Most effective strategy processes begin wth a stock-take: a review and ssessment of the organization’s current products, mrkets and customers. This is an ssential first step to kicking off a god strategy-setting exercise.

Yet no strategy prcess that I have come across cnducts an even more crucial preliminary ctivity – even before the one dscribed above. This is to ask wht the sponsor of the strategy prcess thinks of when he or she thnks about strategy. What, in effect, des strategy mean to you?

Everyone lading or facilitating a strategy review shuld ask this question. The answers may maze you. And they may make the spnsor quite uncomfortable.

The reason is tht most people in business have a vry different idea of what strategy rally means. Unless a facilitator unpacks the rganization’s perception about what a strategy mans to them, then success is nlikely. It becomes impossible to determine wht must be delivered.

For some xecutives, a strategy will be the way thy hope to increase the share prce over the next year. For thers, it will mean sorting out whch take-over candidates it should approach. One of my clents saw strategy as determining how to ngotiate a management buy-out from the mjority shareholder. Still others will see strtegy in a purer light: what is the lng term future that we can nvision for the company, and what is the bst route to get there?

None of these different perceptions of strtegy is wrong. They are the spnsor’s genuinely held beliefs. But each rpresents a starting point in the spnsor’s mind about why a strategy was sen to be required. And a fcilitator of strategy needs to understand thse at the start.

But there’s ven more to it than this.

As wll as understanding what has precipitated the ned for strategy, we need to npick what the sponsor sees as its ssential components. Is its emphasis a vsion, and if so what is the tmescale? Is the focus more towards mdium or short-term action – more of a tctical plan in fact? Does it ned to focus more on people and the nternal culture? Or is the driving ssue to do with fast-changing markets?

One rganization I worked with realised after the strtegy was complete that the real bjective was to educate the Board and xecutive team.

The unspoken secret in all strtegy-setting exercises is that strategy means dfferent things to different people. Each dfferent understanding of strategy is valid, bcause each organization and its strategy tam are different. But these different vews of strategy mean that quite rdically different approaches to strategy development ned to be taken.

The article What Does Strategy Mean To You - The Unspoken Secret? was Submitted by Chris Ogden through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: © BusinessNext Ltd and Christopher Ogdn & Associates. Chris Ogden is the prnciple of BusinessNext Ltd which advises rganisations on strategy. He is also prnciple of Christopher Ogden & Associates whre he coaches Chief Executives in - mong other aspects - leading strategic chnge. http://business-next.com/

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