Our family talked for years about going to New Zealand.
Inspired by “Lord of the Rings” scenery and a cool Kiwi exchange student, we’d get lost in all the possibilities, pouring over travel guides and maps and dreaming about our “someday” journey.
One night, going through piles of paperwork, my husband discovered we’d earned four FREE airline vouchers to fly ANYWHERE in the world. Our dream come true, right?
The problem was — the vouchers were expiring in five weeks!
Turning our “someday “journey into reality meant we were suddenly faced with decisions: Which cities? How much time? What’s the budget? How do we convince bosses and kids’ teachers that suddenly leaving to go halfway around the world was a great idea? Do we even go?
We had gotten so LOST IN THE POSSIBILITIES of our journey that we almost MISSED THE OPPORTUNITY.
Your strategy is a journey too.
In my work with CEOs, boards, and leadership teams driving a new direction, I find it’s easy to get lost in the possibilities of a new strategy as well.
New strategies are often launched with great fanfare — but organizations can quickly lose their way. People can get confused and disillusioned. Work is wasted. Strategies get stalled.
When you get lost on a trip, a “You Are Here” signpost can help you get your bearings. In driving a new strategy, the same thing is true.
It helps to know where you are on three aspects of the journey: the strategy process journey, the adoption process journey, and even where you are in shifting your mindset to take this new direction.
Your Strategy Process Journey is the first step.
Do you recognize any of these Strategy Process journey signposts — or challenges?
Stage 1: CLARIFY YOUR VISION
Many leaders confuse their VISION with a fluffy “someday” tagline.
Your vision can FUEL your organization to accomplish great things – but ONLY if you are all on the same page and clear about what “someday” looks like!
Avoid fluffy platitudes and get specific: What is the problem you want to solve? What will be different when you’re successful? Who will even care? Can your whole team describe the same vision and how they can play a part?
Ensure you all are journeying to the same place by getting clear about your vision as a team.
Stage 2: DEFINE YOUR STRATEGIC POSITIONING
This stage is often skipped by leaders who fall in love with their big idea and immediately jump in to execute it.
But if your strategy requires people to DO something NEW — whether it’s customers, members, employees, partners, or funders — they are likely to ask: Who are you? Why do you matter? Why should I trust you? Can you deliver on your promise?
Your strategic positioning is the foundation for your strategy. It’s where you intend to play and how you will win. Defining your strategic positioning helps others know quickly why they should engage with you.
Skip this stage and you’ll find decisions and results getting delayed.
Stage 3: ALIGN AND PREPARE TO WIN TOGETHER
For some leaders, this stage can be the most frustrating! When you clearly see the vision, it’s easy to think you are ready to go — and get impatient with those who aren’t.
But even the best strategy will fail if people are confused, skeptical and not aligned. In fact, studies show that highly aligned organizations grow revenue 58% faster than those that are unaligned and unprepared.
Aligning for a new strategy means bringing people together in agreement, in support of each other. Who has to take what action to succeed? Are they prepared? Translate your inspiring vision into strategic goals, objectives and milestones, clear roles and responsibilities.
Yes, it takes a little more time. But getting alignment right will actually speed up results by eliminating confusion. It will also help you avoid painful frustration along the way.
Stage 4: IMPLEMENT AND MEASURE PROGRESS
This stage of your Strategy Process journey can be one of the most satisfying stages-– and the most complex.
The good news is you can start to see the real-world impact of your vision! But this is also where you are confronted with the fact that many of your ASSUMPTIONS were wrong and things don’t work! Here you can also easily get lost in the details of DOING. Your team can get overwhelmed, disillusioned and stuck.
It is important at this implementation stage to prioritize LISTENING as much as doing. Pilot first to listen and learn quickly and prove your assumptions.
Listen to the data. But just as important, listen to people on the front line. They have more answers than you may think.
Stage 5: SCAN FOR CHANGE AND OPTIMIZE
Even good leaders can get overly invested in their perfect plans. They ignore signals that the environment has changed. It can be the death of a good strategy.
It’s in this stage you need to establish a regular cadence of sensing changing trends and evaluating your strategic options. Regularly thinking through “what if” scenarios can help your organization prepare for change.
The trick when scanning is to not only to collect data — but to be willing to ACT on it! Regularly recalibrating as a team to optimize can help you adapt your business model, mitigate risk, and seize new opportunities.
(By the way, this last “stage” of the Strategy Process is never done. It’s a way of working for an organization, and an opportunity to create a competitive advantage!)
Okay – did you recognize any of these signposts or challenges? Which stage of the Strategy Process journey are YOU in?
By realizing where you are NOW, you can get your bearings, focus on what you need to do for this stage, and prepare for the stages yet to come.
Are you responsible for driving a new strategy this year? How are you making sure you don’t get lost? Don’t MISS YOUR OPPORTUNITY by getting LOST IN THE POSSIBILITIES of your Strategy Process journey.
Recognize that “You Are HERE” – and that you CAN do this!
I look forward to hearing your thoughts!
– Susan Schramm
This article picks up on an earlier article in this series might find helpful, “Your Strategy Journey: Do You Know What Stage You Are In?” It’s part of my blog series focused on equipping and energizing leaders with practical ways to move people forward, whether you’re leading a new strategy (or getting one back on track!).
Please don’t be shy about sharing, leaving comments, or dropping me a private note with your own reactions or ideas. I’m at susan.schramm@gotomarketimpact.com and would love to connect.
