Recently, my wife and I took a vacation to Zion’s National Park, a park located in Southern, Utah, USA. We decided to attempt the Angels Landing hike (also known as the Temple of Aeolus). While the hike is not technically difficult, it is a very exposed hike along a narrow sandstone ridge which offers an indescribable view from the high ground. In this case, the high ground is approximately 1,200-1,500 feet above the valley floor and has sheer cliffs on each side. The trail head offers plenty of opportunities to gather strategic intelligence, as there are multiple warnings of what you might encounter or expect.
After 90 minutes of hiking, you step out onto a sandstone ridge that is reminiscent of a dorsal fin of a shark. The last half mile/kilometer is fully exposed on both sides. As we approached the very last incline before reaching the “landing” we began to encounter patches of snow and ice, increasing the level of danger we were in.
Another couple had stopped for a rest in this very last section prior to reaching the summit. They were enjoying their lunch and were planning to head back down the trail. After a short discussion we learned they were not continuing on due to the ice and their concern about safety. My wife studied the icy section and said, “I only see about 10-feet of ice and beyond that it looks ice free, I think we can do it.” I suggested that although we were close, it was better to be safe than sorry. There have been six deaths on the Angels Landing hike over the years and the trail head warns of the varying conditions. While this icy section looked reasonably feasible to climb up, we could not see the perspective of coming back down this section. Coming down can often be more challenging in extreme terrain and ice. As disappointment set in at being only a few-hundred yards from the summit, I suggested to my wife that we gather some strategic intelligence by waiting 15-20 minutes to see if anyone was coming down the summit who we could ask about the conditions up top. She smiled and chuckled at my attempt to always bring leadership and management skills into our daily life, but agreed that waiting for more information was a good idea. This would also give us a chance to relax, enjoy the scenery, and if anyone was returning from up higher, decide whether we want to make the final climb. At the very least, another hiker could offer us a different perspective.
Sure enough, about 15 minutes later, two people appeared on the ledge and began hiking down. As they reached the icy section, we (and the couple that had stopped for lunch) watched as they navigated the icy section. Once past it, we enthusiastically asked about the conditions and gathered some intelligence to determine whether or not we would continue, and if we chose to, how we might approach the icy section. The few tips and learning points the other hikers offered helped us in making our strategic choice to weigh the risks and ultimately safely navigate the ice.
On our hike down, my wife and I chatted casually about intelligent strategy and the good idea I had to wait until we had more information. My wife quickly pointed out that with strategy in business, at times, it may not be wise to wait. Leading the pack may be risky, but may also lead to great rewards. I agree completely and responded that strategy is all about gathering intelligence, assimilating the information, and making smart choices. Deciding what to do is just as important as deciding what not to do. Intelligent strategy is about adapting to the environment that you operate within to ensure you are not just alive, but that you thrive in business or in life.
On May 11th, the Wall Street Journal published an article about JP Morgan’s $2 Billion dollar trading loss that occurred over the previous six weeks. To the average investor, this may look like a series of bad moves and investments for the company, but the CEO of JP Morgan Chase made a very direct statement about the whole debacle. His statement should cause every organization to pause and think about their strategic initiatives.
On a conference call with investors, CEO James Dixon made the following comment regarding the bank’s strategy. It was “flawed, complex, poorly reviewed, poorly executed and poorly monitored.” This statement is a huge pill to swallow for any leader, for any organization, let alone one that just lost $2 billion.
Everyone, at some point in their career will be hit by a rogue wave, bad decision, or bad strategy that will catch you off guard and knock you off your feet. It is not a matter of IF it will happen, but WHEN it will happen. The key here is to be vigilant, aware of your environment, and anticipate future scenarios.
As we look at this example, forget about your personal opinion about company or government policies in the financial sector. Rather than criticizing Mr. Dimon, the Government, or the people involved, take time to hold up the mirror and evaluate your own strategy. As you do, consider the following:
Do key leaders in the organization truly understand the organization’s strategic vision? Ask them if they can articulate it. If not, watch out for the unexpected wave of pain.
