A strategy delineates a territory in which a company seeks to be unique.
Michael Porter (*1947), US-american economist
Probably this quote is not the most obvious definition of the term strategy, at least not at first glance. But how useful is the best strategy if it ends up in a “Red Ocean”, where many competitors are already fighting for their market share, mostly only driven by price? The better strategy is surely to differentiate and to find or develop a “Blue Ocean”. A new market or a market niche in which new demand can be generated and in which competitors are still irrelevant.
Andy Grove, long-time CEO of Intel Corporation, describes in his book “Only the Paranoid Survive” the “Strategic Inflection Point” that every company reaches at some point. Also then, it is necessary to develop a new strategy and reposition itself. This often involves major change processes that the management team has to design and go through together with the employees. But change in this case is positive and should be seen as a motivation, because it is driven by a new innovative strategy. Only those who reinvent themselves again and again at strategic inflection points will also be successful in the long term.
Whether you are a startup developing its first big strategy or an established company looking to reposition itself, it always comes back to the same questions:
What is our vision, where do we want to be in 10 years from now?
What do we want to achieve in the medium term, in the next 2-3 years?
What do we need to implement in the next 12 months?
How do we ensure that we are still on track?
Do we have the right leadership team to achieve our goals?
Is our organization set up correctly?
How do we take the entire organization along for this ride?
Which change processes do we need to prepare?
It is very important to ensure that strategic planning does not become a bureaucratic monster that keeps employees from actually implementing the strategy. How useful is the best planning process if in the end it only remains self-pupose and great theory? Methods such as OKR, for example, are very good planning tools, but they also carry the risk that you only revolve around yourself and lose sight of the actual goal.
I would be glad to support you with the development and implementation of your new strategy.