February 2014

In This Issue

Strategy Making - Strategy Planning

Take Control of Your Future - Strategically

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Welcome to the February 2014 edition of Pathways to Success. This month's articles focus on Strategy. The first article discusses "strategy making" as opposed to "strategy planning" based on an article by Roger L. Martin in the January -February 2014 Harvard Business Review. What we all need to be doing is focusing on how to make our businesses flourish with new possibilities: a call for strategy making. The second article focuses on the need to have a strategic plan be a living document. It should provide the tools and content to effectively align everyone in the organization and be flexible enough to accommodate the inevitable changes that will occur over time.

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Steve

Steve Terusaki
SEIDŌ Consulting
s.terusaki@seidoconsulting.com
www.seidoconsulting.com
510.559.0225

Strategy Making - Strategy Planning

Things happen. Things happen that we don't expect. Things happen that require us to change direction. How do we tackle strategy in the midst of these ever-changing and sometimes chaotic events?

In the January-February 2014 HBR article by Roger Martin, "The Big Lie of Strategic Planning," Martin discusses the difference between Strategy Making and Strategy Planning. The latter is a management tool that allays the fears of the ever-changing nature of future events. Through an evaluative approach to predicting future revenue, the strategic planning process identifies key initiatives that support the organization's mission and sets forth a plan to deploy resources, invest in assets and new capabilities in order to achieve those initiatives. A large focus in the strategic planning process is on budgeting of costs based on projected revenue. The planning process allows an organization's managers to become comfortable about venturing into the future. However, the strategic planning process DOES NOT make strategy!

Take Control of Your Future - Strategically

Business leaders have embraced the axiom that having a strategic plan is an important component to long-term success. If you do not plan your direction, you cannot take control of your future. In addition to looking ahead three to five years and deciding where the organization needs and wants to be, companies are becoming very aggressive in their short-term strategic analysis and review in response to the rapidly changing economic environment and uncontrollable outside distractions. Looking through the short-term strategic lens more frequently is prudent.