Are key leaders empowered to plot and execute strategy within their own area of responsibility – business units, departments, or functional areas? Is it linked and does it support the grand corporate strategy?
Do leaders, as well as individual contributors understand how their competitive strategies create value and growth for the organization? Is there a culture of strategy, execution and implementation?
Are you conducting periodic reviews of the strategy within your own area of responsibility?
What issues will shape your future and should be acted upon?
By taking a little time each week to formulate, critique, and adjust your strategy, you will be consciously setting a future that enables you to add value to the products and solutions you offer to customers, shareholders, or stakeholders.
For over 35 years, CMOE has been helping organizations create a competitive advantage through strategy creation and measurement of strategic actions. To learn more, visit our website at www.cmoe.com
Over the past few years, I’ve had the opportunity to participate in several comprehensive sales-leadership assessments. During this time, there have also been a number of widely published research papers regarding “best-in-class” sales-coaching practices. The data from these two efforts send some important messages regarding where sales managers should be spending their precious time on their coaching efforts.
The first has to do with the type of sales coaching that is being conducted. Two specific areas stood out
Skills Coaching
Strategy Coaching
And which one do you think gets the most attention? You guessed it: Strategy Coaching. It’s all about getting “the deal,” and because Strategy Coaching feels more urgent and the results of it are more tangible, Skills Coaching tends to get neglected.
Data from the assessments show that sales managers spend up to 70% of their coaching time and effort on deals. In contrast, best-in-class managers spend more like 55% of their time in this area and place almost equal importance on Skills Coaching, which means that it also gets more of their attention.
The best sales managers determine early on which skills are most needed, and they hold off on Strategy Coaching until the deal is better understood. They focus on building qualifying and discovery skills in their reps, saving Strategy Coaching until “the deal” is more developed and the insights they had gained could be leveraged to greater advantage.
Recent assessments and best-in-class research also show that other critical sales-coaching practices need more attention:
Focus on a small number of performance issues: Covering fewer topics actually results in more positive behavioral change.
Provide concrete examples of what kinds of changes need to be made: Fuzzy coaching topics don’t help much and lead to both parties becoming frustrated.
Coach the middle performers: When coached, low performers stay longer and still don’t improve much, while average performers lose out on professional-development opportunities. And yet, these middle performers have the most potential to positively affect business results.
Prepare for coaching conversations and allocate enough time for them: Coaching takes time, energy, and creativity. Preparing for these conversations beforehand makes a big difference in how your time is used.
Engage the person in the coaching conversation: Sales coaching is a “contact sport”—it takes good, two-way communication to work the way it should.
Commit to following through: Sales manager’s following through was the most-forgotten step in the process. If you’re going to make the effort to coach, you really need to see it all the way through.
Lastly, best-in-class sales organizations have agreed-upon performance standards that they share and use to gauge the areas in which to coach their sales reps, taking all of the guesswork out of the process.
Imagine you are one of the fortunate who has a strategy, or is involved in a strategy that is thrilling, motivating, and truly revolutionary? Exhilarating strategic plans do exist in various organizations today. What makes strategic work stimulating for me is being involved with helping leaders create strategies that are out of this world. Recently I worked with an organization whose strategy is sending highly sophisticated machinery with the most innovative technology of its kind to places not on earth. This organization can give us a great look at strategic thinking in action.
There is a reason many people use the term rocket scientist to describe the very intelligent or complex. The strategy, innovation, planning, and the execution of a plan to send anything into space is no small feat, and yet basic principles of strategic action are ever present in space exploration missions. Below is a picture of NASA’s new Mars Rover named Curiosity. The Curiosity Rover, launched recently, is traveling at a clip of 1.8 million miles every day. Curiosity’s final destination on Mars is 352 million miles away from Earth, which means Curiosity will reach Mars sometime in August 2012.
