Can you summarize your company’s strategy in 35 words or less? If so, would your colleagues put it the same way?
Very few executives can honestly answer these simple questions in the affirmative. And the companies that those executives work for are often the most successful in their industry.
Conversely, companies that don’t have a simple and clear statement of strategy are likely to fall into the sorry category of those that have failed to execute their strategy or, worse, those that never even had one. In an astonishing number of organizations, executives, frontline employees, and all those in between are frustrated because no clear strategy exists for the company or its lines of business.
Leaders of firms are mystified when what they thought was a beautifully crafted strategy is never implemented. They assume that the initiatives described in the voluminous documentation that emerges from an annual budget or a strategic-planning process will ensure competitive success.
They fail to appreciate the necessity of having a simple, clear, succinct strategy statement that everyone can internalize and use as a guiding light for making difficult choices.
Source: Can You Say What Your Strategy Is? by David J. Collis and Michael G. Rukstad in the April 2008 edition of the Harvard Business Review
To read the whole article, go to: "Can You Say What Your Strategy Is?"