Strategy and the 'Staccato Effect'

So, you’ve worked through your strategic planning sessions and beautifully documented a well-presented strategy with all the frills of vision and with a robust business plan to deliver a host of aspirational targets.

The job’s done and the focus moves to the execution, right?

But what happens when things change – could be monumental like that pandemic disruption that’s lasted years, or perhaps more direct like the liquidation of a major client?

It may even be the less dramatic and impactful but enough of a reverberation, regardless.

A ‘solid’ strategy shouldn’t be rigid and fixed but should be flexible enough to respond to both external and internal drivers that inevitably occur and regardless of the level of impact. Responsive enough that its alignment with Purpose remains at the forefront of decision-making.

Good strategy needs the ‘Staccato Effect’; regular and sharp reviews, and the punctuation of pauses sufficient to recalibrate and reaffirm, or even alter direction. (Indeed, being agile and responsive!)

I’ve seen organisations continue down a pathway because their 2- or 3-year-old strategy dictated it, and they follow it to the letter while the world around them changes – technologically, environmentally, customer-centrically. I’ve also observed that a number of those companies are no longer around.

Good strategy allows for adjustment and refinement, and at regular and sharp intervals, otherwise it would be simply stupid strategy.