Do you really have a strategy? Every organization thinks they have one. Most organizations put real effort into creating theirs. Many organizations follow a formal process to develop theirs. Some organizations create a true strategy and develop a corresponding plan to execute. But only a few have in place a complete evidence-based and validated strategy, business model and performance management system.
Why’s that? Because it’s hard to do. Not complex. Just takes a lot of thinking and humility. And some clarity around where the heck you are trying to go as a company. If you can’t clearly define your strategic themes, the rest is harder.
Just look at an MIT SLoan/LBS study a few years ago of trying to figure a company’s strategic themes from financial reports.
One would think a confident management team with a coherent strategy could easily articulate such a strategy in its financial reports. Customers, portfolio, costs, growth path, platforms and risks would seem to be easily described.
Not so much.
Don’t feel bad if your company doesn’t have a sense of its strategic themes. See how hard it was for even the S&P500 companies to do so.
#strategy #strategicplanning #strategicthinking
