Help, my strategy has run out!

First aid for strategy development
And suddenly it's 2020. For years, the year was comfortably in the future and also felt somewhat futuristic. A year that therefore lent itself perfectly to being the end date for a nice strategy or vision of the future. But that means that for many organisations, the strategy has now suddenly "run out". Help, now what?

Developing a new strategy
We help organisations become sustainably innovative. In doing so, formulating a clear strategy is often the starting point. In doing so, we use 5 building blocks:

1. The first is to develop a vision of the future. What is happening in the context of the organisation? What developments are going on in terms of technology, legislation, competition and customer needs, among others? And how do these affect the organisation's (future) success?
2. The second building block is the analysis of the current situation. What is the current business model and which elements work well and which less so? How good is the existing proposition? What are experiences of employees, customers and other stakeholders?
3. Third, we help to create a mission formulate. A good mission statement describes what drives employees, what the organisation is proud of, this sometimes means honing an existing one and in other cases formulating a new purpose
4. With the ambition determine your direction. What ambition does the organisation have for the future given all the internal and external developments? A good ambition gives focus
5. Finally, with the strategic themes How you intend to realise the ambition. These are often hypotheses for the future that need to be validated

Strategy development (we like to call it "Strategy Making") is creative, surprising and works best when done together. After all, a good strategy requires connecting as many perspectives as possible. Only when all the information is on the table can you make the right choices. And then bringing the strategy to life becomes many times easier if those who have to implement it recognise themselves in the choices.

Strategy-making as a continuous process
Good, that's how you come up with a new strategy. But how do you avoid being empty-handed again in 2025? Make it a continuous process! Like the Soviet Union's five-year plans it is not so realistic to expect developments affecting the success of your organisation to neatly conform to the end date on your plan. This is a no-brainer but at the same time the reason why many beautifully crafted strategies sit neatly in a drawer for 5 years.

We don't really believe in that either. Developing strategy is not something you do once every five years, it has to happen continuously.  We therefore often use the image of the 8 when talking about strategy. A continuous process of observing, making choices, executing and learning. So don't stick an end date on your strategy but focus a process that is going to help you continuously strategise.

Pieter van der Boog
pieter.vanderboog@elementalstrategy.com