How To Find Your Strategy Sweet Spot

“In real life, strategy is actually very straightforward. You pick a direction and implement like hell.” - Jack Welch

I’ve had two types of clients in my 27 year consulting career. Those who love and embrace strategy and those who try to avoid it at all costs. 

The latter has an obvious challenge of not intentionally driving insight and impact through the use of strategic tools, frameworks, and executive focus. They are wholly focused on the day-to-day operations or “survival-mode” and don’t see the value in making an investment that could give them that competitive advantage or are overwhelmed by the thought of adding more to anyone’s plate.

The former loves the process of developing the strategic plan - the working groups, the market research, the glossy materials - and sees it as a way to solve all of their problems. Their challenge is often that they pack those plans with the most ambitious goals, the largest number of objectives, the maximum amount of capital investment. They feel that these plans need to include all the emerging trends and technologies, the "hot skills", and the newest and most innovative capabilities. 

Neither of these extreme examples realizes the benefits of a focused, relevant strategy because they have either selected too few or too many strategic priorities. So where is the strategy sweet spot? 

The key is to carefully select a few critical priorities, implement and integrate with focus and discipline, and say no to other distractions. And while only the business leaders can decide which are the critical priorities that will create that competitive advantage, here are a few tips anyone can use to focus their strategy and achieve results.

Make It Actionable. Having visionary and aspirational goals are great. But I have had clients who then become paralyzed by how weighty these are to the point where they cannot figure out how to begin to achieve them. Or they look at that goal and immediately declare that there isn’t enough time to even start thinking about it.

Sometimes the simplest way to start is to tell someone what you want to do, and ask for their input. One great tool to get input and insights and maybe some new ways to think about how to tackle it is the use of Catalytic Questioning. Gather a couple of team members or peers and tap into their ideas. It not only gives you the experience and insight from others, but also creates an accountability mechanism to help you stay on top of your actions.

Acknowledge Limited Resources and Be Selective. If you are like most (read: all) organizations, you are dealing with limited resources. To assume you can do it all and effectively incorporate new people, capabilities, technologies, and changes into your operations simultaneously is to set yourself up for disappointment.

To add something meaningful and impactful probably means that you will have to make some trade-offs. Since you will probably need to engage the same people that you rely on to handle most other important things, you will need to take something off their plate or better delegate and align the rest of your team to focus on these new objectives. 

Differentiate Strategy from Operations. If you do already have a strategy, take a fresh look at it. Chances are that your current strategy is not a strategy at all. It is a list of operational improvements. And while these improvements may be critical to your business, they are not a strategy. There is a difference between streamlining your sales operations and choosing something different to sell. 

Keep strategic and operational items separate but aligned and be sure to keep executive focus on the strategic. Be willing to sacrifice some existing operations to achieve that strategic change that will have the big impact (see Limited Resources section above). This is where being bold and overcoming your sunk cost bias might be just the thing you need to get out of your hole or into the next level. 

Demonstrate Self-Awareness and Commitment. I have had clients ask me which of their strategic priorities are the most important. My answer: the ones you are actually committed to implementing. 

This is where self-awareness becomes your best tool. Be honest with yourself and your team. If you really have no intention of entering that new market or changing the way you evaluate your people, then do not put it in the strategy. It will only distract you from real progress and diminish your credibility when those stakeholders realize it is not going to happen. 

The key to an impactful and achievable strategy is to spend your valuable time and money setting and communicating a clear, strategic direction for your company. Identify a couple of strategic priorities that you are committed to implementing and integrating into your operations this cycle. You don't need any fancy, glossy documents or expensive offsites or a massive and detailed plan. You just need some space to think, the courage to make some bold choices, and the resolve to follow through on these changes.