For this mission to be a success, it takes the most elaborate technology and equipment made on earth to propel a one-ton mobile science lab to Mars, but that is only part of the strategy. Another is landing Curiosity on Mars safely, meaning two distinct strategic efforts are at play here. One is to get Curiosity to the vicinity of Mars, and another is to land Curiosity safely on Mars.
This highly advanced mobile science laboratory is one-of-a-kind. Curiosity has several features that are totally new and innovative. NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said “we are very excited about sending the world’s most advanced scientific laboratory to Mars. MSL will tell us critical things we need to know about Mars, and while it advances science, we’ll be working on the capabilities for a human mission to the Red Planet and to other destinations where we’ve never been.”
Now that you’ve been exposed to some basic elements of a really cool mission, how does this relate to your strategy? What are the lessons learned? For one, strategy is all about intelligence gathering. The amount of intelligence gathering for a mission like this is likely overwhelming to people like you and me. Yet every piece of data collected by the Curiosity Mission Team is completely thought through. Mission decisions are made based on facts from all the data collected.
Curiosity’s whole reason for being is to gather intelligence, not only while on Mars but also along the journey to the red planet. Therefore, as Curiosity travels to Mars, one of its many tasks is to analyze radiation levels in space in order to assess how astronauts on future missions would be affected.
In my experience, I find that great strategic thinkers have an intelligence gathering formula. The formula is: collect, analyze, and conclude. Strategic thinking excellence comes from being able to look for actionable data that is leveraged to advance strategic efforts. Those leaders who have developed their intelligence gathering skills are more effective at creating strategic direction and plans that matter to an organization.
Strategic thinkers should ask:
What forces will play a critical role in the success of the strategy?
What are the patterns or trends telling you?
Where must you go for actionable information?
Using these three questions and others like them will help you to interpret the data and draw conclusions about your strategic path. Effective intelligence gathering will also be the key that helps you decide if you should learn more, slow down, or proceed with your strategy.
The second part of this article will provide will cover more about strategy lessons learned from this mission.
A key aspect of CMOE’s Applied Strategic Thinking® Model involves determining strengths and using those strengths to create a solid strategic approach to work and life. Recent research by the Gallup Management Journal supports this step. While CMOE’s Applied Strategic Thinking Model is geared towards the individual contributor, its principles can be applied at the team, department, region, and organization level just as easily. At any level, individual or organization,
‘One of the most important foundations of performance is determining what you’re good at, what you have the potential to be great at, and bringing that [knowledge] to the work that you do,’ says Nicole Helprin, director of internal and employee engagement communications for Hewlett-Packard. ‘When people feel like they’re bringing their gifts to the workplace, they’re more productive, they’re more engaged, and they’re going to be more successful in meeting their expectations.’
A lack of clearly defined expectations is detrimental to the productivity of an organization. Worse, it’s almost impossible for the organization to be credible in the eyes of its employees if it cannot clearly articulate what employees should be doing at work.[1]
There are many definitions for the word strength, but the one I am concerned with is this: “something that is regarded as being beneficial or a source of power.”[2] So, when you identify strengths, either as an individual, a team, or as an organization, you discover and identify your sources of power. Creating a strategic approach to your responsibilities that uses these sources of power keeps your strategic plan in a place where success is not only possible but is also more probable.
Before declaring your strategic intentions, identify as many different strengths as possible.[3] Divide the list into two categories: soft strengths and hard strengths. Soft strengths include knowledge, experience, education, ideas, etc. (intangibles). Hard strengths include money, materials, tools, equipment, etc. (tangibles).
After creating an exhaustive list of strengths, analyze the list to find the ones you lack in relation to your strategic intent and write them down next to the list of strengths. This is your list of weaknesses. This list identifies the areas that you, your team, your organization, etc. need to improve in. Until improvements are made and the weaknesses are converted into either hard or soft strengths, avoid ventures that may expose those weaknesses. Exposed weaknesses spawn problems and will likely cause you to deviate from your strategic map in order to correct the problems. When you know where your weaknesses lie, they are more easily avoided.
