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CORE SERVICES
What You Need to Know About Strategy in 2018
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The definition of strategy is “a plan of action designed to achieve a vision.” The objective of developing a strategy is wholly about gaining (or becoming prepared to gain) a position of advantage over adversaries and/or exploiting emerging possibilities while achieving performance targets. Vision, BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goals) and Core Values get you to the starting line. However, it requires a substantial amount of focused hard work to go from creating a meaningful vision for your company to executing all the way to the finish line. This hard work becomes focused by creating and executing on a strategic plan.
The majority of companies in our industry have tunnel vision. They chase the same opportunities that every other company is aimlessly chasing – and they miss the same opportunities everyone else is missing, because those opportunities are hidden in plain sight. Consequently, while they miss out – those companies and brands that have a vastly different perspective are the ones that are differentiating themselves in the marketplace. Yet, all too often, those in our industry choose to limit their perspective, thereby limiting their ability to be diverse and different. |
Companies have gotten so locked into a cadence of competition that they appear to have lost sight of their mandate – to create meaningful separation from one another. The harder they compete the less different they become. Services are no longer competing against each other; they are collapsing into each other in the minds of the customer. There are several underlying causes for this typical collapse, all of which relate to essential flaws present in the strategic planning process.
Real strategy does not get created in a 2-day off-site once a year – although perhaps instantly gratifying, spending such a limited amount of time on long-term strategy simply isn’t enough in order to generate a strategic plan that matters. Concurrently, a lack of willingness to consistently update, adjust, and brainstorm new formations of the long-term strategy will lead to the antiquation of the strategic planning processes and dysfunction within the organization. What’s worse than a poorly devised strategic plan - is no strategic plan at all. It goes without saying that without a firm strategy in place, the business can expect to remain a commodity in an industry that is full of average commodity companies. |
Does your company have all of the pieces in place in order to effectively execute a strategic plan for 2018?
Check out the CKG Group's Strategic Planning Guide
that the top industry leaders are using now.
Check out the CKG Group's Strategic Planning Guide
that the top industry leaders are using now.
Nothing Occurs Without Execution
Lastly, weak implementation and lack of lasting execution are causes for the dwindling effectiveness of a strategic plan. Understanding accountability versus responsibility, and developing Action Plans for initiatives that include clearly defined deliverables is a critical component.