchronization is key. Your strategy is the musical score, and the action plans are the instruments, outlining the key activities, tasks, and resources needed for the symphony. Coordination and collaboration become the conductor's baton, guiding the ensemble across locations and functions. Standardizing and optimizing processes is the tuning fork, ensuring the quality, efficiency, and consistency of each performance. With clear plans, your business orchestrates a harmonious expansion, transforming a vision into a melodious reality.
Excacty, but some time Strategy come from Pans, Actions and Reactions. Especially, in emerging Strategies. So, flow from Strategy to Actions is two way.
Care needs to be maintained here. I once saw a global strategy paralysed by too many action plans and processes at too many levels and a micro-management approach that was more time consuming than the actions! The result was that the approach was abandoned and we went back to the drawing board.
In implementing a business strategy across multiple locations, it’s crucial to integrate business continuity and financial resilience into action plans and processes. While standardising for efficiency and consistency, each location’s unique risks and opportunities must be considered. This ensures not only alignment with the company’s overall vision and goals but also prepares each branch to effectively respond to unforeseen challenges, safeguarding the business’s stability and growth.
The fourth step is to empower your people and culture across all locations. How will you engage, motivate, and reward your employees? How will you foster a culture of learning, innovation, and excellence? How will you promote diversity, inclusion, and collaboration? How will you handle conflicts, feedback, and change? Your people and culture are your most valuable assets. They should be empowered to perform their roles, contribute their ideas, and grow their skills. They should also be aligned with your vision, values, goals, and metrics.
I would add here that understanding local culture is crucial to ensure the goals of the stategy plans get done while at the same time the headquarters acknowledge the different site contributions. It's a coin with two sides: will the Headquarters understand what are the nuances and challenges to get things done locally? and are the local sites understanding the reasons behind the decisions? and most importantly, does everyone feel heard?
It is essential that any global strategy is adapted for local conditions, markets and cultures. Empower your local management team, that is what they are there for, and hold them accountable for the outcomes. I am not an advocate of "one size fits all". Having been responsible for multi-location international businesses I speak from experience of the need to adapt the actions and processes for local conditions. ABB said it all "act global, think local".
Culture and Human Resources Management is the Key of succcess or refuse of Strategy. In the point of my view, there is First requirement of each successful strategy.
The fifth step is to leverage your technology and tools across all locations. How will you use technology and tools to support your strategy and operations? How will you ensure data security, privacy, and compliance? How will you integrate and automate your systems and platforms? How will you leverage data analytics, artificial intelligence, and cloud computing? Your technology and tools are your enablers and accelerators. They should be leveraged to enhance your capabilities, productivity, and agility. They should also be aligned with your vision, values, goals, and metrics.
The sixth step is to review and improve your performance across all locations. How will you evaluate and report your results and impact? How will you identify and address your gaps and opportunities? How will you learn from your successes and failures? How will you adapt and innovate your strategy and operations? Your performance is your feedback and learning loop. It should be reviewed and improved regularly and systematically. It should also be aligned with your vision, values, goals, and metrics.
In my experience, self-managed teams are a very effective way of improving performance, but they need to be properly established, with the right balance of skills, knowledge and experience. They need realistic objectives and they need to be properly supported by leaders who have the skill to empower the team.
Agility! Agility and Sustainability are two important factors that determine the type of Strategy. In Environments with high uncertainty, Agility is the best way to responsible with conditions.