Business strategy

How do you stick to strategy in your business?

The nature of the successful strategy is changing. Today, a company’s success depends in large part on how deeply its strategy is understood and embraced.

Here are five things that may help your strategy stick.
1. A meaningful purpose
A strong purpose, one that everyone is proud of, one that has meaning beyond merely making money, helps make your strategy stick.
2. Clear, bold moves
Companies have gotten into the habit of believing that a strategy is a vision, a mission, with values and strategic objectives or goals. A good strategy requires strategic choices, or what we call bold moves. Strategies with clear, bold moves are more likely to stick.
3. You can feel it
Humans are hardwired to notice differences. If a strategy is just ‘more of the same’, then it’s likely to remain unnoticed. On the other hand, a strategy that evokes emotion will grab our attention and we will want to know more. A strategy that triggers an emotion, that makes us feel it, is more likely to stick.
4. In sync with leadership behavior
If a strategy is in sync with what we know is the character of our leaders and the culture of our organization, it becomes plausible. A strategy that is aligned with and reinforces the ingrained behavior of a company’s leaders is more likely to stick.
5. Can be shared as a story
A strategy that can be shared as a story is more memorable and meaningful than a collection of dot points and abstract statements. Wrapping your strategy in a memorable story will help make it stick.

What’s your plan?