Would you believe greater than 65% of companies don’t understand what strategy means.. And my own experience would tell me the same..
A quote I love sharing with my customers who say they are too busy is.
‘If you are too busy to improve, you will always be too busy’
When I ask companies about their strategy, I get answers that relate to elements of a strategy e.g.
- Brainstorming sessions
- Goals / statements
- Or I hear ‘I’ll work on it on the side, I’m too busy’ – which leads me back to the quote above
Strategy should be a breathing part of your business. It should integrate seamlessly with your day to day activities. Yes you have a business to run, and strategy should play an instrumental part in this.
I.e. Strategy should be the overarching needle that keeps you focused on achieving your north star!
I’ve developed many strategies over the years for businesses. Some ask me to stay with them while the embed it into their culture and way of working. Some like to do with themselves and more often than not, they come back and ask for help. Building strategies they way I do is alien to many people, in fact it can cause great disruption, akin to a clean up job. Why? Well I know what works and what doesn’t. If you want a strategy to work, you need to lay the foundations. What would happen a new building if the foundations weren’t laid correctly?
While spending time up front will be short term pain, the rewards will be worth it long term.
Getting it started is the key, there will be initial disruption, but like anything, it will become embedded in day to day work.
The best way to think of a strategy is that of a system with multiple moving parts. Something that will be worked on every day. And the execution element should be carried out with military precision.
That is,
Protecting your business, your team(s), your customers and future customers like a fort and army protects everything inside it.
Nothing should be left to chance!
