What’s the best way to create a strategy?
When I work with clients we focus on five questions. That’s right, answering just five simple questions:
Who are we? That gets to the notion of identity and plugs into your purpose. Who you are is the basis of your culture and the foundation upon which everything else is built.
Where are we? This is an assessment of what your situation is at that particular point in time. When you’re looking to either create or modify your strategy. It’s a comprehensive assessment of your internal and external environment.
Where do we want to go? This one is often overlooked and non-existent in most organization. There have been other videos where I’ve talked about the importance of vision. This question is where vision comes in. It’s about creating a comprehensive and believable picture of the future.
How do we get there? This is where people normally start. They start with the plan. They start with the details. But the most important thing to do is answer the three previous questions first before you get to the planning stage because how do you know what you’re planning for unless you answer those three questions beforehand?
Are we getting there? This final question is one that is almost never done, but good organizations do it religiously. “Are we getting there” in other words is the insurance piece of how you evaluate if you are actually making progress on your strategy. Answering this question involves putting together a set of metrics to help you ensure that you’re on the right track.
That’s how you create strategy. It takes time to answer these simple questions because they’re very complex and involved. But taking the time to commit to answer them is going to pay huge dividends for your organization.
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