What Is Strategy
And What Should It Mean To Me?

So, what is strategy? And what should it mean for You.

Let us start with 2 definitions:

• Strategy is the pattern of activities followed by an organization in pursuit of its long-term purposes.

• A plan of action intended to accomplish a specific goal.

So, for you, this means planning what steps you will undertake in order to reach your goal. 

For me, my mantra is: my strategy is my plan of action. 

What Is Strategy For You?

If your strategy can be defined as the journey you chose to reach a goal, you can use a metaphor to explore your possibilities, test your strategy. How robust is your idea or your plan of action. 

You can use the metaphor to check all the different aspects of your strategy like you would check all the aspects of a journey you are planning.

This method will help you to fully understand what is strategy all about.

Can You answer these questions about the journey you have chosen...(How Robust is your Plan of Action?)

• How is the route you are taking? Is the way you are going a narrow rubble path or a wide, even runway? Is it the right route or do you have another option? Is the path clear-cut or are there barriers to be overcome before you get there or on the way? 

• Is the goal or end of the journey within sight or very far away (too long-term)? Are we fully committed to trying to reach that goal?

• What means are we using to travel? Walking? Is this method the best way or will we / can we jet the distance? 

• Are others travelling the same path? Are they your competitors or supporters? Can we join forces? Are they a danger to you? Are they all branching off in a different direction?

• What is the environment like? Are there dangers lurking in the bush? Are the natives friendly? 

• What is the climate like for traveling this journey? Favorable or detrimental for getting ahead? 

• Can we protect ourselves to weather all storms? Are you prepared for the rainy day?

• What’s your timeline? Do you have a certain deadline or can you take your time?

What Is An Organizational Strategy?

What is Strategy about but charting an unknown future; coping imaginatively with complexity.

Organisational Strategy definition is the result of the search for an effective match between an organization (its structure, systems, power and culture) and that organization environment (market, political scene, competitors, etc.).

Strategy is about how decisions are taken: the human side and the process involved. If you decide to change the strategy you have to change the conditions influencing the strategy -  or take into consideration the changed strategy will have in those aspects, such as Customer Management, Quality, Shareholder value, Process Management, Information technology, human resources, Organizational design, learning or core capabilities.

Kaplan and Norton describe what strategy is, by saying:

• Getting Breakthrough results = Describing the Strategy + Managing the strategy
• According to the philosophy; You can’t manage what you can’t measure. You can’t measure what you can’t describe.

Don’t forget measures are powerful motivators: Employees and managers alike will strive to perform when results are visible, or even tied to incentive plans.

This Book I can personally strongly recommend to get a brilliant concept of Strategy Development and an understanding of what is strategy.  Written by the same team that developed the concepts of the Balanced Scorecard, this takes you beyond those concepts into the whole area of Strategy Maps.  Written in an easy to read and comprehensible manner, this book is a delight - because it takes us beyond where we have been before - using simple logic and founded concepts.

For a better understanding of Strategy Maps, I found this video on Youtube. Not the highest quality sound - but it really shows the interplay quite well.

Go To Top of What is Strategy page