Strategy Academy

Do some research on your industry. Study your competitors and the market. Figure out your strengths and weaknesses, what makes you different. Customize your strategy to your needs and make it work for you.

Don’t underestimate the impact of a powerful vision. It matters to your people and the world. Along with your values, your vision is part of your identity. These are your anchor for building a learning culture and a strong sense of collective identity.

If everything turns out perfectly, where will the organization be at the end of your plan’s timeline? Be concise and quantify that success in tangible terms. Work your way backward from there to come up with a realistic, ambitious roadmap. Break up the future into smaller increments and stay organized.

Don’t try to perfect your plan. You’ll undoubtedly have to change it. Instead of results, focus on making the first move. Consider what you need to track to force action and build momentum.

Long gone is the time when the strategic plan was a secret. Your people need to be able to refer to your strategy often. They need to understand it and find where they fit in it. Don’t present your plan; expose it.

Exposure of your strategy is key to alignment. Communicate your plan constantly and link the goals of every team with it. The further you go from the top, the harder it is to align. Put context on everything.

For every project in place, you need a measure to track it. And for every metric in place, you need a person to own it. Projects lacking metrics never get executed and they create anxiety amongst your teams. Define ONE owner and collaborators as needed.

Focus on what brings the vision and the end goal to life. Every time something changes, communicate it to your people. Let them align and be part of it. It will motivate them.

Create a safe environment. Encourage your people to try new things and treat small mistakes as input. Failure shouldn’t be the end of the world but a lesson. Create a breeding ground for sharing ideas and motivate genuine effort. Leadership sets the tone and the example.

Give your people authority and empower decision-making at all levels. Give them the necessary information to make informed decisions. Trust them to do so. If they weren’t qualified, they shouldn’t be a part of your strategic alignment.

The values of your organization dominate your strategy. Cultivate them and reinforce the behaviors you wish to see inside the organization. Who are your best people? Who do you want your people to emulate?

Allowing failure doesn’t mean there is no accountability. Be transparent on goals and responsibilities and provide honest feedback. Reinforce accountability over time and it will be there.

What you measure is what you will manage. Make sure you measure the progress of the right things. If your objectives do not align with your metrics, your strategy will suffer.

Staying on top of your strategic plan requires constant reassessments. That means regular reporting. Determine what needs ongoing reviews and make reporting an organizational habit. Commitment to regular reporting makes or breaks the execution of your strategy.

Be clear on your reports. Create focused and consistent agendas. The goal is to find the answers to the right questions so you can determine your next actions. Successful reflection leads to corrective actions and requires clarity in reporting.

When things stay behind, question their relevance. If you want to keep your strategic alignment intact, you need to examine every goal’s and metric’s relevance as soon as they fail you. Do the same for everything new that comes up.

Strategy is all about choices. Figure out the risks and the rewards of each option. Ask tough questions and prepare alternate routes to reach your goal. You’ll be able to make changes faster when you have mapped out your choices.

Strategy is an iterative process, a journey. Adapting and adjusting are part of it. Once you ascertain the need for changes, be decisive. Plans are supposed to change, so don’t shy away from changing them. Stagnation is the mark of a failing strategy.

Lift your people and give credit where it’s due. Succeeding in business is never a certainty. Celebrating victories is a powerful motivator and creates traction. When a major outcome is achieved, everybody needs to feel it.

When things don’t go as planned, learn from them and move on as a team. Realign your people with the strategy and accelerate your teams. Your strategy is going to be whatever you put into it, so don’t linger on the wrong things.