|
Whenever
I listen to strategy consultants wax eloquently about the sophistication
of their approaches, the voice of Mr. Hagerty rings in my ears. Like
objects in motion, business strategies can never be isolated from the dynamics of
their environment. In rapidly changing environments such as
today, the role of strategy is to guide change.
Strategy
as Change
A
good business strategy defines where you're going and how you're going to
get there. Equally important, it sets boundaries that define where
you're not going and routes that are out of bounds. Developing this
strategy should be a thoughtful process. That may sound obvious, but
our experience is that many firms approach strategy development as
financial mechanics, seeking to making all the numbers line up as they
(and others such as Wall Street) would wish. Others, are cursory in
their thinking; and don't make explicit the underlying assumptions upon
which their strategy rests.
In
the best cases, good strategic thinking is a rich, goal-focused
conversation about the assumptions regarding your business capabilities
and environment, the firm's interaction with it; all relative to your
aspirations. The resulting strategy is predictive; not
deterministic. In other words, believe in your plan, but never
believe it. Success depends on how effectively you predict,
execute, and where appropriate, adjust to developments within the business
ecosystem.
This
doesn't endorse strategy by muddling through. A good strategy has
strength and durability so that it can bend with but not disintegrate
under the force of change. To a company, a good strategy is
like a good, topological map to a hiker. It details the major land
masses, rivers, lakes and hazards of the environment (competitors,
technology, customers, suppliers, etc). In foul weather, the map guides
your change your process. Even in a changing environment, far better
to have a map, than no map at all.
Durable
strategy development is becoming more difficult. In a world that
marches in so-called Internet time, the competitive environment is in
constant flux. Second, and for the same reason, people have become
far more skilled at hyperactive responsiveness than seriously engaging
with one another about the patterns and structures that run below the
flux. Third, the tools for strategy development are few.
The most robust are financially based, and steer conversation towards
filling in spreadsheet cells answer than raising substantive questions
about what we collective know, and more importantly, what we think we know
that isn't so.
The
content and conduct of conversation
The
topics for this conversation are simple to describe, initially addressed
in order, but ultimately intertwined:
- What
is the core purpose and aspirations for the firm?
- What
is our chosen path?
- What
assumptions are we making by choosing this path? (external and
internal)
- What
are the keys for execution
- How
will we continuously sense and adjust
Don't
make the mistake of trying to do justice to these topics at the
all-too-familiar, two-day, annual strategic planning offsite ( an orgasm
of rushed activity, flipchart lists and precious little data or
thinking!) At a minimum, spread the conversation over time,
constantly honing in "the plan". Our experience of the
most effective companies is that they create an ongoing dialogue the is
owned by executives, but modulates engagement of key stakeholders within
and outside the firm. These may take the form of topic specific
retreats intermingled with a structured meetings. What distinguishes
them is they treat strategy development as a creative
process.
Conclusion
There's
little argument that the sustainability of any competitive advantage or
strategy seems shorter than ever before. From mega-mergers to
dot.com skyrockets (some soaring/some crashing and burning), the landscape
does seem to change at Internet speed. Leaders have a two-fold
challenge: developing a creative strategy that differentiates them
and then accelerating braking and turning smoothly throughout execution.
©2000 Christopher Meyer
|
