When the Strategy is Ignored
Nearly every organization and company on the planet has some form of one- two- or five-year strategic vision that is typically distilled down into five pages of top-line strategies and OKRs for the organization to achieve. This is presented at launch as the “North Star” for the company, team, and Board. It is a grand release and everyone is excited and ready to take the world by storm.
“We aren’t all going to agree. But we are going to align.”
But here is the hidden piece that no one talks about: If ideas or initiatives come up and are discussed or proposed that somehow eventually meet the light of day, then the strategy is broken.
In order for a strategy and large-scale vision to work it has to follow these three simple rules:
Anytime a new ideas come up, the question must be asked: “Does this align with and support the strategic vision?”
If not, the next question to ask is: “Is this absolutely mission-critical to our operations despite it not aligning with our strategic plan?”
Finally, while not usually recommended, you can ask, “Absent alignment and not being critical, can this idea help us achieve our goals?”
If you go from one to two to three and get to the end and the answers don’t provide a reason for the idea to move forward, it is an easy way to say, “No.” Because when you go through those steps, it’s not a manager or senior exec using their opinion. Quite the opposite. It is the impact of setting the strategy and being solely focused on using all your limited resources to achieve that stated goal.
I will never forget early in my career being at a whole company event where, you guessed it, a new strategy was being introduced. In the introduction, one of the executives (Kurt Kamperman, USTA) stood on stage sharing about the process the leaders and board had used to get to this point and one thing he said that day has stuck with me for over twenty years. “We are not all going to agree,” he began. “But we are going to align.”
And that alignment is what makes a strategy work.