5 Top Tips for Revisiting your Strategy
by Nicola Tyler
Nicola Tyler, famous for her Strategic Conversations, gives some great tips and tricks for when you next revisit your strategy.
1. Create a movement beyond your mission
Today, it is important to build on the value and assets that you have. Don’t reinvent the wheel. The wheel serves a purpose. Stay true to your mission, and to your cause. Believe in your purpose. Service and hone your core capability as it will stand the test of time, and retain customers (donors) that have supported you for years.
2. Let go!
Plan for the future and continuously review your plans and improve on what you have. Continuous improvement is key to longevity, but in the process, review your initiatives (programmes) and let go of that which is no longer serving your needs.
3. Be clear on your ‘To-Don’t’ list!
Tom Peters has long claimed that a “To-Don’t” list is critically important for personal and organizational success and this underpins a good strategy. He says “I have made more mistakes in my life by saying “yes” to too many things than probably any other thing that I’ve done”. Be as clear on what you’ll say “NO” to, as you are about what you say “yes” to.
4. Innovate to be on-trend not off-track
Innovate with the curve, not necessarily ahead of it. Trends, like waves, come and go. It’s vital that you know what wave to catch, and which to let go. Don’t innovate for the sake of it, as it may just destroy the value that created your business in the first place. Innovate because it makes sense to your business model, and keeps you on trend instead of taking you off track.
5. Cross-functional integration is more important than alignment
Research tells us that the effective implementation of strategy is not just about cascading and alignment, it’s about creating a level of fluidity across units. What is called “cross functional integration”. Strategies are not implemented by stealth, they are implemented by teams. If the leader is the bottleneck when it comes to decisions, then the wheel of strategy implementation will always be a slow wheel to turn. Create teams. Across the functions, not just within them and see what magic happens.
Nicola Tyler is a highly respected strategic thinker. With over 20 years of experience in Strategy, Consulting, Leadership, Development and Coaching, she is an Associate of the Gordon Institute of Business, a Master Trainer in a full range of de Bono Thinking tools. Working both locally and internationally, she delivers her own “Strategic Conversation” methodology to senior teams committed to innovation and driving sustainable results.
Nicola has shared the stage with world renowned thought leaders such as Dr Tara Swart, Tom Peters, Prof Robert Kaplan, Ricardo Semler, Edward de Bono, Prof Dave Ulrich, Martin Seligman, Richard Koch and Martin Lindstrom.
The ability to think, plan and operate strategically is fast becoming the true competitive advantage. Click HERE to find out more or contact us at info@brg.co.za to book a needs assessment.
