Strategy & Leadership - removing the hype

The views on strategy range from alignment (Passive following adherence) to transformation ("strategic" intervention). Strategy and the formulation of it have become such a hyped process that senior executives are paralyzed into inaction.

I'm not going to labour the point on what strategy is, or what makes it good or bad. It's really a pragmatic approach to what is in essence a bunch of simple questions:

• What are the shareholders expectations?
• Is what you are doing now sustainable, or is what you are going to be doing in the future radically different ( for whatever reason - market forces, new technology, competitors, divestment, integration etc)? - don't whitewash the reality.
• Put it on the table - not the solution, just the facts of where you are now, and where you want to be ( a combination of short, medium and long term goals)

Get you executive team to put their experience together and create a workable plan to get you there. It doesn't have to be perfect. We all fall into the trap of trying to create the perfect strategic plan, when it is in fact a living, breathing process, adapting and adjusting to change.
What you don't know (the gaps), get your professional staff to fill in, i.e. what process needs to be developed , would new technology be required, is it going to change the way you market, are you're customers going to be interacting with you differently? etc.
Don't discount the use of tried and true basics, adapt if you must, but don't have a knee jerk.
Make the time with your executive team to actively engage and set in motion the plans to make the strategy come true. Do it! I'm sure I'm not the only executive that has attended strategy workshops and seen little or no action come from them (Its all about strong leadership here) and ensuring the operations are being dealt with by competent staff, and allowing the executive to get on with making the future happen.
If things change, as they will, have the maturity to change with it, you can't predict the future nor is it likely you will sail straight to the goal. A little bit of tacking will be required. At least you will be reaching your destination.
Having a "good" strategy and doing nothing, equals a "bad" strategy with lots of activity. The saving grace of the latter is that there is at least a chance that you will recognise your errors and fix them as you proceed.