Strategy – Three Questions, One Answer.
Are you winning?
Are you out performing the market?
Are you frustrated with your teams current performance?
Strategy is about winning.
Whatever business you lead the key to business success is the presence of a soundly formulated and effectively implemented strategy. If you don’t believe me do you think any of the following success stories happened by chance?
- Amazon
- Madonna
- David Cameron 2015 Election victory
- BrewDog
All these examples from very different fields of endeavor did not succeed because they had overwhelming superior resources. Neither can their success be primarily attributed to good fortune. Lucky breaks no doubt provided opportunities at critical times however, more important than luck is the ability to recognise opportunities as they appear and to have the clarity, direction and flexibility to exploit these opportunities.
Remember, ‘If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there’. Alice in Wonderland
I believe there are four common factors that are conducive to success. Firstly, simple consistent and long term objectives that provide a real focus for both the leadership team and the organisation as a whole. Secondly, that there is a deep and profound understanding of the competitive environment. You should know more about your competitors, your customers, your marketplace and the potential future developments than anyone else. Thirdly, you need to be objective about you and your organisations resources, your strengths and your weaknesses; know what you do well, what makes you unique and what you can’t do. Finally, the final key element is effective implementation. Without effective implementation, the best-laid strategies are of little use. Remember that everything is created twice, firstly there is the mental or first creation and then there is the physical or second creation. Or as Nelson Mandella said, ‘ Action without vision is only passing time, vision without action is merely day dreaming, but vision and action can change the world’.
If you want to have a winning strategy click the link for further information about the Chamber Business Planning and Strategy Development training course on Tuesday 22nd of September Creating the future that you want.
