Where strategy fails
Strategy usually lacks in one of four areas.
Many organizations, in one way or another, claim a bold purpose statement that gets prominently featured on their website and corporate decks. Internal guidance documents and external reports show off a crisp and well-thought-out strategy. When asked about the state of affairs, leaders, almost subconsciously and often with a sense of satisfaction, will claim busy as the status quo. Bustling initiatives and the corresponding constant busy-ness seem to be aspirational hallmarks.
Yet, those things, while good in intent, do not necessarily make for a healthy strategy. In fact, when asked about the strategy of organizations, most leaders will cite different perspectives at best, or seem rather clueless at worst. While, at the ground level, employees are often disgruntled, citing lack of good leadership, communication or abundance of complexity and friction in their daily work.
01 Purpose
Lack of clear direction, focus or ambitions
02 Roadmap
Misalignment of organizational priorities & initiatives with purpose
03 Operations
Daily activities not supported by, or not supportive of, roadmap or purpose
04 Culture
Organizational energy disembodied from the purpose, roadmap and operations
It can be different.
Imagine a strategy that doesn’t just sit in a deck, but is expressed in everything the organization does. One that clarifies and executes. One that draws out the mission, carries operations, energizes teams and activates people, everyday.
Where strategy succeeds
Strategy is destined to thrive.
The strategy clearly and coherently spells out the organizational choices, direction and ambitions—together with its rationale.
The strategic direction gets translated into aligned, actionable priorities and an initiative roadmap.
The day-to-day systems, structures and processes logically support the roadmap, and vice versa—embedded in a culture that activates and energizes operations and teams.
Design
Strategy
Implementation
When design and implementation come together.
Strategy is the art of creating
unique and lasting value
4 levers pull most of that value
- Purpose
- Product
- Process
- People
These compound value
- On macro and micro levels
- In structurally big and everyday small ways
- For the world, the organization, and the people in it
An intentional approach to calibrate these forces aligns the big “why” with the detailed “what” and “how.”
Along the way,
- the macro gets operationalized in the micro
- the micro gets magnified in the macro
Direction becomes momentum. And strategy becomes real.
Organizations need to build up strategic capacity
The future depends on it.
Image credit: Strategy.Inc
Scarcely ever has the future looked more disruptive and exciting at the same time.
Hard skills became foundational in the workplace 150 years ago. Soft skills were the past decades' buzz. While these still matter, the essential capabilities to launch into tomorrow are strategic power skills.
Innovation, transformation and complexity require a broad, integrative perspective and the ability to tap into change with drive, confidence and resilience.
Organizations that intentionally build up strategic capacity and master it as a core competence set themselves up to create unique and lasting value.
Strategic capacity is not confined to roles or personalities.
Image credit: Strategy.Inc
A healthy strategy is more than an analytical framework or change management program. And, it is as much about welcoming change as it is about recognizing the need for a stable basis.
Strategy is not just the CEO's responsibility.
Strategic capacity requires an organization-wide ability to think and act strategically, to adapt as situations change, and to ensure a stable core in the midst of transformation.
Image credit: Strategy.Inc
Assessing the present, discerning the future, framing the path forward, launching transformation, and preserving stability while responsibly responding to change are learnable skills and competences that can be scaled up and out within organizations.
It is a skillset that can be be brought in.
The Strategy Process
01
Strategy Design
The discovery process that systematically maps out the value creation logic of an organization, as it is today and as it could be tomorrow
- Descriptive, quantitative & qualitative framework
- Makes choices and sets boundaries
- Decides ambitions, determines direction and defines priorities
Answers the question what are we going after?
— And, frames the strategic choices and direction in their context
02
Strategy Implementation
The execution process that practically goes after the realization of the intended value by navigating the journey and activating the organization
- Action-oriented, initiative-driven and roadmap-guided
- Tracked through KPI's, OKR's or Scorecards (quantitative & qualitative)
- Enabled through Culture
Answers the question how are we getting there?
— And, states what is needed and what comes next
Strategy centered on the 'big why'
Both design and implementation phases need to flow from the same place: the organization's, and its leader's, inner conviction of why it exists and operates
- Organizational map of organization's inner compass, true North, purpose or aspirations
- Informs every decision and action
- Flows through the organization's head, heart and hands
Answers the question why do we do what we do?
— And keeps everything tied together and balanced
A strategy process that sticks
A great strategy deck is just the start, not the finish
We stay where other consultants leave.
A strategic framework without implementation stalls. And, implementation without strategic framework drifts.
We help you clarify and formulate the strategy and then follow through to help you navigate and activate it, so it succeeds, sustains, and becomes how your people actually work.
We make strategy work. We make it stick.
We take you on a journey to express your strategy,
in design and implementation
Discover
We explore and formulate your strategic plan, handing you a written, professional and documented strategy
- Status quo assessment that integrates Purpose, Product, Process & People
- Scenario & opportunity mapping to innovate tomorrow's strategy
- Clearly established priorities and focus areas
Expressed in a top-grade formalized strategy document.
Navigate
We translate the strategic plan into a path that charts the journey ahead
- Defined priorities tied to a multi-year initiative roadmap
- Action plans with KPI's, OKR's and Scorecards
- External and internal, market-facing and inward facing; inclusive of organization, structures, systems & processes
Expressed in a practical & smart strategy execution program.
Activate
We ensure an intentional environment where people are engaged, energized and can thrive
- North Star coaching & strategic competency assessments (1-on-1 and/or team)
- Strategy workshops, and team & leadership coaching
- Transformation tracks that flow from the why to the how, from the big picture to the organizational nuts-and-bolts
Expressed in an engaging Culture, in all the organization sets out to do.
Process
&
Practice
Along the way you learn how to think and be strategic
- Strategy becomes a core competency and an established business process
- Your organization, your leaders and your teams build up strategic skills
- Strategy shows up, all the time, from 9-to-5
Expressed in impactful leadership, energized teams & strategy delivery.
A healthy strategic plan with a clear path and engaged people is key
No matter your organization's need or size.
Our service modules are built around 01 strategy design & formulation, 02 implementation planning, and 03 implementation coaching.
While we work in these three main buckets, our approach is highly modular and customized: we mix and match tools and approaches tailored to your needs. And we scale them accordingly. We can go broad, deep or focused—working on the level of the whole organization, specific teams or identified initiatives.
Whether you run an organization of 20 or 2,000 people, you are just starting off by yourself, or your start-up is about to enter its first scaling round—the whole range of approaches & tools works.
Strategy, always, needs to be discovered, navigated and activated. Doing so, always, surfaces an organization's best.
Five
Signs
your organization is due for a new or revamped strategy
#1
You are unclear on what the next growth phase looks like
Questions you wrestle with
We've had a good run—now, what's next?
How do I innovate this established business—and, how do I hand it off well?
What does my tomorrow look like in today's AI world?
Momentum is tapering off—in your markets or within your offices
#2
How come customer's reception is becoming lukewarm?
Why are my initiatives not generating the same impact?
Execution is taking too long—what's slowing us down?
Questions you wrestle with
#3
Revenue or profitability has been gradually declining
Questions you wrestle with
What is going on around us that we are not seeing?
Where in my operations is the energy drifting?
Is this it, are we past our peak?
The Board, investors or business partners just don't see it
#4
How can I make them see—and approve—that next big thing we want to do?
Why do they not seem to trust me?
What's the way to meet them where they are at?
Questions you wrestle with
#5
Disengaged teams and organizational friction are common
Questions you wrestle with
Why am I unable to retain talent?
How can I get my people to buy into this exciting growth story?
My people are all talk and no do—what is missing for them to execute?
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