The ability to take action in business is important. Even more important is the ability to think: To think about the action we can take that will maximize the odds of success and allow us to make best use of our time, talents and the opportunities that lie before us. Action (no matter how much of it there is) not based on good thinking is likely, at best, to be inefficient and could even be counter-productive. Looking at things from this angle, it becomes clear that a well thought-through strategy is essential for any business serious about growing and excelling long-term.

Put simply, strategy is a process for thinking clearly and systematically about the business. It is about identifying the big questions that need to be asked, and building them into a process that ensures that they get asked often enough of the right people, and that positive action takes place as a result. With such a strategy process in place we can have some comfort that we will not miss any major opportunities to benefit from our strengths, and will not be blindsided by threats that could have been foreseen.

Relying on a ‘master-plan’ reviewed and revised annually would be an unwise risk in a complex and fast-moving world of ever-changing opportunities and threats. This not only makes it likely that we will get caught out, missing chances or suffering avoidable problems, it also marginalizes strategy as an occasional, peripheral, disconnected activity, making it more likely that we will reject the whole concept of strategy, which will simply further increase the odds of flying partly-blind, and so increase unnecessary risk, causing a descent into a downward spiral of self-perpetuating mediocrity.
To gain the most from it, strategy is best seen as a flexible and continuous process and an integral part of the business. This allows strategy to evolve gradually over time, rather than being a series of reactionary step-changes. The approaches we offer help build strategy into the fabric of the business, establishing it as a habit and practice.

Typical programme structure and features

We tailor our programs to meet the unique circumstances and needs of each client. We use the model below as a broad guiding structure

Within this, elements might include:

• Establishing the vision: A series of exercises, activities and discussions to help the business get a sense of its potential and what it could become, and set out an exciting, and ambitious but achievable future vision that people will be inspired to work toward
• Establishing current position: A series of exercises, activities and discussions to help the business understand where it is now, against a range of key factors. Various business models and strategic analysis tools are used to build a full and balanced picture of where the business intends to go and how it intends to get there.
• How: Exercises to pull all the threads of the discussions about current position and future goals into a coherent strategic plan, setting out broad directions and specific actions and timescales.
• Review: Developing an approach for ongoing review of strategy on two dimensions; tracking of progress and reviewing the continued relevance of the strategy.

We help you establish the strategy process so that it becomes, essentially, self maintaining. We can also help facilitate sessions periodically thereafter, as having someone external can help bring perspective, balance and structure to the sessions.