Creating functional strategy that is founded on your strengths will not guarantee success, but but if your strategic approach comes from areas of strength rather than those of weakness, success is more likely. The key is to have the courage to identify areas of weakness so they can be avoided. Understanding weaknesses is actually, in and of itself, a great strength. Use the knowledge as such.
Most people find it simple to generate a list of strategic opportunities that they believe would benefit their job or add value to the organization they work for. Often times, these people take their list of strategic opportunities and immediately begin the process of narrowing it down to the one opportunity they believe is most valuable. Then before taking another breath, people typically start mapping out a strategy framework for accomplishing this one opportunity they believe to be most valuable. Some readers might say that so far this process sounds like a good one to follow; the right thing to do. I say that those who have done this before have already “tripped up before getting out of the starting gate.” In fact, they began failing when they first started generating and narrowing down their list of strategic opportunities. Some people believe that they are a good judge of value and can carefully evaluate the potential opportunities. However, the true strategic value of a target should be judged by your customers, internal and/or external.
Customers are routinely neglected as we evaluate what is and isn’t strategic. But if you want a winning strategy, you must first find out what will benefit or be of high value to those who matter most. You may think you know what they want and need, both now and in the future, but how do you really know unless you ask them? Often this is a short conversation—about 10 minutes. Use this time to share your ideas and ask them if they agree with the possible strategic impact of your identified targets. Then, ask your customers if they have any ideas of new ways to add value to the product or service you provide them. Carefully observe your customer and notice which of the strategic opportunities discussed excited them. Ask your customer what sort of payoffs or outcomes they foresee as a result of the opportunities they like best. Remember to choose a target that you feel passionate about too, because a strategic target is something you will be investing your energy, resources, and time in. This 10 minute conversation will help you determine which strategic opportunity will yield a high return on your energy and time. Once you have identified a strategic area of interest, you can begin to close in on a specific target to act on.
Remember, customers take two forms, External or Internal. Both rely on you to complete a task or function, or deliver goods or services. Internal Customers are directly connected with you, through the organization. Internal Customers are perhaps the least consulted of this group when someone is trying to strategically add value. Yet, strategic opportunities that are designed for internal customer satisfaction are better able to satisfy the need of external customers (Tansuhaj, Randall, and McCullough 1991).
To achieve a winning strategy, you must first pinpoint a strategic target that is going to truly benefit those who matter most—your customer. A 10 minute discussion with your customer will verify that you have identified an opportunity that will create a big strategic impact.
In my last blog, Template Strategies Don’t Work!, I discussed the problems associated with plugging generic information about your organization into a generic strategy template and calling it “good enough.” If you haven’t read it yet, I would suggest doing so before continuing on. You can find it by [clicking here.] In this follow-up blog, I’m going to identify and talk about a few core pieces of information that should be found in every strategic plan. They are, in effect, jumping-off points that will help the organization get off to a good start.
Diagnosing Problem(s)
Trying to find solutions to problems that haven’t been identified clearly is the epitome of wasting time. Problems have to be recognized, diagnosed, distinguished, and investigated before true strategic planning can begin. In strategic planning, problems, issues, hiccups, etc. become the targets at which our efforts are aimed. You cannot expect to aim at, and hit, any random or moving target—determined or undetermined. While this may seem intuitive, many people who wish to live and work more strategically have no clue what their targets are. In order to gain some level of clarity regarding the issues you face, you may want to consider the following process:
Spend some time making a list of the issues you currently face. Identify as many or as few issues as you would like.
Realize that it is very unrealistic to tackle the whole list simultaneously. Choose no more than five issues to focus on at a time.
Rank your top five in order of priority. The first issue you resolve should be the most pressing issue, followed by the second-most pressing, and so on.
Keep the whole list handy. Revisit the initial list when the top five have been resolved. Re-evaluate the priority of the issues still on the initial list. If new issues have crept in since you created the list initially, add them to the original list and create a new top-five list and begin the process anew.
