How do you create a successful business strategy?  

The phrase “business strategy” is one of those terms that is bandied about quite a bit. But what is a successful business strategy? Or, if we are going to get very precise, what is a strategy? 

And what does it have to do with facilitation? 

Let’s get to what a strategy generally means. People use the term ‘strategy’ to talk about their plans for their way forward, their approach or their plan of attack. And yes, it is all of those things. Specifically, a strategy refers to your plan, or your road map, of how you plan to get from where you are now, to where you want to be, over a decent period of time. What constitutes ‘a decent period of time’ is really down to you. For a business strategy to be a successful one, ‘decent’ should really refer to years rather than just a few weeks or months. 

Your vision is like your guiding star – it tells you where or what you are aiming for. In an ideal world, your strategy neatly connects your current situation with your vision.  

So far, so good.  

However, as anyone who has ever created a strategy knows, it is rarely a neat and easy process. It often requires the involvement of lots of different elements and people, many of which have competing ideas.  

Assuming you already have your vision, the first step in creating a successful business strategy is deciding what your aims and objectives are and then choosing from a multitude of options precisely which actions or steps are required to make it happen.  

As with all good strategies, there will inevitably be some revisions to the strategy to account for when certain aspects do, or don’t work. And even when things appear to be going to plan, it is necessary to review the strategy regularly to ensure that it is happening and still taking you in the right direction.  

A successful business strategy doesn’t have to be set in stone. In fact, an adaptive strategy that is designed to be changed and updated as you go along could well be more useful. For other organisations, a more concrete strategy which almost forces you, and everyone else, to stay on track and adapt to the plan, could be the thing you need.  

Deciding on how detailed your business strategy should be depends very much on you. The key consideration should be that the plan is usable and readable. Crucially, it needs to make sense to everyone that relies on the strategy to know where they are going.  

Which leads us to the key part of creating a successful business strategy.  

The people.  

The success of any business strategy depends on people. On the people involved in creating it and the people involved in executing it. The best business strategy ensures that the people putting the strategy into action have had at least some say in its creation.  

The size of your organisation will influence who is involved in the different stages of planning and who inputs into the different elements.  

You might want to consult with certain people, gather ideas or inspiration from them or validate your thinking. Others might need to be involved in the actual creation of your strategy through a series of workshops. If your team is small, you might wish to initially create the bare bones of the plan alone and then share it for feedback and refinement.  

Allocate enough time

Whoever you involve in the creation of your business strategy, make sure you allocate enough time for them to input their thoughts. Likewise, make sure to do this at the appropriate time. Too early in the process and they will get frustrated at being asked and not seeing any results as a good business strategy can take months to create. People asking what happened to the “stuff they did on that strategy day” ages ago is not what you want to be hearing. Conversely, involve them too late and you end up rushing people. This is never a good way to consult. Your strategy should take time to create and turn into a usable format that is accessible and makes sense. 

Which leads us to the people who will be implementing the strategy. These may not be the same people that have developed it in the first place but will need to know what it all means if they are to use it as intended. How often do you come across team members that have no real idea about the company strategy, what it is, or even that it exists?  

For a strategy to be user (and business) friendly, consider who is carrying out the different strands of the strategy. How are you going to involve them and engage them in a way that ensures they care. 

In summary, to create a successful business strategy, consider: 

•  The time frame (if it is going to take you 6 months to write, don’t make your time frame a year!) 
•  The type of strategy you want it to be 
•  Who you need to involve in creating the strategy and how and when you need to consult with them 
•  What it needs to look like so it is implementable 
•  How and when you are going to review it and who is involved in this stage 

 

It is very possible to create a successful business strategy without the help of an external facilitator. Many businesses and organisations do so. We’ve shared more tips on ways to include your team in your strategic planning in this blog. 

At the same time, the broad range of factors, and people, that need to be considered can make it tricky to create a business strategy that works within a sensible time frame.  

If your strategy plans are stalling, or you need expert support in involving your team members to help them participate in the creation of your strategy, give us a shout! We are experts at stepping in and making the strategic process simple so your strategy day isn’t something people only remember as being a complete waste of time.