At the end of the day, the key thing to remember is that a strategy is about identifying where you need to go in order to satisfy your stakeholders’ needs… it is essentially an outward looking, relatively high-level exercise.
Graham Kenny, CEO of Strategic Factors and author
Only after you’ve figured out where you want to go should you move to the operational challenge of figuring out the specific steps you’ll need to take on the inside in order to get there.
Takeaways of Note:
- Don’t develop strategic plans for functions – if you couple “functional processes” with “strategic plan” the result becomes a list of actions carried out by individuals… the plan becomes operational, not strategic.
- Confine “strategy” to the business level – strategy involves positioning, not action… it achieves a competitive advantage. This positioning then informs operational planning for the functions and teams.
- Keep strategy & action separate – to avoid strategy becoming mere action, take a “helicopter view” of organization, and consider relationships with key stakeholders and competitors… assess positioning “from above” to assess strengths & weaknesses compared to competitors.
- Mind your language – the use of language & terms has a fundamental impact on thought & behavior.