Breaking Out Of The Box
Human behavior and organizational behavior have at least two major points in common. Both gravitate towards traveling in the same well-worn paths, favoring the feeling of safety that repetition brings over the feelings of anxiety and fear that often accompany change. A second point of commonality is that both humans and organizations can be steered in the wrong direction by subscribing too heavily into “groupthink” (described by psychologist Irving Janis as, “a mode of thinking that people engage in when they are deeply involved in a cohesive in-group, when the members' strivings for unanimity override their motivation to realistically appraise alternative courses of action.”). Both behaviors can lead to flawed logic and / or incorrect underlying assumptions becoming institutionalized into our way of thinking.
Whether it is a result of groupthink or the result of resisting fresh thinking and new approaches, business strategies do suffer as a consequence of wrong-headed thinking.
The Role of the Internal versus the External Strategist
Can an external strategist be an asset to an established corporate strategic planning team? There is clearly no substitute for the value provided by the internal strategist and the homegrown planning processes that fit the organization like an old well-worn baseball glove. But can this value be enhanced by an outsider’s involvement?
Strategy Execution: Why We Fail At Strategy Implementation
Why do so many organizations fail at strategy implementation? The quality of an organization’s strategic plan is not the primary determinant of success in goal achievement. No, the primary factor is that success hinges on execution. This article is part 1 of a two part series and examines some of the most common root causes of organizations and their leaders to miss the mark on strategic implementation. In part 2 of the series we map out an approach for successful strategic execution.
Enterprise Myopia: Is Customer Value Being Overlooked?
Is your organization’s strategy overlooking the most important stakeholder – your customers? With some simple but elegant changes to the strategic planning process, businesses can avoid committing this cardinal sin. By refocusing business strategy on value creation for the end-customers, organizations can avoid business myopia and blind spots that mask the slow erosion of competitive advantage they may have enjoyed in the past. This article addresses the key challenge of keeping the customer in mind when setting strategic and operational goals and offers concrete approaches to accomplishing customer-centric planning from the business and technology leader’s perspective.
So You’ve Finished Your Strategic Plan, Now What?
Every year companies go through the ritualistic planning process. You know the one. It’s comprised of long weekend leadership meetings and tedious reviews of the previous year’s plan. Included in the mix are marathon workshops where arguments unfold about which initiatives to carry over from last year’s unmet plan goals and debates are held to decide which new goals and objectives get added to the plan for the upcoming year. Then everything has to be reconciled against the new year’s financial budget. It is an annual ritual, and once it is complete, there is a huge sense of relief and accomplishment … but is the job really done?
