Recently, I’ve been reading articles that speak about the need to “fix” strategy. The assertion made by many of these pieces is that strategy, as practiced today, is the overly analytic pursuit of a formula — something that will produce the “right answer” in a technocratic way.
I don’t see it that way. First, because there is no “right” answer to strategy. It’s not a lock with an objective, knowable combination.
But more importantly, and while of course, there are analytical elements involved in forming a good organizational strategy (facts and data are often quite helpful!), the suggestion that that’s all there is to strategy leaves out some crucial elements.
Effective strategy requires imagination and creative thinking as well.
More Than Analytics
My strategy work with clients always begins with an assessment of the organization’s current status. Topics like what is going well, what are the challenges, what has changed in the environment, etc. This provides an essential baseline of understanding and a shared starting point to work from.
But very soon after, we shift our focus to the future: Where does the organization want to go? How do we define “success?” What does the future look like in which the organization is both effective and sustainable?
These essential early discussions are not about the numbers (primarily). They are driven by vision, potential, and possibility.
What Before How
The challenge in thinking about the future in this way is that the present is so compelling and tangible. It can be hard to break out of whatever reality we are living. Plus, the status quo is simply more comfortable. Thinking about how things may change can be both scary and threatening, causing people to raise “how to” concerns too early.
For example, in my current work with an educational organization in which we are trying to envision what offerings should be available several years down the road, there have been a few objections along the lines of, “How are we going to get there with the faculty we have now?”
The answer may be, “We can’t.” In assessing the current and anticipated market for training and credentials, it is probable that new courses covering new and updated approaches will be required. It’s not unlikely that new faculty — those with expertise and experience in the new approaches — will be needed as well.
But asking these kinds of logistical questions in the early stages of strategic planning can have a dampening effect on a group’s creative and innovative thinking. You can’t ignore these kinds of operational challenges forever, but it’s best to first think about what is needed, reserving discussions of the “how” for later on.
What Questions Are You Asking?
An important part of imagining the future of your organization is reflecting on what you want to accomplish — even asking why you exist in the first place. The questions you put forth will have a significant impact on where you come out.
For example, an educational organization that asks, “How do we best teach the materials we have developed over the past years?” will end up with a very different answer than one that asks, “How do we create graduates who can best serve the world into which they are graduating?”
Or, consider the example of a Los Angeles animal shelter. A common narrative in this field is that pet owners surrender their pets to shelters when they become inconvenient and that the role of the shelters, therefore, is to find the pets new and better homes. Those surrendering their pets are perceived as hard-hearted, or simply lazy and inconsiderate.
But this shelter discovered that financial challenges were at the heart of why many pet owners surrendered their pets. By revising the organization’s mission to become one that provides support to families that want to keep their pets, they were able to address a larger, more significant problem. It is often less expensive to cover the cost of a veterinary bill than to have that family surrender a pet and trigger a search for a new home — not to mention how much happier the outcome is!
The point is, as with answers, there are no “right” questions. Just know that the ones you choose to focus on have just as great an impact on where you end up as do the decisions you ultimately make.
Reflections
Strategy is not a formula to be solved — it’s a set of choices about the future an organization wants to create. Often, these choices are both difficult and messy, something that requires facing uncertainty and using creativity and imagination to envision an effective and sustainable future direction.
The real work is having the discipline to imagine that future clearly before getting pulled back into the constraints of the present.
