You hear me bang on about successful Strategy sometimes (ok maybe lots of times), but do you really understand what I mean?
Here’s a confession from me – I thought I understood this years ago……BUT…..it was only after application and not just reading about it, that I really got it.
Strategy comes from 2 Greek words (now I’m hungry). ‘Stratos’ – army and ‘Ago’ – to lead. Don’t let that make you feel like it’s all in Greek to you!
That kind of thinking makes Business Strategy all seem very aggressive and masculine, which it doesn’t have to be.
The bottom line is successful Business Strategy is about working out where you want to be and planning how to get there.
Business Strategy isn’t all about men sitting around in fancy suits in boardrooms working on strategic plans for 12 months, that then present as a 100 page bible, that will take 52 years to implement. It’s also not something that only people with an MBA can work on. Especially if it’s your business – you should be working on the strategy, I will say however that this is where a good Business Coach can come in handy.
You could look at Business Strategy as a bit of a journey – but like all good journeys, some detours can get thrown into the mix, so don’t be alarmed or turn out to be a statue stuck in stone, if something needs to change along the way.
These are the things you need to think about for your Business Strategy trip or journey:
- Where am I?
- Where am I going?
- How am I going to get there?
- What do I need to help me get there?
- Who needs to be involved in getting there?
- How and when can I check that I’m on the right track?
Then it’s all about checking in with the business and the people involved along the way and making changes as needed. Remember, it’s your business, so the journey is about where you want to be and how you want to get there!!! I promise you, I have stuffed up royally by making changes to my strategy based on what other people were doing – it generally doesn’t work.
Business Strategy has to be true to your vision.
To me having good strategy in place is a bit like knowing your Top 5 Passions – it helps guide you and makes decision making so much simpler. You just need to ask yourself the following questions: Is it in alignment with my passions? Is it helping me get to my greater vision?
Over the coming months I will delve deeper into Business Strategy by looking into the different areas of your business and the strategy involved with all of them. In the meantime though, here are my Top 5 Tips for Successful Business Strategy:-
- Be clear on your bigger vision
- Understand your industry and your business inside out
- Have a strategy for each of the 12 areas of your business
- Monitor and change strategy when needed
- Action Action Action
It always bloody boils down to Action people. Remember, don’t plan yourself out of business, plan to create a better business.