The absence of a clear strategy can hold up or derail our content plans. It can muddle our writing. It can frustrate our marketing efforts and reduce our chances of achieving our business, career or personal goals.
And yet we often skip the strategy part. We set a goal then we move straight on to planning, looking for ideas, activities and tasks to implement. We don’t pause to consciously think about how to link the two. It’s in this gap between goal and plan that strategy sits. And we don’t need to over complicate it.
Strategy in practice
We can see strategy as the bridge between a goal (what you want to achieve) and the plan (a set of activities or tasks) used to achieve the goal.
Strategy is a clear, high-level articulation of how we intend to achieve our goal.
It informs and guides the specific activities or tasks we will deploy.
Within a business, however small, strategy holds this space for the business overall and within different departments, teams, projects, and initiatives. And the multiple layers and different strategies must align and support each other.
In his book ‘This is Strategy’, Seth Godin says strategy enables us to make better plans.
“Strategy is often an unseen option, apparently too sophisticated, expensive or elitist for most of us. But once we see it, our next steps become clear. We have what we need to make better plans.” Seth Godin
A strategy evolves and takes form through thinking – serious, quality thinking – exploring the specific context and landscape in which we are operating.
Without strategy, plans can and often do become a random, uncoordinated set of activities or list of tasks or tactics, chosen in hope but without method or conscious decision.
Why do we find it difficult?
Why do we often find strategy work difficult, even when we see what it truly is and why we need it?
Perhaps because this process of developing strategy asks a lot of us. It requires us to ask and answer difficult questions, to explore difficult issues, to make difficult decisions, to consciously choose.
Sometimes this means looking in dark corners, addressing something we’d prefer to ignore, avoid or work around. Sometimes the strategy process feels uncomfortable because it’s easier to stick with what we have, even when it’s not really working very well.
Strategy work asks us to be courageous and bold and to go beyond the point of our current knowing.
To do this work, we have to be willing to stop what we’re doing now, to step out and step back. To get out of the weeds and the minutiae of the current plan.
We need to give strategy space within our regular planning process – and create the right conditions for the thinking to thrive.
If we do this, we get into a certain rhythm and exercising our strategy muscle becomes second nature, rather than something we’re forced to face when things unravel.
We come up with and use strategies to get things done all the time in our everyday lives. Cooking tonight’s meal, going on holiday, pitching an idea in a meeting.
Yet with bigger things we tend to get all hung up on the strategy part. Perhaps because more is at stake, financially and emotionally. So, it’s quite normal to feel the need for more support when it comes to key elements and transitional points in our business, our career and our personal lives.
What might we experience if we have a strategy gap?
Have you ever started a development project and got stuck or bogged down or found yourself going round in circles? Have you ever thought ‘why can’t I (or my team) just get this thing done?’ Or ‘Why is this proving so difficult?’ Are you finding unexpected questions arising, the need for unexpected decisions? Does it feel like you’re starting to just make it up as you go along?
Perhaps when wanting to develop a new product or service, design a new website, publish a book, write an article, create next year’s business or marketing plan, or plan a career move?
If so, you could be experiencing a strategy gap or some sort or strategy wobble.
Starting something that at first looks straightforward and purely in the task or tactical realm can sometimes trigger something higher up at the strategy level. Difficulties at the implementation level often have their roots in missing, weak, unclear, or just badly articulated strategy.
What can you do about it?
Whenever something unexpected happens during planning or implementation, especially if it then keeps on happening or starts to look like a pattern, it’s worth stepping back and taking a little time to reflect on the bigger picture. What might be happening here, what’s getting in the way?
Just catching this in real time is a good first step. Once you’ve noticed it, then create some time and space to think things through, ideally with someone else who can lend an ‘outside’, independent perspective and act as your thinking partner.
Feel free to get in touch if a chat with me would help. You may also find it helpful to read about my ‘Get ready – Plan – Create’ framework and to take a look at the following two books.
Worth reading
This is Strategy, Seth Godin
In this book, Seth leads our strategy-focused thinking by asking the challenging, strategy-focused questions – more than 500 of them. It’s structured into short, numbered sections so you can easily use the book to work with others and dip in and out, as the discussion evolves. Whatever your experience to date, this will help you look at and think about strategy in different ways. It’s especially for you if you find traditional strategy speak complicated, impenetrable and unhelpful.
Find This is Strategy on Amazon UK
Essentialism, Greg McKeown
Although not a book about strategy per se, ‘Essentialism, The Disciplined Pursuit of Less’ does help you to think about what matters most and distinguish ‘the vital few from the trivial many’. In this sense, it’s the ideal companion for ‘getting ready’ and starting to exercise your thinking muscle in readiness for any strategy work. I’ve had great feedback from everyone to whom I’ve recommended this book. It’s a guide for life, full of very actionable ideas and just putting a few of them into practice will make a difference.
