Friday 7 March 2014

Your plans are unlikely to get executed if you are unclear about your strategy

The debate going on in Australian politics about our so-called national airline Qantas is flawed because they are talking about plans without clarity of the strategy.

No politician seems to be able to answer the questions; What is our strategy about foreign ownership? and What is our strategy about creating and retaining jobs? In fact I don’t hear anyone asking these questions.

If you have a plan for the future of your business and you are unclear about your strategy, you are equally in deep trouble.

Are you asking and candidly and authentically answering the questions you must?

Strategy is simply the how of getting where you want to go.

As I have proclaimed many, many times you need a shared-view about your strategy with those who will execute it. And a shared-view about strategy cannot be in isolation. You must have shared-view about all of the following:

where you are (reality)
where you're going (possibility)
why you're going there (purpose)
how you will get there (strategy)
who will do what and when (execution)
how you will know you are on track (milestones and lead measures)
how you will behave along the way (values)

The last one is about culture which drives and will always trump strategy.

The culture of politics sadly is governement and oppostion against a backdrop in the rest of the world of collaboration. This means politicians have hamstrung themselves from achieving anything great. Don’t make this mistake in your business.

A word about strategic planning. I believe it is an oxymoron. 

Strategy and planning (read executiuon) should be thought about separately. Planning/execution follows strategy in the context of shared-view as outlined above.

Be the difference you want to see in the world.
Ian

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