Are you still planning using old strategy approaches? Traditional approach to planning leads to poor strategy and execution. Of what use is a strategy that cannot be implemented. The traditional strategy formulation processes and models are inadequate in today’s fast-paced change of innovations. The old approaches, often criticized for their bureaucratic and rigid nature, typically generate exhaustive research documents rather than actionable strategy blueprints to facilitate proactiveness in business growth and sustainability.

A case in point

Company executives invite the entire team to a five (5) days retreat out of town to evaluate/ review their last year’s strategy. They will evaluate whether or not they achieved their strategy.  The end result is a strategy evaluation report.

Can you imagine such wastage of time and resources?

The traditional way of doing things leads to bad practices. Why on earth should a CEO wait for 12 months to assess whether they are on the right path or not? Why not do it as an on-going activity?

Strategy execution gap:  At what point do you notice the gap?

Figure 1 shows the strategy implementation timelines and the targeted performance. At what point do you review to assess whether performance is on track or not. Do you check every month?

For example in January, performance is on par as targeted. However, in February, a small gap starts to appear. This gap keeps increasing in size the longer it takes without noticing and fixing it.

This is like your health.

If you feel unwell, do you go right away to seek medical help so that you are professionally examined to diagnose what is wrong with you or you wait until you are too weak to move? What do you do? The longer you wait before you take action, the higher the risk you take.

When you review your corporate strategy only after 12 months, you lead to business dysfunction. You need a strategy that is easy to execute and monitor ongoing. You don’t have to wait for 12 months to review strategy. Review it as an ongoing activity; To do this, you need to develop your strategy well. Then link it to an action plan or business plan and then to budget and structure. The way you create clear accountabilities.

Planning a strategy retreat, check out our #Winning The Game strategy checklist to make your retreat a fantastic one!

Conducting successful strategy retreats