I have seen so many presentations where the presenters outline their ‘strategies’, one of the most commonly used terms in management. For example, one senior manager in a company in a meeting said that he wants his division to grow by 10% next year and here is the ‘growth strategy’ they would follow. Similarly, a director presented to his team and envisaged cost cutting by 3% next month, outlines steps for the same and termed it as his strategy.
Now, sometimes I wonder whether are these all ‘strategies’, I mean, are we using the term in the right sense.
Google throws up the definition of strategy as
“a plan of action designed to achieve a long-term or overall aim.”
Wikipedia says
“Strategy is a high level plan to achieve one or more goals under conditions of uncertainty.”
Notice, that both these definitions are goal based. This, to me, is the fundamental problem. The foundation of strategy on future goals is weak and does not present the complete picture. Sometimes, the manager’s definition lacks a crucial component of defining and analyzing the As Is state for the situation. Let me make myself clear through the picture below:
Now, to me, first you need to objectively analyze where you are and then have clear goals in mind where you want to reach. Then strategy is laid out in various steps to go from As Is to the desired state. Most of the times, managers will only focus on the goals and start framing their strategies. But analysis of where they are – on paper, is very much essential to outline the strategic steps correctly.