Tag: strategy

Strong leaders actually know how to craft a strategy

Last month I wrote about the fact that crafting a winning strategy is what strong leaders do. The next series of blogs will describe in more detail how to formulate your team’s strategy as a leader. This month we will begin with the basic concept.

A plan of action designed to achieve a major or overall aim.

Basic definition of strategy

Some leaders are clueless

Have you ever worked for a leader who does not know what a strategy is…really? No one trained him, and it showed. For example, I worked for one leader who had no clue. He knew it, I knew it, everyone knew it. The organization put this leader in charge of crafting the strategy we would use moving forward. He floundered, and we all watched while this leader struggled. He did not know what he was doing and never delivered. All his stakeholders were left in the dark wondering what was happening. Where were we going? As you might imagine – it was a painful experience for all of us and did not end well for this leader.

It is no fun working for a clueless leader.

The leader who replaced him was much better

Eventually, a new leader was put in place. This leader went to work right away crafting a strategy for the organization. She gathered a team to help define the strategy. She socialized it with her leadership team, received feedback, and made adjustments. A final product was delivered that was well-received by practically everyone. Trust was restored, a clear path forward was identified and performance improved rapidly as we began executing the new strategy. I watched in wonder as she turned around a bad situation in about 90 days. It was a pleasure working for a leader who knew what she was doing and inspired her followers.

In reality, strategy is actually very straightforward. You pick a general direction and implement it like hell.

Jack Welsh

A tool to help craft your strategy

As a leader, it is important that you understand what a strategy actually is. Some leaders struggle with thinking strategically because they do not really know what it means. You probably hear the word strategy a lot. I would offer that what many people are talking about when they say the word strategy is actually tactics, process, and procedures. This diagram found below is the best way I know to think about what a strategy is. It is simple to understand.

Use this simple diagram to formulate your strategy

When in doubt draw it out using this simple diagram. Starting on the left – we, that is you and your team, are here. It is important to define the current state – the blue circle with the red star. Describe what is going well with your team and what needs to change. On the right is the future state. You want to be there – the green circle. The strategy articulates how you are going to go from here to there – the arrow. Any strategy that does not include a how is not an actual strategy. I am going to say that again because I cannot count how many strategic briefings that were all fluff and no substance. In other words, there was no way to actually implement the strategy. Any strategy that does not include the how is not an actual strategy.

Simon Simek reminds us about the importance of the how.

An example of a strategy with no how in it

Years ago I worked for an organization that did not understand this topic. The business unit I worked in did not know how to articulate real strategic thinking. One year all we received from senior leadership was “grow the business”. The current state part of the business was only the revenue number we generated the last year, $100 million. The future state was another number – our target for the next year, $120 million. The strategy was we need to grow by $20 million, or 20%. No mention of how we would reach that number. Go and grow. Wow – talk about a strategy with no how in it. What happened next was predictable.

High growth strategies are not easy to implement.

The leadership team struggled to get everyone motivated

The go and grow strategy was not well received by the leadership team. Market conditions were changing – the next year would be much harder than the last year. The growth target was much larger than the previous one – twice as large. Leaders in the business unit wondered how in the world are we going to grow twice as fast in a tough market. No clear answers were provided by the senior leaders. The reality is that they did not know how we would do it. They were hoping for the best. The leadership team struggled to get everyone bought into the strategy and motivated to make it happen. As a result, we did not have a good year, we missed the target, and new leaders were brought in to fix the problem.

Getting buy-in from the team is critical for strategy success.

What about you?

Do you know how to craft a winning strategy? Have you taken the time to formulate, codify and communicate it to your stakeholders? If not, make the investment now. If so, you will enjoy the next few blogs. We are going to explore this topic in detail to include points to ponder, practical tactical tips, and lessons learned based on decades of experience.

ATW! is designed to make you a better leader

I hope you join me on this journey to raise the next generation of leaders. The world is in desperate need of more great leaders. Women and men who lead with confidence, clarity, and creativity. It’s time to become the leader that your world needs. Let’s go All The Way!

All The Way Leadership!

Crafting a winning strategy is what strong leaders do

Take a moment right now and think about a strong leader you know. Someone you truly enjoyed working for. Ask yourself a basic question about this leader. Does she know how to craft a winning strategy? I bet the answer is yes. Strong leaders win. Now think about a weak leader you know well. Someone you did not enjoy following. Ask yourself the same question. Did he select a winning strategy? Your answer probably changed to no. It is difficult to follow someone who does not know how to win. Losing sucks. It always has and always will.

Winning is a great feeling that your team wants to experience.

Strategy is a constant leadership challenge

Strong leaders think strategically on a regular basis. How will my team win today, tomorrow, and the next days after that? Having a winning strategy is a constant challenge that every leader faces. Trust me – your competition is thinking about ways to beat you and your team. You better do the same thing. It is easy to rest on your laurels and fall into the trap of focusing your time and energy as a leader on tactical execution. I call it the “keeping the trains running” mentality. Weak leaders keep their heads down, failing to look at the big picture and over the horizon. Don’t be that kind of leader. Being a strong leader is more important than ever these days.

Complex challenges require leaders with comprehensive solutions to solve them.
Sometimes a leader needs to step back and look at the big picture.

It is a highly competitive marketplace, so strategy is important for success

The business world is a competitive place. I cannot think of many industries that are not highly competitive. If you want to win you better have a good strategy before your competition eats your lunch. I have written before about what happens when a leader does not have a good strategy. If some days it feels like you are in a brawl at work – it probably is because you are. Let’s face it – the COVID crisis made it even more important than ever to have a good strategy to not only win but simply survive in some industries. The whole world changed last year. Strong leaders recognized the need for new strategies to be successful in the post-pandemic world and are adjusting accordingly. While others are hoping that things will return to normal (whatever that means), and may not make it much longer.

Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.

Mike Tyson

Leaders are expected to provide the winning strategy for the team

Let’s pose a simple question – who is responsible for the strategy? Answer – the leader. Sure you are going to get help from others when crafting the strategy. But, if you are the leader, you need to own the strategy for your team. They will expect it, and you need to deliver. Think about it. Who will the team turn to when execution gets tough? The leader – of course. That is why you are there. Strong leaders understand that they are expected to provide the winning strategy for their team. Weak leaders delegate it to others, or simply hope for the best. And we all know by now that hope is not an effective strategy, especially in a competitive market.

You are the quarterback – call the play!

Picking a winning strategy may be challenging if you have many possible paths in front of you

My last point is somewhat counter-intuitive. I believe picking the best strategy is most difficult when you have many possible options. It is usually pretty easy to pick between two or three options. More than that then you should spend some time analyzing each option before selecting, but don’t take too long. The reason I mention this topic is that I have worked for leaders who were bad at strategy simply because they wasted precious time trying to pick the best path forward. We would spend days, weeks, and months thinking through the options and never commit fully to one. Meanwhile, our competitors selected their strategy and were busy executing it.

Solving problems is a leaders job.
Don’t spend too much time selecting the strategy.

What about you? Do you have a winning strategy?

Are you crafting a winning strategy for your team? Do you spend time thinking strategically with your team on a regular basis? If not, then you have work to do. Don’t worry – All The Way Leadership! is here. The next series of blog posts will focus on strategy formulation.

ATW! is designed to make you a better leader

I hope you join me on this journey to raise up the next generation of leaders. The world is in desperate need of more great leaders. Women and men who lead with confidence, clarity, and creativity. It’s time to become the leader that your world needs. Let’s go All The Way!

All The Way Leadership!