All business planning is not strategy
Posted by Grant Brewer on 28 Sep 2006
The idea of what is strategic or what comprises strategy is often confused. The terms themselves are so overused that they risk losing any meaning at all. What is often necessary in organisations is a sense of getting back to basics. It is often forgotten that strategy is about the "big picture"; it relates to the overall landscape or context within which an organisation exists. Strategy is not about the day to day tactics.
The idea of what is strategic or what comprises strategy is often confused. The terms themselves are so overused that they risk losing any meaning at all. What is often necessary in organisations is a sense of getting back to basics. It is often forgotten that strategy is about the "big picture"; it relates to the overall landscape or context within which an organisation exists. Strategy is not about the day to day tactics.
Strategy exists in a context
So a good starting point in refreshing the strategic thinking is to focus the discussion on this landscape. Strategy exists in a context of people acting as the team - the organisation exists through its people. It is framed by the sense of identity that people have with its values, vision and ideals. Its people need to have a sense of belonging, which will exist through the formal structure of the organisation and through the relationships between the people inside and outside the organisation. Externally, this might include business partners and the wider socio-economic landscape in which the organisation operates. Explore this context: get involved in the relationships, the sense of belonging and the relationship. This means taking the strategy conversation outside of the boardroom to actually experiencing the organisation through its context.
Great leaders have strong sense of their own personal and their organisation's context. They are typically carefully tuned into the relationship between people in the organisation and between people and the organisation structure. The relationships are not the same as the structure. The idea of people making up the framework of the organisation and existing within their environment is why it is not possible to separate the organisation from the culture and politics within which it operates. Anyone in South Africa, who, for example, believes that the countries politics shouldn't influence business is fundamentally misunderstanding what makes up strategic conversation and direction. This is also why it is so important for the future growth of the South African economy that the country finds its own place in the global economy. No amount of trade barriers will make South Africa competitive with low cost Chinese imports. We've got to find our own way to compete.
Strategy is about what you do in the future
It is also important for strategy to be more about creating the future than about improving the efficiency of the present. By definition, strategy should be forward looking. A common pitfall of strategy processes is to focus too much on the current state of affairs and to debate the ways in which the current state can improve through evolution. Strategy should be challenging the conventional approaches; it should be seeking radical ideas and different thinking. The strategy process shouldn't be difficult; but creating an original and unique strategy should be a challenging exercise. In some respects, if there isn't something challenging or difficult in creating a strategy, then there probably isn't anything really unique or fresh about the strategy and it may be a symptom of poor thinking.
Strategy is continuous
A good strategy development process should extend throughout the whole year, and in fact, should have a horizon that extends several years into the future. Many people make the mistake of expecting strategy to be accurate - more of a science. In fact, strategy creation is often more art than science. The process should also be cyclical, embracing continuous conversation and not falling into the trap of a annual weekend strategy offsite. Strategy doesn't happen in a few management meetings. Strategy is developed like a living organism and is shaped or refined overtime.
Draw out different scenarios to extend your strategic conversations as you develop your organisation's strategy. It is important to recognise that the strategy isn't a written document. More likely, it is a set of documents, experiences and conversations. And yes, by definition this is ethereal ad intangible. Encourage your scenarios to reflect people: tell the stories of customers, employees or business partners. Storytelling is a great way to explore ideas and to communicate expectations or direction in a way that becomes very personal to your team. It feels uncomfortable and vague at first, but conversation and storytelling becomes much more effective than a list of goals on a PowerPoint slide because it taps into the relationships, emotions and context of your organisation and people.
Give your organisation's strategy real meaning by separating strategy from process improvements, refinements or day to day decision making, you can strengthen the vision of the organisation. Take your strategy sessions beyond short term planning or budgeting discussions. Encourage the strategy conversations and the strategy itself to reflect the unique combination of people, relationships, intellect, organisational structure and processes that comprise your organisation. This dynamic combination is what really makes up an organisation's strategy - rearranging the organisational chart isn't real strategy.
All business planning is not strategy was published in Intelligence Magazine as Strategym #42 in October 2006.
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implementation (10) | strategy (8) | leadership (7) | planning (1) | strategic conversation (1)
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