Thinking Strategically

Are you organizing a strategy session or "pow-wow" for a client to decide how to move forward in 2021? I was asked by a good friend for advice on how to proceed leading a 2021-2022 strategy session as the head of the board of advisors for a non-profit. In preparation, he thought putting together a SWOT analysis was the way to go. I disagreed by saying that SWOT analysis can be very insightful but one dimensional. With a SWOT you detail your own strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to your organization, but often you don’t know how to turn around those weaknesses, let alone address threats or opportunities. Think of the two metaphors of seeing the individual trees but not the entire forest, or having to fly the plane while you are building it. Using a strategic plan to inspire change requires that stakeholders take a step back and consider all the important drivers to achieve your mission.

Porter’s Five Forces model can help you put those attributes in the context of the industry you operate in. Going through the creation of a Five Forces model is recommended for many not for profits or educational institutions.

Jim Collins flywheel and hedgehog concepts are very applicable to non-profits too.

In Collins’s book Good-to-Great companies understood a simple truth: tremendous power exists in the momentum of continued improvement and the delivery of consistent positive results. Highlighting tangible accomplishments—however incremental at first—and demonstrating how these steps fit into the context of producing capable and gritty students should work to start what he calls "the flywheel". When you do this in such a way that the staff see and feel momentum building; they line up with enthusiasm. Collins was the first to describe this as the flywheel effect, and it applies not only to outside stakeholders such as clients, prospective customers, but also to internal team members or staff.

 At a pivotal point in Collins study, members of his research team nearly revolted. Throwing their interview notes on the table, they asked, “Do we have to keep asking that stupid question?” 

“What stupid question?” Collins asked. “The question about how their organizations built greater commitment, alignment with their strategy or mission, and how they managed external change.” 

“That’s not a stupid question,” Collins replied. “It’s one of the most important.” “Well,” said one team member, “a lot of the executives who made the transition—well, they think it’s a stupid question.

Some leaders don’t even understand the question!”

 “Yes, we need to keep asking it,” Collins said. “We need to be consistent across the interviews. And, besides, it’s even more interesting that they don’t understand the question. 

So, keep probing. We’ve got to understand how they overcame resistance to change and got people lined up.” 

 Collins fully expected to find that getting everyone lined up— “creating alignment,” to use the jargon—would be one of the top challenges faced by leaders working to turn their organizations from good into great. After all, nearly every executive who’d visited the Collins laboratory had asked this question in one form or another. “How do we get this boat turned around?” “How do we get people committed to a new vision?” “How do we motivate people to line up?” “How do we get people to embrace change?”

This is where companies discover the power of the flywheel to drive their business or not-for-profit forward. I wish you every success in 2021 and hope the principle of getting the flywheel "to turn" adds a strategic edge to your organization.