Creating a Sustainable Business Strategy
Do you know a good business strategy from a bad one?
Now more than ever, a strategy can make or break your business. The right strategy will deliver success while the wrong strategy can result in failure. How do you know whether you have the right strategy and how do you know when it is time to pivot?
Here is a short checklist of what you can do:
- Begin by setting goals and objectives that are measurable. We refer to these as SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound) objectives.
- Distinguish between implementing and executing strategy so as to create business process alignment and promote organizational alignment.
- Operationalize your strategy's business processes, states, decision points and actions required to reach stated goals and objectives. Cross reference business processes to value steams so you know the time-to-value be it a time-to-market, time-to-launch or time-to-service use case.
- Continuously monitor your strategy once implemented so you know why or why not it is working. Knowing if your strategy is delivering on the stated goals and objectives is the most important part of strategy execution. Doing this will avoid any unintended consequences that may result from a strategy that goes unchecked!
- Be mindful of the risks and signs of impending strategy stalls so you can proactively pivot beyond these. Pivoting typically will require you to modify your business processes or re-prioritize initiative-led outcomes. See how to assess the need, validate the approach, and navigate pivots while driving your business strategy to execution.
