JWI 540, Strategy, Week9 Summary, 8/28/12
Strong managers constantly reconcile competing priorities in a dynamic manner by never losing sight of the firm's strategic vision, envisioning success, defining critical activities to get there, balancing the relative priorities of action items by using the balanced scorecard and strategy map and communicating effectively.
Leading managers understand the firm's strategic capabilities, identify target customers, size up competition and decide on a strategic option. Such managers recognize that their ultimate goal is to support the firm's leadership and translate corporate strategy from a high level concept into feet-on-the-ground activities and results. They approach strategy methodically with a six-step plan:
Step1 - Envision success and what it will take to get there
what does success look and feel like?
what are we doing or not doing to achieve strategic goals?
what are competitors doing?
Step2 - Define critical activities
eg. identify store locations, create supplier networks, create a marketing campaign, define a staffing model
Step3 - Coordinate activities and resolve conflict - balance with a strategy map
Leverage the balanced score card technique and create a strategy map (Carpenter & Sanders, 2009) to balance and guide key activities including financial, external relations, internal business processes and learning and growth. Show how the various activities fit into the firm's overarching strategy using the strategy map. Align key elements of plan such as strategy, people, organizational structure, processes, metrics.
Step4 - Prioritize Action Items in the Plan - clarify barriers to success
Set plan priorities by framing the situation in the negative ie. by listing the barriers to success
eg. what aspects of the organization have high potential to derail the strategic initiatives ?; is there difficulty hiring people with right skills fast enough?; will it be difficult to identify an acquisition target that meets agreed-upon criteria ?
Make it clear what needs to happen first, where scarce resources should be allocated. Provide rationale for controversial moves and make difficult decisions easier to accept. Generate the Top5 priorities that must happen in order for strategy to succeed. Focus managerial attention on these significant priorities.
Step5 - Communicate
Be received: get people's attention, deliver the message using multiple channels in a provocative and surprising way.
Be understood: provide clarity with a picture or a story
Be credible:close the credibility gap and get people to make real commitment.
Be actionable:convey a step-by-step process for moving from concepts to activities to results. Identify success metrics and timelines.
Be timely: Tradeoff preparation and timely communication and deliver the message when it is fresh and new.
Step6 - Allocate resources and budget - with iterative feedback
Listen and get better proposals from managers, use iterative - Top Down, Bottom Up, Top down - communication flow, and play the budget game for effective resource allocation
Dr DP
Strong managers constantly reconcile competing priorities in a dynamic manner by never losing sight of the firm's strategic vision, envisioning success, defining critical activities to get there, balancing the relative priorities of action items by using the balanced scorecard and strategy map and communicating effectively.
Leading managers understand the firm's strategic capabilities, identify target customers, size up competition and decide on a strategic option. Such managers recognize that their ultimate goal is to support the firm's leadership and translate corporate strategy from a high level concept into feet-on-the-ground activities and results. They approach strategy methodically with a six-step plan:
Step1 - Envision success and what it will take to get there
what does success look and feel like?
what are we doing or not doing to achieve strategic goals?
what are competitors doing?
Step2 - Define critical activities
eg. identify store locations, create supplier networks, create a marketing campaign, define a staffing model
Step3 - Coordinate activities and resolve conflict - balance with a strategy map
Leverage the balanced score card technique and create a strategy map (Carpenter & Sanders, 2009) to balance and guide key activities including financial, external relations, internal business processes and learning and growth. Show how the various activities fit into the firm's overarching strategy using the strategy map. Align key elements of plan such as strategy, people, organizational structure, processes, metrics.
Step4 - Prioritize Action Items in the Plan - clarify barriers to success
Set plan priorities by framing the situation in the negative ie. by listing the barriers to success
eg. what aspects of the organization have high potential to derail the strategic initiatives ?; is there difficulty hiring people with right skills fast enough?; will it be difficult to identify an acquisition target that meets agreed-upon criteria ?
Make it clear what needs to happen first, where scarce resources should be allocated. Provide rationale for controversial moves and make difficult decisions easier to accept. Generate the Top5 priorities that must happen in order for strategy to succeed. Focus managerial attention on these significant priorities.
Step5 - Communicate
Be received: get people's attention, deliver the message using multiple channels in a provocative and surprising way.
Be understood: provide clarity with a picture or a story
Be credible:close the credibility gap and get people to make real commitment.
Be actionable:convey a step-by-step process for moving from concepts to activities to results. Identify success metrics and timelines.
Be timely: Tradeoff preparation and timely communication and deliver the message when it is fresh and new.
Step6 - Allocate resources and budget - with iterative feedback
Listen and get better proposals from managers, use iterative - Top Down, Bottom Up, Top down - communication flow, and play the budget game for effective resource allocation
Dr DP
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