The problem, as my pre-workshop interviews with members of the executive team exposed, was that the organization is “drowning in things to do” – the words of the CEO. Another executive suggested that the company needed “clarity about where we’re heading.” …Another executive described this abundance of activity as “leaving staff feeling quite lost“.
Graham Kenny, CEO, Strategic Factors,
Takeaways of Note:
Recognizing the Difference between Strategy Design & Strategy Execution:
Strategy design operates at the organization level. Strategy execution operates at the individual level (if you don’t make this distinction, you’ll mistake individual action for strategy).
Strategy design must take place at the organization level because each business faces its competitors in the marketplace. They compete, company against company… shift the executive team’s thinking away from individual action and up to organizational positioning.
The reason executive teams struggle with strategy design is that they don’t adopt organization-level thinking at the start. They rush to execution at a strategy retreat, because they invariably arrive ready to address what they need to do.
*application from WRUG & Co. – 5 asset-based Ws & 1H to frame initial strategy design & vision…
- Why – start with your why (vision)
- How – articulate how org uniquely contributes to vision (mission)
- Who – identify stakeholders (who do you exist for – customers/beneficiaries, partners, etc.)
- What – identify what org wants to achieve with and/or contribute to each primary stakeholder group (this becomes guide for strategic plan)
- Where – identify geographic scope
- When – project timeline & benchmarks