Hmm... I wonder if my strategy is really a strategy?

Strategy is one of those words that is used all the time by team members in all levels and functions of the organization. Almost everyone is asked to do some type of strategy-making in their job. But do you ever sit back and wonder what strategy really means? Some believe it's simply a long list of goals and activities. Others think strategy is just the organization's Mission and Vision Statement on steroids? It's a good question - What is strategy?

With the wicked pace of business today, it is highly likely that you are or will soon be meeting with colleagues and team members to work on some level of strategy - product, brand, business unit, or even company strategy.  In your strategy meetings, there will probably be no shortage of enthusiastic discussion and ideation. If you are like most organizations, you’re likely to emerge from your strategy meetings with a list that looks something like this:

• Drive Growth & Returns
• Improve operational efficiency and work processes
• Improve competitiveness in existing markets
• Expand into new markets
• Deliver superior customer solutions and service
• Optimize ROI
• Create a high-engagement culture
• Attract top talent

When you’re finished, you’ll sit back, review your notes and think - this looks pretty good. But, to be blunt, it’s not good. The list contains what might be called goals, objectives, actions, and vague statements of intent — but no strategies. In my consulting work, I've discovered that the term "strategy" is very misunderstood at all levels of the organization and this misunderstanding leads to very real performance issues and shortfalls.

So how do you go about creating real strategy, instead of ending up with a hodgepodge list like the one above? Following these steps will help:

Make sure stakeholders fully agree on what success looks like. This might seem like a given but it’s not. As David Collis of Harvard Business School points out; “Most executives cannot fully articulate the scope and objective of their business in simple sentences. If they can’t, neither can their teams.” Leaders shouldn’t assume others share their same understanding of what success looks like. Winning aspirations like “Be a Great Place to Work, and “Be the Low-Cost Producer” would likely mean very different things to different leaders in the organization. Stakeholders will usually spend the necessary time aligning on a clear, complete list of winning aspirations if they know there is a plan for codifying what success looks like and socializing it throughout the organization.

Use a clear, easy to understand strategy framework. Many leaders believe their business, or competitive situation is too unique for a formal strategy framework. Guess what, it isn't. The DIY or "Franken-strategy" approach usually just leads to team member confusion, frustration and inefficiency. Good frameworks should guide and shape the development of a clear, interrelated set of choices that helps differentiate the organization from competitors and allows it to win in the marketplace. Frameworks provide boundaries for decision making and keep the enterprise moving together in the same direction. They help de-mystify strategy and drive understanding and engagement. Without a framework, you will likely end up with, well, a long list of goals, actions, and vague intents.

Include capabilities, systems and resource alignment in your strategy. Have you ever spent countless hours outlining great growth ideas and plans only to discover later that there is no money, people, or time for your initiatives? Believe it or not, this happens ALL the time. Your strategy isn’t done until you’ve articulated and linked the capabilities required and systems needed to operationalize your winning choices. Many leaders like to separate strategy from execution. I believe differently. I think strategy is execution. When you take the time to link capabilities and systems to your winning choices, you drive alignment, accelerate performance and increase substantially your strategy’s odds of success.

If you’ve been struggling to develop a winning strategy, what you may have been missing until now is a solid, clear strategy framework or system. Think about it; Toyota doesn’t produce defect-free cars day after day without clear choices and aligned systems. Surgeons don’t operate on hearts and brains without clear choices and procedures. You shouldn’t expect to design a clear, effective, winning strategy without a framework or system, either. Remember this - strategy is a set of interconnected choices that differentiates the organization and allows it to WIN in the marketplace. It is the answer to five key questions (the topic of a future article). A good strategy framework and system organizes these choices so everyone understands how they plug into the organization and how they contribute to winning in the marketplace.

If you need help with strategy issues or just want to drive better alignment and accelerate performance, please reach out to me at [email protected].