Strategy — Ingredients for Success
Strategy is all in the how an authentic Leader brings the special touches
In my view, the word Strategy suffers from overuse, its meaning has been diluted and confused. Yes, the word strategy is part and parcel of business language and yet it is often used incorrectly or simply misunderstood.
So what is strategy? Put simply, strategy is problem solving. Unfortunately, strategy is regularly confused with a Goal or a Vision. The Strategy is the HOW a Goal or Vision will be achieved.
Let me give you an example. A new CEO is appointed to an organisation and announces that their strategy is to grow the market-share for one of their services by 20% by 2026. Sorry CEO, that is not a strategy, that is a Goal. If the CEO had announced that they were pursuing 20% growth in the service by 2026 by doing X, Y and Z and by forgoing A, B and C then that is getting much closer to a Strategy.
Another example to help get your mind around my point … This time a Leadership Team in a business get together for a ‘strategy planning day’. The end product, a long list of priorities that touches on all parts of the business.
Sorry Leadership Team, points for trying to be democratic, but a long list of priorities is not even close to being strategic. Priorities need to be exactly that, the most important areas of focus. Get the scissors out and be brutal with the priorities, no organisation or business can be all things to all people. The strategy part comes in when the leadership team discusses HOW they will achieve the shortlist priorities and importantly what they will no longer dedicate time and resources to.
Are you getting my drift? Excellent, I will climb down from my high horse and let’s talk about the essential ingredients to a Good Strategy.
Essential Strategy Ingredients
The development of a good strategy can be likened to a cooking recipe and like a super chef, some magical touches by the Leader take the dish from good to great.
Let’s take a scenario where a senior leader called Zoe identifies a problem that she believes her organisation needs to tackle. Zoe does some homework, obtains relevant data and research, talks to her team on the ground. This backgrounding helps broaden her understanding. Still, she doesn’t have all the answers and in fact it is not her call to make alone, it has potential ramifications for the organisation.
Ingredient 1: The right people in the room
After doing some early socialisation with the CEO and other parts of the executive, Zoe brings the senior leadership team together, including the CEO. The team is brought up to speed, the problem / opportunity is unpacked. There will of course, be different perspectives based on each of the leadership team’s areas of expertise and experience from prior lives. The discussion is creative, curious, lateral, exploratory and supportive.
The key ingredients at this point of the recipe: senior people with decision making capability, asking the right and difficult questions, lateral thinking and most importantly the room is respectful and honest (a key magical ingredient).
Of course, there will be biases, some members may feel threatened, others will see it as way to advance something they have wanted to do for a long time. The CEO needs to manage this as part of the process, that is the role of the primary Leader.
Bringing in a facilitator that is neutral and can create an atmosphere of exploration, ‘no idea is a bad idea’ environment is often useful. The facilitator can ask the difficult questions and ensure all voices are given airtime. A good facilitator can also spot lateral thinking in the room. The facilitator will harness the lateral thinking so deeper creative exploration can occur. As you can see, blinkers need to be off in this early ingredient phase.
Done well, exploration of the problem / opportunity will result in a strategy being formulated. The leaders will need to re-group as required, allowing earlier discussions to marinate and become richer, more evolved. So in our scenario, they agree Zoe will take primary responsibility for carriage of the strategy and everyone else is clear on the role they need to play throughout. Zoe has set in motion the foundations of a good strategy - amazing!
A few simple but surprisingly difficult questions to pose:
What point of difference are we leveraging if we pursue this strategy? In other words, what capability are we using (or looking to introduce) to further our advantage in our market.
Are we up for the challenge? The leaders need to honestly appraise whether they have the wherewithal to carry out the strategy.
What is the most difficult part of this Strategy? Again, honesty and vulnerability. Not all the answers will be to hand. Having an environment that continues to support problem-solving as hurdles present themselves through the execution of the Strategy is crucial. More on that later.
Ingredient 2: Resourcing, what do we stop doing?
