Over 45 years I have seen all sorts of strategies. Some work, some fail, some are elegant articulations of a vision and mission, some are a few words on a sheet of paper. Some are data driven, some full of a breathless accounting of what they will make the world look like, and everything in between.
They come in all shapes and sizes.
The common denominator of those that are successful is none of these.
That common success element is that they have been driven by someone who has a bias to action.
They implement.
While others look for more information, watch what their competitors are doing, lobby the government, spend more on developing the next iteration of that great product, the action oriented leader implements.
It will never go completely to plan, there will be mistakes, uncertainty and anxious regret that more care was not taken, and sometimes hordes of naysayers. Nevertheless, the only strategy that has a chance of delivering is the one that gets implemented.
A strategy document that sits on the shelf, gathering dust as information and consensus is accumulated, is the one that never works, because it is not a strategy. It is an excuse for surrendering to the status quo, to the concern about being seen as being wrong, and therefore excluded from the herd.
Oh, by the way, this works not only for a strategy, but in microcosm, at the smallest detail level.
When someone on a production line sees something that could be made to work better that is within their scope of power to change, they take action and change it, observe the results and adjust when necessary. For the leading hands on a line responsible for the running of the line, having a culture in place that encourages and rewards this bias to action, is like having manna from heaven.
Stop talking and start doing!
Header cartoon courtesy of Scott Adams, and the wisdom of Dilbert
Noted
Good!