Guiding Principles
There is a little more to the diagnostic process than problem identification and resolution. It is wise to establish at least one guiding principle that will help move you along your strategic path. In reality, the more guiding principles you employ, the more effective a good strategy and your strategic abilities will become. If you have principles to fall back on, making trade-off decisions will become easier and you will waste less time on mundane activities. Remember these words:
“Failure comes only when we forget our ideals and objectives and principles.”
—Jawaharlal Nehru, the 1st Prime Minister of Independent India
“An army of principles can penetrate where an army of soldiers cannot.”
—Thomas Paine, Co-Founder of the USA
Actions
Goals, targets, guiding principles—they are awesome tools to have. However, if no action is taken to follow through on them, nothing will happen, especially where a lack of action after a sufficient amount of planning has taken place has always been an issue. Maybe, in that case, simply acting on a good strategy will be enough to make a huge, sustainable difference. Here is another quote:
“Do you want to know who you are? Don’t ask. Act! Action will
delineate and define you.”
—Thomas Jefferson, Co-Founder of the USA
To get the most out of action, plan it out. Action in and of itself can be extremely unproductive, and even counterproductive, if action is taken without regard to targets and principles.
Remember, if you are new to thinking strategically, start today by following these three steps: 1) Diagnose problems, 2) Determine guiding principles, and 3) Take action. If you do, you are well on your way to living and working more strategically.
Do you have any strategic experiences you’d like to share?
Based on our experience and research over the past ten years, we have come to the conclusion that eighty percent in the work force focus their time and efforts on achieving immediate results. This is not necessarily a bad thing. However, to ensure the long-term sustained growth and competitive advantage for the firm, it is our bold assertion that everyone in the organization must play on the strategy field. Too many people feel that strategy is better left to senior management, or that it is not their role to worry about the long-term viability of the firm. Far too many people get hung up and are frequently intimidated with the notion of long-term strategy. They think it means developing a five-to-ten year plan when, in fact, for most of us long-term means a few months, a year, or three years at the very most. The fact is, the future is simply “tomorrow,” and everyone has to be prepared to capture opportunities and avert hazards regardless of the time frame or the position you occupy in the organization. With this in mind, I will outline five reasons why everyone should be interested in, and working to create, strategic priorities and results.
Traction The only way a business will succeed over the long-term is by getting traction on big ticket strategic priorities and initiatives. Everyone in the organization should ask themselves this question: “How do I contribute to moving the needle on the organization’s strategic agenda?” We like to call this your personal strategic concept.
Job Security Members of the organization cannot simply assume that their future is automatically secure. Everyone has to take a certain amount of responsibility for their own long-term job security as well as the security of the business. If you want to be relevant to the firm you work for, you have to be an active ingredient in shaping the future. You have to adapt, change, scan the environment, and figure out how you can add value to the business down the road and not just in this calendar year’s performance plan.
Customer Value It may not seem like it to some people, but we all serve customers and stakeholders. Frequently, we think of customers as the buyers or consumers of the firm’s goods and services, but in reality we all have internal customers. In fact, we all play in the internal market place of the firm, if you will, supplying benefits and creating value through our services and labor to the firm. In a sense, each person is a supplier in the company’s value chain of activities. This means we have to think about the customer needs today, but more importantly, what the customer will need tomorrow. In fact, we may want to think about who our new internal customers will be in the future and if the current customers will disappear because of the natural shifts in the business.
New Technology We all live and operate in the rapidly-changing Technology Age. Everyone in the firm is affected by new advances and breakthroughs. This suggests that people at all levels of the business should be on the lookout for new ideas, new applications, and new uses for technologies that will help your organization be more effective, reduce costs, improve overall service and quality, and enhance innovation in your part of the business. Frankly, the same can be said for scanning the horizon for shifts in regulatory, environmental, legal, and other types of changes that could positively or negatively impact your part of the business in the future..
Improved Efficiencies If you view your role or function as an enterprise in itself, you would be asking very fundamental questions: “How can I do more with less?” “How can I reduces cost and improve efficiency in the future?” If everyone on your team is on the look-out and working toward this aim, you would have the attention and admiration of every decision maker. Every business wants to improve their margins and drive efficiencies. If you can envision ways to do that now or in the future, you reduce the risk of obsolesce.
