Dime-store business strategy advice

Many companies spend hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions, on developing their #businessstrategies which often involved hiring expensive #consultants to help develop a company's future direction. The process might include developing a new #vision and #mission, identifying core #strategicbusinessobjectives (SBO), and laying out a #roadmap for a #gotomarketstrategy. Once the strategy is developed, there is still the effort of #communication, #dissemination, and adaptation.

Not every company can afford to bring in third parties to help develop their strategy and not every strategy is successful. I have had the honor, luxury, and privilege to participate in my share of strategy sessions with both internal and external facilitators (including from some of the top-ranking consulting companies). After a decade or two of strategy planning, you begin to recognize the trends, tricks, and potential pitfalls. In today's blog, I hope to save you a little bit of time, energy, and money and share some wisdom in developing the perfect strategy for your business.

"A strategy must transcend paper and PowerPoint"

One of the biggest mistakes that companies make is that they invest all of their resources in the collateral without focusing on actually rolling out the strategy itself. A strategy can't just exist on a website, in posters, or in PowerPoint presentations. A successful strategy is one in which you can query any employee and they can articulate the goals of the organization.

"Bring in an external facilitator"

Sometimes companies are reluctant to bring in a third party to be involved in something as sensitive as strategic planning. After all, we don't want to air our dirty laundry or expose trade secrets to an outsider. With that said, participants will also have hesitations when it comes to direct supervisors, executive leadership, or other people in a position of authority. The team may not be as honest, may hold back during brainstorming, or may unequivocally agree with the facilitator without pushback. It's critically important to have an unbiased and non-threatening facilitator. If you don't use an outsider, consider using someone from another department or business unit.

"A strategy shouldn't be personal"

All too often, a part of the strategy represents an individual within the organization. If that individual were to leave the company, would that objective still be part of the strategy? Would you replace the individual to see the strategy through? If the answer is "no" to either question, then it probably doesn't belong as part of the strategy.

"Protect the core at all costs"

It is so important that you core business is strong before you start identifying growth aspirations. Protect the core first and foremost and then invest in growth. When branching into a new market, new product, or new service, you are leveraging your strength in your core business. If you sacrifice quality or customer service for growth than you are at risk of losing market share in your core business and not growing.

"A strategy is owned by all - not just sales or the executive team"

When a company can't afford to invest in a complete transformation, they often focus on marketing and sales to implement a new strategy. The thought is "get the money and then we can invest in execution." This is rarely a recipe for success. You need to grow the execution at the same time you are growing sales, or you will be faced with a major execution issue.

"A good strategy should serve as a litmus test for prioritization"

A company always has aspirations to do more than they can afford or have resources to pursue. We have all heard of the shiny object syndrome where we pivot each time an opportunity comes by for fear of missing out (#FOMO). If we find it is taking meeting after meeting and presentation after presentation to make decisions on how to prioritize initiatives, then it's likely you don't have a good strategy. A good strategy should be self evident how to prioritize, when to say no, and when to double down on resources.

"You need buy-in to implement a successful strategy"

A strategy can't just be communicated or disseminated. It has to be believed and everyone in the organization needs to take ownership to be successful. How do the SBOs translate to department goals? Individual goals? If you can't trace an SBO to an action or individual who has ownership and accountability, then it's likely not to be achieved.

"Hope is not a strategy"

All too often, we think we can just state our objectives like a #visionboard and it will come true because we all drink the Kool Aid. You need the right resources, the right product, and the right team to meet your objectives. It should be hard. It should be a stretch, but with the right mix of #leadership, #perseverance, and #organization, you should be able to meet your goals.

"Strategy is the marathon and tactics are the sprint"

You can't afford to change your strategy on a daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly basis. When talking about strategy, you should be thinking about next year, next 5 years, and next 10 years. You aren't going to achieve greatness overnight, but you do need to constantly measure and assess your progress and pivot as necessary. You can have a goal to double revenues in 5-years, but you can't wait for year 5 to realize you are behind your goal.

"Leverage what you know to grow"

Growth is probably the hardest part of a strategy because it represents risk of the unknown. Often we chase the market based on the size of the market, the #cagr, or some other metric without fully appreciating what it will take for your employees and your customers to see you in that new role. Growth without major acquisition requires an adjacency path. Offer new products or services to your existing customer base; offer your existing products and services to a near adjacent customer base; or expand your customer base by looking at global markets or government customers.

"You be you"

Of everything I said today, the most important word of advice is that "you be you." Your strategy should be unique to your company, though influenced by market dynamics and competitive environment. Don't try to be something you aren't. Take into account your history, your culture, your strengths, and your weaknesses.

Unit next time

I hope you enjoyed this week's #blog and will continue to tune in weekly as I address topics that are meaningful to me for which I believe has relevance to my readers. I will get a better sense of how to tailor my blogs based on your responses. Please like, comment, and share so I know which topics are of more interest than others.