Do You Have a Real Strategy?

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.
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