This is the most difficult part of developing a good strategy. If a business or organisation decides they wish to pursue a problem / opportunity because they see the advantage in doing so, then the resourcing to support it needs to be front of mind. Human and financial capital are finite.
Choices need to be made, if Zoe and the other senior leaders are going to bring their teams along, not burn them out as they are stretched to breaking point. Equally ensuring funds are available to support the endeavour might mean some hard budget choices are required.
This comes back to my earlier comments about having long lists of ‘priorities’, it almost guarantees nothing will be done well or completed successfully. Great leaders are clear-eyed about their Goals, they commit to doing a few things well, work out the HOW (the strategy), execute and achieve the outcome, then and only then, move to the next (magic ingredient).
Ingredient 3: Articulating the Strategy
Even when Zoe and the senior leadership team have reached agreement on pursuing a strategy, boiling the strategy down to a clear unambiguous Strategy Statement is powerful. It helps ensure everyone understands what the organisation is being signed up to.
The statement should simply state the goal, the how, the scope, by when and the advantage it will bring to the organisation.
The magic touch here, is that the CEO, Zoe and other senior leaders communicate and reinforce this message through internal communications channels. They are visible to the workforce in their commitment and belief in executing the strategy.
The additional magic happens when the strategy is crafted into a compelling pitch. Great leaders now how to craft a good narrative around a strategy to inspire staff, to believe in what they are seeking to carry out. After all, tackling a problem or embracing a new opportunity takes time. Maintaining focus and commitment is crucial to success.
Embedded in this ingredient is Change Management. A fundamental piece that deserves its own airtime and I am sure you can see how this applies. I mention it so that it doesn’t get lost - my word count won’t allow me to take you there just now!
Ingredient 4: Flexibility
Now this is one that may feel like a slight contradiction given my earlier comments so bear with me. As Zoe’s organisation commits to a strategy, not all the answers will be mapped out. Zoe and her team will strike some obstacles that could not have reasonably been predicted initially. Rather than disguising those obstacles, Zoe needs to own them and the Leadership team in turn need to provide support so they can be worked through.
This means adjustments will be made and yes flexibility is the key. The flexibility does not give permission to de-rail or open a Pandora’s box of options again, throwing the Strategy out the door. It is nimble fast paced decision making with the information that can be brought to hand in a reasonable timeframe. The magic touch here is how the CEO responds, galvanises and continues to bring the troops and key parties (Board or similar) along.
Summary
So what have we learnt….
Good strategy is problem solving.
Strategy is the HOW we achieve a Goal or Vision
Four Essential Strategy Recipe Ingredients:
The right people ‘in the room’
Resourcing, what do we stop doing?
Articulating the Strategy
Flexibility
What takes a Good Strategy to Great - The magic touch of a Brave and Honest Leader:
Vulnerability, recognising not all the answers will be there on day one
Being open to difficult questions to get the strategy right
Committing to doing a few things well, rather than a bunch of things poorly
Knowing what to stop so the strategy can proceed
Visible commitment by the Leader and mirrored by senior management
Building a compelling narrative that will energise the workforce
Investing in change management practises
Flexibility, nimble decision-making as time advances.
Not much to ask is it! I fully appreciate that many organisations are dynamic, complicated beasts. I also acknowledge that what I have outlined can be challenging in practice.
The culture of the organisation plays a critical part. In a healthy organisation, a high functioning leadership team should be capable of executing what I have outlined. Fractured leadership teams may require additional assistance and interventions. This requires a strategy in itself!
In summary, strategy is the HOW, parts of the HOW you will only define and implement as you progress. There will be hurdles, working together and acknowledging that solutions will not be immediately obvious is another point to keep in mind.
Executing a good strategy and getting to the finishing line (the goal) is a great feeling. After dining out on your successful strategy, be sure to recharge, ensuring lessons are learnt from that experience and know that the next strategy feast will be around the corner.
