A good strategy helps to streamline the actions and to make sure all the resources are put to use in the most efficient way, serving the end purpose. Without a strategy, there is no clarity about the destination and no clear vision of how to get there. Everyone seems to be doing something, but the question is: do these individual efforts align and create synergy? Does the right hand know what the left is doing and why?
A well-designed and executed strategy is like an airplane that helps the whole team to take off and move together towards the desired goal. It makes the team truly act and think as a unified system or organism and gives each member a clear sense of the purpose and significance of their contribution. To create an excellent strategy that serves those purposes, it’s advisable to avoid three very common strategic blunders.
What are they?
Blunder number one: A strategy is made “up there”
The first blunder that is very typical (and in many ways understandable) is giving the responsibility of making the strategy only to a small circle of “smart minds”, i.e. not involving the rest of the team that has to later implement it.
Strategies are often born in small circles of the ‘smartest minds’. Giving key responsibilities to a small number of people to oversee the whole process is a logical move. The trouble starts when these few people are perceived to be smart enough to exclude everyone else and the rest of the team only sees the strategy when it is ready. It is then often very difficult to ‘sell’ it to the wider team. It happens more often than not that in those cases many important facts and details have been overlooked, details that are well known to people who were not involved in the process.
A team that does not include the knowledge and perspective of their staff at all levels in such an important process will always operate below its true potential.
Designing the process of strategy development in a way that employees at all levels can provide input and buy-in, helps to nip two major challenges in a bud.
Firstly, these people immediately bring a much broader range of knowledge and perspectives to the table, which is essential for perceiving the reality in full detail and for not missing any crucial details. This broader scope of perspectives and knowledge is also incredible resource for troubleshooting and harvesting ideas throughout the process. The likelihood of success of a strategy which is designed while ignoring the realities and knowledge that rises from the day-to-day work, is greatly reduced.
Secondly, when involving the whole team into the process, the strategy becomes the brainchild of the whole team, and any misunderstandings, negotiations and clarifications can be dealt with in the strategy process. Once the strategy is finalized, it can therefore be implemented immediately, it is ‘everybody’s business’ and there is no need to ‘sell’ it to anyone internally.
Second blunder: I don’t know what I don’t know
Another very simple but extremely common mistake is not using all the information that is actually available to the organization when making a strategy. In addition to the previously mentioned information that sits in your team member’s heads, in their cognition, that comes through day-to-day work, there is often unused information that could come from different streams of data.
It is a good idea to visualise all the possible metrics that a company can have about its processes, their efficiency and effectiveness. The more accurate and comprehensive the baseline data, the better the quality of decisions within the strategy process.
Third blunder: Ready! Done!
The third potential downfall of the strategy process is so obvious and yet so common – once a strategy is ready, it is expected to magically start working. You go back to your normal work processes and the magical document called ‘strategy’ gathers dust on a shelf.
An important part of the strategy process is to think through and agree on an implementation plan. With specific KPI-s, responsibilities and deadlines. Without a specific action plan that translates to everyday operations and accountability, the energy and work invested in the strategy process will be dissipated. Agreements on when and how the objectives, KPI-s and steps agreed in the strategy will be implemented, how often and how they will be reviewed are of a key importance.
To sum it all up – extensive and thoughtful involvement of people, proper groundwork and information gathering, and a detailed implementation plan are essential parts of the process of making a strategy work, to help get the most out of it for the business and the team.
I have witnessed many moments when issues that have been festering in organizations for years, causing inefficiencies and misunderstandings, are finally aired and clarified – there is finally a space created where all the relevant data and people come together, where team members really listen to each other and can then come up with solutions that really work.
A shared vision is one of the most powerful motivators – and when it’s time for action, you want your whole team to be motivated and ready to contribute.
What have been the biggest lessons learned for you in the process of strategy making?