The point is you cannot run on autopilot. You have to be more than a part or piece of someone else’s high, overarching strategy. You have to create strategic priorities in your own area or job. You have to drive strategy at a personal level that is linked or aligned to the overall business direction. In short, you have to be a creative, strategic force in your own right. Everyone in the organization needs to ask themselves these questions: “What is my big strategic play?” “How can I help the organization prepare for future challenges?” “How can I help avert and steer around the turbulence and obstacles that lie ahead?” When every individual does this, they add to a pool of competitive advantages for the whole organization. It requires awareness, observance, attention and discernment – notice where the organization is heading, where the industry is moving, where your customers are going. Doing so will provide the clues and insights that you need to formulate the opportunities outside of your normal, daily routine and immediate responsibilities, objectives, and assignments. It does mean a little extra work and a little extra thought. It means reserving some time and investing some resources as you prepare for the future, even at the individual worker level. When everyone is playing on the strategic field, all kinds of exciting things can happen such as new innovations, delighted customers, motivated employees and better results. It doesn’t get much better than that!
While standing in the Home Depot (a home improvement store) check-out line, with a pile of supplies in my cart, I heard a repeated announcement over the speaker system informing the store associates that “Power Hour” was beginning. This message was given three or so times in the space of five minutes that I spent checking out, and so my curiosity was piqued by the seemingly importance of this broadcast.
Later that day, I conducted some research into what “Power Hour” was all about. I came to learn that the concept of “Power Hour” was initiated by Marvin Ellison, a division president at Home Depot. Ellison’s key objective for his division is to win back customers during a time when many people don’t want to spend. He believes this is so vital to Home Depot’s long-term success, and ultimately survival, that he asks team members to dedicate a specific time period during the day, and their complete focus, to customer service. For Ellison’s Home Depot stores, “Power Hour” is initiated during the hours of 10 am and 2 pm on weekdays and all day on Saturdays and Sundays. But for you, “Power Hour” could be at any time, any day, and with any focus.
I believe that the concept of “Power Hour” can also make a difference for you and your organization. While customer service may not be your focus during your own “Power Hour,” use this time as an opportunity to step away from short-term demands and making a strategic shift into a forward thinking mode. For most people, “Power Hour” is most effective if you start early in the day when your mind is fresh. Set aside a specific time; make an appointment with yourself. Consider changing your environment by moving away from your regular work situation. Lastly, be spontaneous as you think about the future. Remember, strategic opportunity is where innovation and forward thinking meet.
Too many organizations use poor strategic methods during their planning meetings and come away from them having essentially wasted valuable time, effort, and other resources only to leave the process with a weak “strategic plan.” Many strategic plans are actually little more than goals infused with a lot of fluff. This happens because companies are unable to make timely, definitive choices, and because they subscribe to template-style strategic planning.
Making Strategic Choices
Creating a strategic plan requires time, effort and decisions. Also, numerous trade-offs are required in order to make progress. Companies large and small have goals to meet. Different areas within an organization often have competing goals, and executive management is ultimately responsible for deciding which goals have priority.
In order to avoid stepping on toes, top-level executives may push the responsibility of deciding which goals to focus on onto department heads. In situations like this, nothing gets done. No strategic alignments are made. More precious time is wasted, and in the meantime, competitors are probably sharpening their strategic plans.
A French philosopher named Nicolas de Condorcet determined that if too many groups fight for majority consensus, chances are very high that a consensus will never be met. Later, economist Kenneth Arrow proved that the “Condorcet Paradox” cannot be solved using majority voting schemes. Someone else has to step in and make a decision. No matter who that person is, the decision must be made in order for true strategy to emerge.
