5 ways to help you create a business strategy that works

Understanding the importance of strategy

Have you ever noticed how often the word ‘strategy’ is used in business meetings, reports and speeches? You might be tempted to believe that once an organisation has a strategy all will be well with the world and employees and shareholders alike can rest peacefully in their beds at night. But are we always clear and consistent on what a strategy actually is and what it is there to achieve? What would help you to create a business strategy that works?

Defining strategy

Here at JA Consulting, we define strategy as an action orientated statement that sets out the goals of the organisation and how they will be achieved, typically covering a three to five-year period.

By creating an action focused strategy with defined goals, senior leadership teams are better prepared to engage and gather support from both shareholders and employees.

Challenges in developing an effective business strategy

If this is not the case, there can be a number of challenges which can hinder the development and implementation of an effective business strategy:

Day-to-day focus over future vision

A leadership team focusing on day to day issues and failing to invest adequate time in considering the future in terms of products/services, competitors and customer needs, leaving them without a coherent and compelling future vision that they all visibly support.

Lack of coherence among initiatives

The confusion that arises from the proliferation of several initiatives (and the supporting documents and strategies) that have little in the way of overarching coherence. Often these are driven by different functions within the business doing what they consider is best for the business but often in splendid isolation.

Disconnect between strategy and implementation

An absence of a clear line of sight between the strategy and the initiatives, programmes and projects that are underway within the organisation. The strategy sits in an ivory tower as an aspiration whilst the business gets on with the day to day matters.

The impact of poorly devised strategies

Whilst there are some high-profile examples of the failure of corporate strategy (check out what happened to Enron in 2001); a poorly devised strategy, which is not well understood by employees or driven through into implementation, can be detrimental to business success. It may be less newsworthy but that is not to say that there is no impact.

JA Consulting’s approach to effective strategy planning

Over the past 30 years, we have worked with a range of organisations on effective strategy planning, communication and implementation. We have identified the need to work with the top teams to first clarify the strategy and to then make sure that it is cascaded down the organisation. By doing this we have helped our clients to create a clear vision of the future which works both as a beacon for employees to move towards, as well as providing direction for the prioritisation of investment in change activities.

Creating a business strategy: a checklist

Based on our experience we have created this simple checklist:

Invest adequate time in stratgy development: Invest adequate top talent time into developing and modelling future scenarios and creating the business strategy.

Visible leadership support: Work hard to make sure that the leaders visibly support the strategy and are passionate when they talk about it.

Effective communication: Communicate the strategy to employees, stakeholders and shareholders and react positively to feedback.

Action plan and progress tracking: Ensure the strategy is converted into an action plan and track progress towards your strategic goals – question the value of activity that doesn’t support the vision.

Agility in strategy: Finally, be prepared to modify the strategy if the environment changes – never before has agility been so important.

Richard Goodson
Senior Consultant

Need help with making change that lasts?

At JA Consulting, we specialise in not just any change – we engineer transformations that truly resonate with your organisation. Those elusive changes that you’ve known you needed, but somehow always slipped through the cracks. The kind of change that once implemented, leaves you wondering how you ever managed without it.

Why wait? Reach out to us today, and we can show you how to deliver lasting change that sticks.

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