Jack Ricchiuto on simplifying strategy:
Every organization, and community, I work with on strategy is very relieved when I liberate them from the inane practice of traditional academic language in the process. I refuse to allow them to waste valuable time debating over the distinctions of: goal, objective, strategy, tactic, and night maneuvers. (I throw in the military reference to “night maneuvers” to inject humor into what is usually a very humorless and uninspired process – and it works.)
What do we do instead? We replace these never-agreed-upon jargon with complex words like: where, why, how, and what.
To be strategic, which is to in plain English is to say, proactive, is to talk about 4 things:
- Where do we want to be in 20 years?
- Why does that matter to us?
- How do we want to get there in the next 2 years? and
- What would be wise for us to do in the next 2 quarters (and weeks) to get there?
These simple and powerful questions give people a remarkable kind of alignment, velocity, and traction they are not used to in the process. What can I say? It works.
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So much more focused, resulting in practical actions, I’m sure. Wish you’d had a conversation with many of the companies I’ve worked for through the years.
Comment by emma — March 11, 2010 #
How true! Now to convince people that strategy doesn’t also have to be burdened with masses of background information, ‘proof’, detailed appendices and door-stop inducing ‘noise’
Comment by Viv McWaters — March 11, 2010 #
Yes, I had 10 years work experience before going to university and also relate strategy a lot of the time using what, how, and why within a timeline. Many business owners do not have formal management and leadership graduate qualifications and the theory is not used by theses owners. As long as you come up with a strategic plan that is achievable then academic theories do not matter.
Comment by Education Tay — March 15, 2010 #