Sometimes listing out what to do has been mistaken has strategy. You may find a commonly used phrase "strategic planning" been used to describe strategy. But strategy and planning are two different things.
Strategic planning as used today by entrepreneurs is just an outline of activities to be carried out: Increase customer engagement, set up another POS, revamp social media channels etc. Truthfully, these are good things to do but more often than not, they don’t work to make your company win. Why? No strategy
A plan is not a strategy!
A strategy is an integrated set of decisions that positions your company on a playing field in order to win. A strategy always has a theory: "This is why we are playing on the playing field not the other one, and here's how we are going to be playing in this field to serve the customers better than anyone else" A strategy has to be coherent, doable and translatable into actions.
Planning doesn’t always have to be coherent and most times never put into consideration other parts of the business. Truth be told, planning is easier to do than strategy because it creates a sense of control on expenditure. With planning you decide how much you are wiling to pay, when you would be ready to pay and this creates “The Planning Trap”.
Strategy on the other hand outlines a competitive outcome you are willing to attain which may for example involve making your customers want your product and buy enough of it to help you meet your revenue targets. The tricky part is you can't really control all the factors that get you these results ( we all wish we could but the customers decide not you sadly). What strategy says is this "This is what I believe would happen: a lot of customers liking what I am offering more than those of competitors”. To say the truth its harder to say this rather creating a list of things you can afford
Fun Fact: While you are busy looking at what is affordable, at least one other competitor is figuring how to win by strategizing.
Real world Scenario: Cirque du Soliel, SouthWest Airline
Avoiding the Planning Trap
Accept the angst that comes with strategy
Lay out the logic of your strategy - what would have to be true about your company, the industry, competition, your customers for your strategy to work. Because you have laid out the logic of how things should work, it would be easier for you to identify what is not working and quickly innovate and iterate. This the journey of strategy. It allows you to create mechanisms to iterate, refine and innovate.
Keep your strategy simple”
“This is the playing field we are choosing”
“This is how we are looking to win”
“These are the capabilities that we need”
“These are the management systems”
“This is why all of this would work towards our goal”
Planning is a sure way to way to guarantee losing. Strategy gives you the best chance of winning
This understanding of strategy underscores all of our design work here at paradigm and you can reach out to us here to find a time to talk design strategy for your business.
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