Leading Strategically - This much I have learnt

Leading Strategically – This much I have learnt.

Strategy – What do we mean?

I first started to consider what leading strategically meant when I was introduced to the ‘Strategic Thinking’ domain of the Gallup Clifton Strengths. The 34 Clifton Strengths themes are sorted into 4 domains or categories and eight of those themes comprise the Strategic Thinking domain (Analytical, Context, Futuristic, Ideation, Input, Intellection, Learner, Strategic). I strongly recommend a self-assessment, its easy to do online.

?I use the strengths assessment profile during my executive coaching sessions and many exec leaders would express disappointment if they had not scored highly against the Clifton Strengths ratings for ‘Strategic Thinking’.? The typical response I would get was “all senior leaders need to be strategic, right?’’.? I guess my own reflection to that is yes, leaders are more effective if they can demonstrate strategic thinking in their leadership, but I am conscious that the topic ‘Strategy’ can be a meaty one to digest – just google now ‘books on strategy’ and you will be consumed with titles and references.? So, my aim in this article, as I did in the first ‘This Much I have Learnt’ series, is to offer several strategic leadership tools and models that I still use today, that are both practical and simplistic in their application.? Before I share those let me reinforce why strategy is so important to organisations and leadership.

• It forms the basis for coordinating effort.
• It provides a focus for decision making.
• It forces close examination of choices or options.
• It prepares the organisation for change.
• It encourages development and progress.
• It gives a feeling of continuity.
• It provides a source of motivation through purposeful activity.
• It truly enables the organisation to establish best fit.

If you have ever worked in an organisation where any of the above have not been evident, then it is likely that there is a strategic leadership capability gap in the organisation.? I certainly have worked in organisations where short-term thinking and action, without context, create a directionless chaos within teams, as new knee jerk direction is agreed each quarter when financial KPI have not been met.? I recognise that businesses must be agile, but to the list above; change of direction can be so confusing if it is not aligned to an initial base line strategy.? And sometimes as ‘merry-go-round leaders’ we end up confusing our people as we guide them – Aka: “Everybody on the bus”. “Why are you on the bus”? “Who said get on the bus”. “Everybody get off the bus”. “Ok let’s now get back on the bus”. ?Or to my favourite quote on leadership from my time in the Army “I follow this Officer out of idle curiosity to see where we will end up next”

Three core stages of strategic leadership process:

So, to the tools and models I would like to share. I like the framework from Johnson and Scholes who describe the strategic leadership process as having three key stages and it is my intention to link the tools and models to those 3 stages:

1.?????Strategic Analysis - understanding the strategic position of the organisation.

2.??????Strategic Choice - examination of the different options for action.

3.??????Strategic Implementation – planning how the choice can be put into effect.

These three stages do not take a linear approach however, and the three elements of Johnson and Scholes model are iterative; strategic choice and implementation may be carried out together whilst strategic analysis is often an ongoing activity that informs the other two.?

I am not going to describe in detail the tools or models themselves, I shall leave that to the reader to conduct their own further research.? What I would like to do is explain how I found the tools useful and in what way I have applied them.

?1.?Strategic Analysis - how leaders understand the strategic position of the organisation.

External Analysis

External analysis offers several benefits to businesses, helping them navigate the competitive landscape and make informed strategic decisions.? Overall, external analysis is crucial for maintaining a comprehensive understanding of the external forces that can impact a business, ultimately leading to more strategic, informed, and effective leadership.

PESTLE is probably the external analysis tool that most will have come across.

But whilst doing some work with Peugeot Citroen many years ago, I found that the PESTLE tool was not giving me enough granularity.? I was working with the dealerships shaping a new Target Operating Model and working with newly appointed dealership Quality Manager roles.? I came across the following external analysis model, and we used this to great effect as we mapped the external environment to the dealerships.? It enabled us to maintain a comprehensive understanding of the external forces that were impacting the business and ultimately it led to a more strategic, informed, and effective revised dealership model. ?Unfortunately, I have been unable to locate the source of this model so apologies for not giving credit to those that created it.? As with PESTLE this model poses questions to answer against external categories.? Those categories for this model are:

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And below the range of questions, we researched against each category as we conducted our analysis against the model.

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Internal Analysis

Internal analysis, when combined with external analysis, provides a comprehensive view of a company's strategic position, enabling it to make informed decisions and develop effective strategies to achieve its objectives.? I have used the Business Model Canvas (BMC) to facilitate assessment of the existing business model, within the context of the output from any external analysis.? I have found it really drives meaningful and clear conversation about the effectiveness of what we do now in the business, and how well equipped we may be to respond to anticipated external factors and drivers.? It provides a powerful holistic view, simplifies the complex and delivers strategic alignment as a leadership team.

The Business Model Canvas (BMC)

And below the range of questions, to be considered against each category to complete the internal analysis.

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2.??????? Strategic Choice - leaders examination of the different options for action.

Strategic choice is about using your strategic analysis information to generate, evaluate and select an option.? For example, should a company diversify?? Should that diversification be into other products and services, or should it try to integrate its supply chain?? Should the company move into different work sets?? Should it seek to minimise its identified weaknesses or develop further its identified strengths?? Should it take a combative or collaborative stance in relation to its competitors?? The range of choices may seem overwhelming to both managers and their organisations.? Managers may have to choose by working through different options, ensuring they understand the basis on which they are making their strategic choice, not forgetting the considerable influence that culture and politics will have had on that choice.

Force Field Analysis – Kurt Lewin

I really value this tool and have used it to understand the forces that will influence a choice or change within an organisation. This tool helps to identify, analyse, and manage the forces that can drive or hinder change required to support a new strategic direction, providing a comprehensive view of the factors involved in making strategic decisions. It easily facilitates informed decision-making and effective change management, which is an excellent foundation for the final stage of the strategy process that follows. And for the data geeks - it provides a hard score indicator as each force is rated on a scale 1-10.

?3.??????? ?Strategic Implementation – leaders planning how the choice can be put into effect.

Strategic implementation is primarily about three areas; planning and allocating resources, structuring the organisation and aligning people and systems to support the strategic direction and change.? In many ways this is strategic change management and I would refer you to my first article in this series on Leading Change - all those tools are relevant here, but I would like to introduce another simple model I have used to help guide strategic implementation.? The Change Canvas is?a powerful, flexible, yet simple, visual tool. It combines reflection, vision and action, into an iterative and results focused framework. What I like most is it really encourage collaboration, creates alignment and opens conversations about the reality of implementing a strategy against the current capabilities of the organisation. In many ways it is a much more detailed Stop - Start - Continue - summary of action. I used this to powerful effect when working with a non profit organisation that required a significant change in strategic direction. Many of the topics we were discussing for strategic change were, to many, sacred cows, so this model facilitated a much more trusting and transparent conversation about the need to change direction. It reinforced the need for the new 3 year strategy and gained further support to the direction set by the CEO.

Conclusion

As I said at the start there is much written on the topic of strategy and the leader’s role on thinking strategically.? I understand why so many leaders avoid the theory as it can sometimes be too complex to consider application.? However, if we all accept that a business should have a strategy and that it is vital for:

Providing direction - achieving competitive advantage - making informed decisions - optimising resources - ensuring adaptability - aligning and motivating employees - instilling stakeholder confidence - measuring performance - managing risks and securing long-term sustainability. ??

Then we should also accept that the list above is also likely to be on most Job descriptions for a leader’s role within an organisation.? And therefore it is incumbent upon all leaders to use what tools they can to be more strategic with their team – I hope the few models I have shared will do that.