STRATEGY IS ACTION, NOT JUST IDEAS

My approach to strategy builds enduring impact by establishing systems and processes that sustain success and integrate innovation and growth into the pulse of the business. There is an inherent tension between your business as it runs today and the strategic vision of your business in the future. I deliver impact by ensuring synchronization of the current run of business and the strategic trajectory.

Too often strategic planning can feel like taking time away from your "day job" to think big thoughts culminating in a thick document that you put away until it's time to do "strategic planning" again next year. There may be brilliant ideas in that thick document, but if leaders and employees aren't adopting them and changing their everyday behavior then the process was a waste of precious time.

In the end the strategy isn't what gets ideated, but rather what gets done. As a strategist, I know the importance of developing a clear strategic plan. But my work can't end there. The rubber meets the road over time - quarterly check-ins about progress and impediments, regular realignment of priorities, tough conversations about what is working and what is not. That is the work that I do.

The three elements of my practice are: clarity, alignment, and execution.

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CLARITY

A company's strategy should be unique to them: carefully tailored based on organizational strengths, competitive positioning, and market dynamics. It should be clear the strategy is yours and only yours even if you cover up the logo on the page. That specificity comes from an honest evaluation of the strengths that will get you there and the risks that you must mitigate and overcome -- a picture of who you want to be and how you're going to get there.

ALIGNMENT

When an executive team aligns behind a unified strategy, the decisions each of them makes within their own businesses will be an extension of that strategy. It's the critical first step to integrating the strategy into everyday business practices. Strategy maintenance depends on cross-functional prioritization. An aligned team makes that process so much more efficient and consistent over time.  That type of alignment requires ongoing coaching and reinforcement to ensure that incremental operational decisions keep the organization on track to achieve its strategic goals.

EXECUTION

The strength of strategy is borne out by how well it is executed. While your strategy paints a long arc of change, execution depends on a series of incremental moves over time that build to that arc. An effective strategic plan should intentionally cascade into ever more granular operating plans and budgets so we can track how strategic decisions and resulting changes deliver financial impact.