What goes into a strategy? What makes it either good or bad? In simple terms, a strategy is a way to deal with a problem or challenge. A good strategy must therefore identify the challenge to be overcome and design a way to overcome it.

The three elements of a good strategy

In order to spot a good strategy, you should look out for these three important elements:

1. A diagnosis - A good strategy defines the challenge and simplifies the overwhelming complexity of reality down to a simpler story by identifying areas of the situation which are deemed critical. The diagnosis uses analogies, metaphors or existing frameworks for simplicity and comprehension. If you don’t know the problem you are solving then you cannot develop guiding actions.
2. A guiding policy - This is an overall approach that is chosen to either cope with or overcome the challenges identified in the diagnosis. It is the guiding policy that directs and constrains actions so that they follow a certain direction without exactly defining what will be done.
3. A set of coherent actions - It is not enough to have a guiding policy. A strategy needs coherent actions that dictate how the guiding policy will be carried out. The actions should be in coherence such that the use of resources and the pathways undertaken blend together without clashing.

Other elements of a good strategy include:

• Simplicity 
• Coherence such that all actions taken by an organisation reinforce and support each other
• Focus and coordination of efforts to achieve an outcome
• Leveraging sources of power to overcome an obstacle

The elements of a bad strategy

There are four major hallmarks of a bad strategy which include:

1. Fluff This is a strategy which uses inflated words to create an illusion of high-level thinking. Substance needs to underpin every good strategy.
2. Zero challenge A bad strategy is one that fails to define the challenge to overcome which makes it impossible to evaluate or improve.
3. Goals instead of a strategy Goals are essential but they are not a substitute for a strategy. More often than not, people make statements of desire rather than actionable plans for overcoming obstacles. Goals should not be confused for a strategy.  A strategy is what dictates how the goals are to be achieved.
4. Bad strategic objectives A bad strategic objective is one which fails to address critical issues or is impracticable.  When strategic objectives are bad, so is the strategy itself.

Use these pointers to evaluate your strategy, and determine if your business has a well-formed strategy or if correction needs to be done. Strong strategic planning is the first step towards effective execution.

Collagis is committed to helping businesses like yours to optimise workforce and organisational effectiveness. We'd love to hear from you to share how we can help you build clear and effective strategies for your business.
Contact us today at info@collagis.com.au

​Many organisations have been unable to turn their strategies into action mostly because they start with the wrong strategy or they get caught up in a model that no longer works. Compelling visions that cannot be seen or believed by others remain only in the mind. This is why organisations must understand how to bring a strategy to life. While it may sound like a really difficult thing to do, there are five simple ways that businesses can do that:

1. Writing it down - The only way a strategy can come to life is if it is put on paper. A strategy should be put on a single piece of paper which will then serve as a strategic framework for the operation of all leaders and employees. When you write it down, it no longer remains an exciting vision in your head but you can actually get others to see it, read it and be convinced about it. Writing down a strategy is the first step to bringing a strategy to life.
2. Sharing it - There is no use in keeping a strategy to yourself. It sounds obvious, but you need to effectively share the strategic framework to ensure that your leaders are aligned. Better yet, give your employees and leaders a chance to build the strategy with you in the first place, so they can understand the context and have co-created the direction. They will therefore also be better placed to make the strategy relevant for their different teams. Everyone in your organisation should be aware of your strategy,  and be engaged in crafting it in a way that is relevant to them, so they can feel a sense of ownership for the outcome.
3. Using it consistently -  Consistency creates familiarity. You should use your strategic framework consistently in your communications with employees so that it they become familiar with it. They should be able to see what is happening and how it ties to the strategy. The importance of the strategic framework will only become important when they see and hear it from multiple sources.
4. Updating and communicating -  There is no way that your thinking at the beginning of the year will remain the same at the end of the year. In the course of time, you have new ideas that you would want to incorporate in your strategic framework. As such, update your framework as your thinking evolves. Communicate with your employees on a regular basis so that they are in the loop and understand the reasons behind your decisions.
5. Celebrating - Celebrating wins has a way of encouraging and creating a positive momentum. Always connect back to and reinforce the core elements of the strategy even as you celebrate your wins

Collagis is committed to helping businesses like yours to optimise workforce and organisational effectiveness. We'd love to hear from you to share how we can help you build clear and effective strategies for your business and enable effective execution. Contact us today at info@collagis.com.au

The failure to effectively execute a strategy is not uncommon in organisations. But businesses sometimes miss that their failure to execute  is because there isn't a strategy worth executing.

Reports are written, town halls held and budgets are set aside, but after all these steps are followed, still nothing happens. The major reason why failure occurs and there is no action on the “new strategies” is that these strategies are often not strategies at all. 

Is your strategy real?
The big question is therefore what a real strategy refers to. A real strategy is one that involves a set of clear choices that define what the organisation is going to do and what it is not going to do.
Understand that a real strategy is one with clear choices. Therefore, if a strategy does not represent a set of clear choices, it will fail to be implemented even with ample efforts of hard-working people. 
 
Goals vs. strategy
In so many instances, people mistake strategies for goals. A statement that only covers what you hope your outcome will be but not what you are going to do to get there, is a goal and not a strategy. You still need a strategy to accomplish those goals. So if you only have ‘hopes’ and no actionable plans, then you have a ‘false’ strategy and you are bound to fail in your execution process.

Priorities vs. strategy
Sometimes, it is not just goals that are confused for strategies. Some organisations have a set of priorities and choices which they pass for a strategy without forming a coherent direction when considered in conjunction. For example, the priorities of your business may be to increase the operational efficiency of your business, target markets outside your country and divest in a certain business. While these are excellent priorities, they cannot be combined to form a strategy. 

When you have your priorities, a strategy presents a clear set of choices which fit together to form a direction for the business. If there is no clear strategic direction, any execution process is doomed for failure.

Ask yourselves these questions to determine whether your strategy is real?

• Is my strategy a clear set of actionable choices and plans or is it a set of hopes and desires with no direction on how to achieve them?
• Do I have a logic behind the plans I have made?
• Have I communicated this logic to others?
• Is my strategy a top-down, one-way trickle-down cascade of decisions or a bottom-up co-creation process?
• Do I insist more on telling people to change their behaviours rather than identifying and countering resisting forces and reinforcing driving forces?

If your strategy is not real, then you need to work on making it real. If it is real, your halfway there, and  tackling execution challenges is your next focus.

What other tips do you have for determining if you strategy is real?

Collagis is committed to helping businesses like yours to optimise workforce and organisational effectiveness. We'd love to hear from you to share how we can help you build clear and effective strategies for your business.
Contact us today at info@collagis.com.au