Leadership and Strategy – what is strategy and how does a leadership team write one?

It seems like everywhere you turn in business, or online, there is a need for a strategy, and that may be true. The problem is that often what is called a strategy is not much more than a fancy looking brochure, a collection of information, or a wish list, not an actual strategy. So, what is a strategy and why is it important in leadership?

I’ll focus on the second point first. It is easier, and the answer is shorter. Previously, I wrote about the importance of vision, both as a headmark to guide you to success, and as a powerful leadership style. I am now sharing how strategy is the bridge between the vision of success, and the operational performance that will deliver that vision. It is the handrail, the high-level plan, and the detail of the leaderships’ strategic thinking, that allows the team to act in accordance with their leader’s intent. You might consider it to be the high-level handbook for how things will be done round here. It should be complementary to the organisations culture or be focused on changing that culture, if that is the vision.

Strategy is “the art of the general” and comes from the Greek word for General, “strategos”. It is a plan of action designed to achieve a vision (or desired end state) and employs battles to gain the end of war. In military circles, where I learned strategy in challenging circumstances and guided by some genuine experts, strategy forms the bridge between policy and operations. It combines policy (or vision in business) with reality and resources, and it must include the ways and means of achieving the desired end. If not, then it is just coffee-tableware - it looks good in reception but doesn't help your team!

Creating strategy is best considered as a team sport. It begins with ensuring that all involved are clear on the policy or vision and can define the desired end state for the strategy. This may be a sub section of the main vision and may include key assumptions on what will be considered as success. If not, then the assumptions will be captured elsewhere. By assembling a team, you will have called together what Napoleon Hill describes as a “Master Mind Group”, a panel of subject matter experts who understand the current situation and will help shape the development of the strategy.

Once you are clear on the targeted end state, it is important to understand the background, context, any assumptions not already captured, and any constraints. As you consider the current situation, it is crucial to describe what you do well (and will want to maintain), what will need to improve, what new things you may consider starting, and what you should stop doing to create the space for the rest. You will also want to understand what you are known for, both good and not so good, and what is important. As you develop your strategy, aim to maintain what you are good at and is important, and to improve (or supplement) those important areas that you are not yet good at.

You should then consider how things are likely to play out in the context that your strategy is set. What are the best- and worst-case scenarios, and what is most likely? Consider the evidence that a different approach is needed to achieve your vision. What facts and hard data do you have, and what are the emotional drivers for doing things differently? Explore exactly what is required, what the key barriers are, and what opportunities might enable your approach.

Now that you have a detailed picture of the current situation and your readiness to meet the challenges head on, consider one final thing before you start to develop some options for achieving your vision. Identify the impact of doing nothing! If you choose not to act, if you don’t develop a new strategic approach, can you still achieve your vision? Can you still be successful? Sometimes, the answer to that is yes and no further strategic work is required. Often, doing nothing will not deliver the desired results and so strategic options are necessary.

To ensure that you do not jump to a solution without doing the necessary thinking, it is important to develop 4 options, in addition to doing nothing that you have already assessed. This is the first time in the strategy development process that you start to think about the ways and means that are so crucial.

You should start by defining what do nothing more would look like. Rather than doing nothing, what if you just carried on as you are? Would that deliver the results you are after? They key at this stage, is to just define the scale of effort and resources that would be included in this option.

Next, you should define a do a little option. How does it differ to the previous option? What resources and activities will be involved? Again, focus on the scale of the effort required at this stage.

By increasing the scale of any activity, you can then develop a do a lot option. What resources and activities make up this option?

Finally, consider a do everything option. What would it mean to throw the kitchen sink at the problem as you strive to deliver your vision? What do you mean by everything in this context?

Once you are happy with the definitions of your options, and are comfortable with the descriptions of the ways and means that are appropriate to each, you can test those options against a set of criteria so you have a more objective assessment of which will work best to deliver a successful outcome. Consider the following criteria and score your options against each.

Suitability - Will it deliver the required Ends? (In short, will it work?)

Feasibility - Have we got the resources and skills required? (Can we do it?)

Acceptability - How will our actions be viewed internally and externally?? Do we have a mandate to act? (Consider all stakeholders including the public, unions, and media)

Sustainability - How long must we sustain our effort?? Do we have the will to see it through? (Can we deliver success over the long term?)

You can choose to score against each of the criteria with a simple yes or no, may score from 1 to 3 for each, and may also include a weighting factor if you consider that one is more important than the others. You may decide that suitability is much more important than acceptability, and that you will find a way that makes any option feasible. All that really matters is that the scoring, and any weighting, is agreed beforehand by the subject matter experts.

Once you have selected your best option, you should now develop the option to give enough information for your operational teams to work with. How much detail do you need to provide on the how of delivering the vision? This is the ways that are so important, and hopefully for an empowered team it is sufficient to provide a broad lane for the team to work in, allowing them the freedom to develop their own solutions. You may need to provide information on sequencing, milestones, and your priorities, as well as outlining any indicators or reporting factors that will support effective communication. Then, how will you define the resources and skills that the team will have access to, as they develop their plan? These are the means that are integral to a successful strategy. They will expand on the definitions in the options process and will also provide the guidance needed to allow flexibility, trade-offs, and harsh reality to be considered. ?

The final stage of the strategy development is to consider what might go wrong, and what might result from it all going right. You should consider risks and issues (being clear on the difference) and explore consequence analysis that looks at the ends, as well and the ways and means. You should consider any presentational factors, including impact on partners, collaborators and the supply chain, and internal and external perceptions of your choices. Lastly, consider any downstream issues and specifically any unintended consequences of success; ask plenty of “what if…” and “so what….” questions.

All that is left, is to recognise that choosing an option and developing your strategy are only the beginning. Use your strategy to provide enough direction to your team so that they can do the hard work of planning and delivering the operational and tactical detail necessary to achieve success.

So, what does your strategy look like, and how do you use it to guide your team to deliver success?