Strategy Needs a New Strategy

In today’s world of innovation, start-ups, and disruptive technologies, many businesses, large and small, launching and growing minimize the all-important notion of developing a strategic plan for their organization. This has been largely attributed to a lack of understanding of what exactly is Strategy or a Strategic Plan, and a lack of understanding as to its importance and how much of a role it truly plays in the success or failure of an organization. This topic is written about the most in modern business, yet it is the most confusing for so many. Why is that?

The Very Thing

So what is Strategic Planning? In simple terms, Strategic Planning is defining what your organization wants to accomplish and how to accomplish it over a defined period. It serves to focus the organization around achieving a specific outcome and to provide guidance regarding which activities to undertake, which tools to utilize and which resources to employ.

It sounds simple enough, but then why is Strategic Planning avoided by so many organizations?  Why do so many organizations either skip this important process or place such little emphasis into developing a strategic plan when this is the very thing that will drive the success of their organization?

The Shape that’s NOT a Best Practice

The trouble stems from confusion - confusion regarding what a strategic plan is, what it does, and how it should be developed. As the topic of strategy has evolved, and so with it the tools and approaches to strategic planning, the numerous perspectives and definitions have only made strategic planning more confusing for those who don’t live and breath strategy on a daily basis, but have accountability for developing a strategic plan. 

In the US today there over 17 million active businesses, with approximately 80% (14 million) having less than 10 employees. Meaning a vast majority of organizations “probably” lack someone who’s sole responsibilities are focused on strategy.  

https://www.naics.com/business-lists/counts-by-company-size/

In addition to the confusion, we rely on the standard, yet outdated strategic pyramid to help guide development of our planning. Most of us have suffered through using this “Best Practices” approach, building a hierarchical plan and spending more time creating and rearranging pyramid layers on the screen to depict the magic of problem solving.

The strategic pyramid falls short by failing to show that its elements are interrelated. By accepting the pyramid, we miss the opportunity to develop a strategic plan that’s easy to understand, and of utmost significance: we miss the opportunity to effectively communicate critical information across the organization to gain alignment and ensure focus. Instead, we continue to be convinced that strategic planning should consist of numerous slides of information and a 20-minute presentation to gain influence. 

Who can Argue with Science?

There is no question the vast number of books, publications, and articles dedicated to strategy provide a wealth of information and continue to evolve the discipline of strategic planning, however, more options doesn’t necessarily equate to, in this case, helpfulness. Strategy experts (book authors), directors of Venture Capital firms, and managers at leading Tech Incubators will tell you an organization’s success is more dependent upon execution rather than having the “perfect plan”. As such, a paradigm shift to enabling organizations to more easily create a Strategic Plan and effectively communicate it through their organization is appropriate.

Science has proven that our brains better retain and recall information that is presented in a visual format.  According to researched complied by 3M, visuals are processed 60,000 times faster than text, with the average human only remembering 1/5th of what they hear. If the organization’s success hinges on how well the organization understands, embraces, and executes on the strategic plan, then why is such critical information so prevalently presented in text-based formats?

It’s Time

It’s time for a new approach to for Strategic Planning. It’s time to make the process easier. It’s time to “unstack” the strategic pyramid. And it’s time that organizations should “want” to complete the strategic planning process and be more effective where it matters most -- execution.  

Sounds great, but how do we do it? 

First, make strategic planning easier to understand and the process easier to use. Provide a set of easy to understand definitions for the key elements of the Strategic Plan and provide a set of simple instructions to serve as a guide through the process. Easier to understand key elements become more memorable and solidifies a foundation on which to build a Strategic Plan. And including instructions and examples provides guidance to the strategic planning process.

Second, make the process visual and more memorable. Deconstruct the Strategic Pyramid in favor of creating a more visual Strategic Map. By doing so, you can begin to see the “Strategic Journey” -- a navigation plan with easy-to-use tools that provide clarity and link activities to better enable the organization to gain alignment for execution, realize its targets, and drive toward success.

You’ll See the Difference

Making the strategic planning process easier will reduce avoidance -- many more organizations will undertake this important strategic planning activity. At the very least, more organizations will spend more time considering their direction and key strategic activities. Making the process more visual provides clarity and understanding across the organization, and with it comes alignment, focus and more chances for success. An organization with more employees that understand the strategic direction of an organization become empowered. They will be better aligned with the organization’s strategic direction and will understand how their actions will impact the future direction of the organization and drive it forward toward successful execution.

Avoid Avoidance

In a time where the term disruption is applied to almost any new technology or company, it seems appropriate to apply disruption to strategic planning. Clayton Christensen stated in his December 2015 article in the Harvard Business Review entitled What is Disruptive Innovation, disruptive innovation originates “because incumbents typically try to provide their most profitable and demanding customers with ever-improving products and services, and they pay less attention to less-demanding customers.” So the disruption needs to be more organizations incorporating strategic planning and execution (through enhanced organizational alignment) into their culture and less concern about developing the “perfect” strategic plan. As Strategic Planning capabilities and expectations become more advanced, it also becomes more complex and overwhelming, making it more of a struggle to determine where to begin; what’s the correct approach; and how to know the right plan was created? Stand up to avoidance and pursue disruption. Embracing the Strategic Planning process will lead organizations to improve alignment, stay on target, direct focus, and drive for excellence -- and that’s better than avoidance. It’s time we apply a new strategy to strategy and increase the relevance of the strategic planning process more than the actual plan. And what a great strategy for strategy this is.

Adam Harms, Managing Director at Ruhl Strategic Partners, LLC