__________________________________________________________Strategic Management__
STRATEGY and STRATEGY PROCESS: From VISION and MISSION to EXECUTION and RESULTS
'Strategic Planning is a management tool used by approximately 80% of major corporations' (The Crafts of Strategy, Long Range Planning, Whittington, R., Cailluet, L., 2008) globally. Unlike most professions such as accounting, engineering or law however, strategy practitioners do not have a rigorous and disciplined set of ‘rules’ to follow, but rather a suite of tools and methodologies that are applied in an often ‘Ad Hoc’ manner.
Every executive therefore, has their own perspective of what strategy is and how it should be managed; there is no one correct approach to strategic management. Accordingly, strategy tensions arise from the differences in ‘prescriptive’ opinions (influences from subconscious preferences) that dominate strategic thinking, the cognitive process of resolving complex strategic problems.
Seeking to alleviate strategic tensions in the strategy creation to execution process, HCP’s Strategic Management Institute (SMI) has two methods of helping organisations to optimise the effectiveness of the strategy function:
- Best Practice, Strategy Process Assessment Program. This program is designed to provide an understanding of how one business entity’s process compares against alternatives. Unlike most benchmark comparisons however, we are seeking to answer the question, “what strategy process is best for our organisation?” as opposed to “what is the right strategy process?” The basis for our benchmarking analysis is our internally developed, fully integrated, Strategic Management Framework. An illustration of the high level strategy creation to execution process derived from our Strategic Management framework follows:
The Program: Conducted over a period of five days, the Best Practice, Strategy Process Assessment Program provides participants with an explanation of differences between the processes used by them, against those of the benchmark characteristics used by either
- HCP's fully integrated, Strategic Management Framework, and
- those of other organisations as they are added over time
By conducting the comparison’s in a ‘hand’s on’ capacity, we are able to overcome the difficulty of ‘relevance’, a problem which would be experienced for example, if our client were a soft drink manufacturer operating in the free market, but attempting to make a direct comparison with a highly regulated utility. Although a comparison of the soft drink producer’s competitive intelligence program would not be readily comparable with the utility for example, certain aspects of the strategy processes such as the use of scenario analysis, business intelligence and quantitative analytics could well be.
Our ‘value proposition’ therefore is to provide an evaluation of only the relevant tools, techniques, methodologies and processes that are used (or not) by both organisations, as well as those described in our Strategic Management Framework and Strategy Creation to Execution Methodology. To illustrate the value of our program, research conducted by the SMI from some of Australia’s top 300 companies has identified an ‘across the board’ trend towards minimal use of highly effective strategy tools such as scenario planning and value chain analysis, an overuse of less effective strategy tools such as SWOT analysis, and an overemphasis on ‘flavour of the month’ or stand alone tools such as Blue Ocean Strategy and Customer Relationship Management. From our research and experience, we have observed an absence of clarity around effective planning processes combined with a reluctance to change last year’s program (effective or not), as primary contributors to mediocre results from strategy.
Getting started: When conducting the program, HCP’s consultants will interview senior executives, review prevailing strategy and strategic management practices, review the current strategic plan as well as any other documents or processes of relevance.
STRATEGY PROFILER TM
Resolving the Conflict in Individual Strategy ‘Styles’: Introducing Strategy Academy’s Strategy Profiler
With the imperative to better manage the strategic aspects of the business, the strategy literature offers little direction in terms of ‘what is the right practice for us’? In addition, it is uncertain which individual in an organisation supports which approach – and which is the right one for the organisation overall?
HCP assists clients to resolve this issue by applying the Strategy ProfilerTM an online self assessment tool. The Strategy Profiler is conducted through an on-line questionnaire. It allows us to assess an individual’s strategy-making style by establishing individual preferences across the ‘polarities’ of ten dimensions of strategy. These dimensions (illustrated below) are described in de Wit and Meyer’s book Strategy Synthesis (Thomson Publishing, 2005). Through the profiler, individual preferences are established and compared with others in the organisation (or the Strategy Academy data base) to understand: how senior executives think about strategy and what their preferences are towards strategic management. In summary, an understanding of strategy ‘preferences’ is beneficial to both the individual and the organisation with whom they work:
Case Studies: Strategy ProfilerTM has been used in organisations across the globe. Strategy Academy maintains a data base of responses compiled from these past clients. Assessments can be conducted on a scale that starts with an individual and escalates to an organisation of global proportions.
Getting Started: Strategy ProfilerTM should be completed by a representative group of managers. Our process requires initial preparation, analysis and feedback. The overall program can be included in a broader Strategic Review or conducted independently. Applications include:
- Learning: Map different strategy styles in a group, at the start of a strategic leadership program
- Individual assessment: Determine individual's strengths, as well as areas for improvement
- Establish a coaching relationship: Help to determine areas for further attention
- Organisational analysis: Pinpoint whether a firm is stuck in one dominant strategy style and whether there are stark style differences between individuals, business units, corporate office or even alliance partners
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__________________________________________________________Strategic Management__
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