Plan ahead or fall behind
Having a tactical focus will be the default position for many leaders. This means dealing with current opportunities and challenges to ensure short-to-medium-term results. As important as this is, not just for overall performance and morale, it is vital that organisations have a more far-reaching strategy for the future. This will facilitate longer-term success that is sustainable and ensures all shorter activities run in a consistent direction.
Don’t rely on what you’ve got
Businesses may have a competitive advantage such as a new offering or particularly adept staff. Whilst these are fantastic differentiators to have and should be optimised, they cannot be relied upon long-term. If your product/service has a feature that is unique in its market, this will only last so long, as competitors look to replicate or surpass it. Similarly, banking on retaining all your top performing staff is foolhardy, as some may move on to new roles.
Strategy should be proactive, not reactive. You should be prepared well in advance when one of your competitors releases a rival offering, or when your one of your key managers retires. Prior thought must be given to what this future will look like and how it can be best navigated, as acting reactively can often be pressured and lead to ill-conceived decisions.
Creating your strategy
I understand that it can be difficult to assign specific time to strategic thinking amongst the hectic day-to-day schedule. As a leader you probably oversee a large amount of the processes that take place within your business; however, you must clear some of this space in your timetable to plan ahead. Be stricter with your office routine and ideally empower your colleagues to take further responsibility.
To create your strategy, identify where you want to go and when you want to get there. To identify what action to take, consult your data (number of sales, website analytics, etc.) and gather feedback from your key stakeholder groups (employees, clients, etc.). By doing this you are reviewing your current performance and understanding trends, which should leave you better informed on what should be prioritised and what needs to be changed.
Maintaining and measuring your strategy
Your relationship with your strategy should be constant. If you feel that your company does not have a sufficiently strong strategic focus, don’t let this prospect deter you. Once you have set aside specific time to for this planning, you will find it increasingly engaging to look to the future.
Although it can be difficult to consider what might be coming next, investing this time and effort will be invaluable to you in every process and initiative that takes place across your organisation. Your strategy should be the script you read from to determine success or failure. Doing this will make your action more aligned and efficient, with pre-set deadlines and pre-agreed metrics to instruct your leadership more conclusively.
Plan ahead with confidence
Strategic thinking is a skill leaders should possess, but is not necessarily inherent. It requires a vision to aim for and the ability to communicate this to recruit others to your cause. As well as this, you must have an objective view of the current situation, with a rounded knowledge of the appropriate facts and figures to decide further action.
During my time coaching, I have found that leaders consider strategy a particular stumbling block, an aspect of their business which they hide away guiltily. I encourage them first to step back to view their organisation with the new frameworks and perspectives I provide. By taking this analytic approach, they understand each aspect with greater clarity. This stimulates increased confidence to consider the future and take control of it from a more assured position.
So, don’t stand still. Invest in your strategy and make your business future fit.
If any of the themes covered in this article resonate with you, please book a free discovery call with me here…