A clearly defined Strategy

“Strategy is defined as “a plan of action designed to achieve a long-term or overall aim”. Ven den Steen states, “strategy is the smallest set of choices to optimally guide (or force) other choices”. It clearly articulates the strategic objective, the current status and the potential roadblocks that may lead to failure.”

Everything you need for a clearly defined strategy!

Whether you are looking to establish a winning position for your business, find the right direction, gain further control or even put more time into the right things, strategy plays a big part in any successful business.

Successful businesses invest time working on their strategy and defining their sphere of influence. These businesses recognize the exponential return of working ON the business versus the incremental return of working IN the business.

Without working on your business, you will always be working in your business. Working on your strategy is working on your business.

A clearly defined strategy :

• Helps you understand who and what you say no to

• Clearly defines the market you will play in

• Establishes activities that differentiate you from the competition

• Drives sustainable growth

• Blocks your competitors

• Builds a strong culture that can deliver on your brand promises

• Helps make high level decisions easy

At this stage you could be thinking your current strategy doesn’t stack up against these criteria, and in reality, it probably doesn’t. Not many do – we know this from experience. If that is the case then it is time to review, if not recreate, your strategy.

Building a winning strategy is very rewarding to any business however it takes time, structure and unbiased thinking.

To facilitate a strategic plan on your own, a business would need to:

• Align and block out the calendar

• Book a suitable setting that creates creative thinking

• Find an experienced facilitator

• Get the senior leaders of the team together

• Create the agenda of the day

• Create momentum into the day with thinking prior to the day

• Build a structure that ensures an outcome

• Create a simple framework for delivery to all staff once created

• Ask thought-provoking questions that haven’t been asked before

• Use examples that have worked for other industries

• Choose the best solutions for the next steps

And then once completed:

• Clean up and wordsmith the strategy

• Develop a plan to implement the strategy

• Set and align priorities to the strategy

• Deliver the finished product to the whole team

• Bring the strategy to life by talking to it and refining it each month

As you can see, strategic planning takes a great deal of time and effort. It also explains why most businesses don’t spend the time needed to work on their strategy. My advice is to take the time needed and get it right. A clearly defined strategy is extremely important for any business, don't let it be the Achilles of your business.

At Markethive we mentor our subscribers by providing leadership and tutorials with hands-on strategic investigations and analytics. We call it collaboration and you are invited to work with us to learn these important skills.

Thomas Prendergast
CEO and Founder