Template-Style Strategic Plans
Templates are useful in a number of business applications, except strategy. However, so many companies use template-style strategic planning that the practice can be easily pointed out and may look something like the following:
Vision Start with the vision of what the organization looks or feels like at some future point in time. Be sure to use high-minded words like “best,” “leading,” “best known,” “successful,” or “well-known.”
Mission Add another high-minded and politically correct statement or two about the purpose of the organization. Be sure to add words like, “progress,” “sustainable,” and “innovative.”
Core Values Sprinkle in a few statements filled with generic value words, like “integrity,” “customer service,” “compassion,” and “ingenuity.”
Strategies Only use aspirations and goals and call them strategies.
By looking at template strategies from this angle, it is easier to see how far they are from the mark of a true strategy. A true strategy is more than empty words and lofty language. A lot more. A true strategy is more than a politically correct mission statement, and more than a vision of the future. Later on, I will get into what creating a good strategic plan looks like.
Until then, what do you think it takes to create strategy?
And which one do you think gets the most attention? You guessed it: Strategy Coaching. It’s all about getting “the deal,” and because Strategy Coaching feels more urgent and the results of it are more tangible, Skills Coaching tends to get neglected.
A key aspect of CMOE’s Applied Strategic Thinking® Model involves determining strengths and using those strengths to create a solid strategic approach to work and life. Recent research by the Gallup Management Journal supports this step. While CMOE’s Applied Strategic Thinking Model is geared towards the individual contributor, its principles can be applied at the team, department, region, and organization level just as easily. At any level, individual or organization,
Most people find it simple to generate a list of strategic opportunities that they believe would benefit their job or add value to the organization they work for. Often times, these people take their list of strategic opportunities and immediately begin the process of narrowing it down to the one opportunity they believe is most valuable. Then before taking another breath, people typically start mapping out a strategy framework for accomplishing this one opportunity they believe to be most valuable. Some readers might say that so far this process sounds like a good one to follow; the right thing to do. I say that those who have done this before have already “tripped up before getting out of the starting gate.” In fact, they began failing when they first started generating and narrowing down their list of strategic opportunities. Some people believe that they are a good judge of value and can carefully evaluate the potential opportunities. However, the true strategic value of a target should be judged by your customers, internal and/or external.
In my last blog, Template Strategies Don’t Work!, I discussed the problems associated with plugging generic information about your organization into a generic strategy template and calling it “good enough.” If you haven’t read it yet, I would suggest doing so before continuing on. You can find it by [clicking here.] In this follow-up blog, I’m going to identify and talk about a few core pieces of information that should be found in every strategic plan. They are, in effect, jumping-off points that will help the organization get off to a good start.
Based on our experience and research over the past ten years, we have come to the conclusion that eighty percent in the work force focus their time and efforts on achieving immediate results. This is not necessarily a bad thing. However, to ensure the long-term sustained growth and competitive advantage for the firm, it is our bold assertion that everyone in the organization must play on the strategy field. Too many people feel that strategy is better left to senior management, or that it is not their role to worry about the long-term viability of the firm. Far too many people get hung up and are frequently intimidated with the notion of long-term strategy. They think it means developing a five-to-ten year plan when, in fact, for most of us long-term means a few months, a year, or three years at the very most. The fact is, the future is simply “tomorrow,” and everyone has to be prepared to capture opportunities and avert hazards regardless of the time frame or the position you occupy in the organization. With this in mind, I will outline five reasons why everyone should be interested in, and working to create, strategic priorities and results.
While standing in the Home Depot (a home improvement store) check-out line, with a pile of supplies in my cart, I heard a repeated announcement over the speaker system informing the store associates that “Power Hour” was beginning. This message was given three or so times in the space of five minutes that I spent checking out, and so my curiosity was piqued by the seemingly importance of this broadcast.
Too many organizations use poor strategic methods during their planning meetings and come away from them having essentially wasted valuable time, effort, and other resources only to leave the process with a weak “strategic plan.” Many strategic plans are actually little more than goals infused with a lot of fluff. This happens because companies are unable to make timely, definitive choices, and because they subscribe to template-style strategic planning.
