Strategy – "Route 66" to your goals
Strategies are essential to get success. In business there must be a common agreement
of all the different goals and all key stakeholders must know the direction/road that has
been agreed to use to reach the goal. That is exactly what a strategy must do
“Describe the goals and the road to get there”
Without strategies you get chaos. I have been working for companies where strategies
are rare and it results in people working for different goals in different ways. The only
results you get - are confusion, waste of money and time.
Companies make strategies different ways. I have not been working for 2 companies
that have used the same way to make strategies or strategies plans for that matter. How
to make a strategy depends on the industry, the company history, how much strategies
are used etc. My point is
“There is not only one way to make a good strategy”
For me a good strategy includes a vision showing the future goals at the long run. To
reach this future goal it is necessary to make a mission describing what we have to
accomplish at short terms to achieve our vision. During this mission there are
several objectives that must be fulfilled so the mission can be a success and to conduct
each objective it is necessary to activate and finalize several initiatives. If it is possible
to describe this mission in a model visualization will make it easier for others to
understand the strategy. “A picture can tell more than 1,000 words”.
To make the strategy more operative each initiative can include the initials of the
person who is going to be responsible for the task and an end date/quarter. The
operational torque can be clarified by include the 10 most important initiatives in
prioritized order at the last template of the strategy. To transform the strategy to an
operative level it is also possible to use balanced scorecard or other tools.
If your company is novice working with strategies it can be wise to describe the
objectives as a “philosophy”. This guide the reader/employee to better understand why
the objectives are key to get the mission conducted successfully.
A strategy can includes: Mission, vision, model, objectives and initiatives and a
prioritized list with 10 most important initiatives.
But remember
“A strategy is dynamic and must be modified over time”
Kjeld Haslund
By using business intelligence and market insights strategic I make growth on turnover and EBIT due to transparency