There are many people out there that have more information than you can poke the proverbial stick at. They even have a genuine feel for where the world is going and how their business can capitalise on that, yet lack the crucial piece of the puzzle-insight; and therefore a flawed strategy is about to be embraced.
Far too much emphasis is placed on tools like the strengths, weaknesses, opportunity and threat (SWOT) analysis as a substitute for insight.
SWOT analyses - and the zillion other tools available - are great for thinking. However unless the result of our thinking is real insight, we have achieved nothing of value to help us decide on a strategy that will get executed.
5 ways to turn information and intuition into insight
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Meet with all stakeholders in person (through one-on-one meetings and focus groups) and discover what each stakeholder group wants from the organisation. This is fundamental.
Most strategic plans are about what the board wants and/or they favour one stakeholder group (usually shareholders). What we actually need is a realistic view of what all stakeholders want.
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From all the information and meetings, confirm the insight or otherwise and arrive at conclusions about what is worth celebrating and what can be better.
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Possibility, vision - or whatever you wish to call where you are going - is often accomplished by simply continuing to be able to celebrate what we are and turn the things that can be better, into things we can celebrate.
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Work to align possibility (vision) with the intent, purpose (mission) and principles (values) of the organisation. Usually this means the discovery of massive incongruence between what we say and what we do. The first strategy that must be decided and executed is to correct this.
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While alignment is in progress, work with employees, the primary deliverers to other stakeholders of what they want, to redesign service delivery roles and begin the sometimes painful process of matching people to roles.
There are 13 attributes every person must know about their roles:
- Business purpose
- Personal purpose
- Business principles
- Passions
- Key relationships
- Key responsibilities
- Responsibilities-performance standards
- Unique gifts (talents)
- How gifts are being capitalised on
- Possible future roles
- Measurements/feedback
- Recognition/reward
- Possible consequences for non-performance
Read the article "Simplifying Strategy And Execution: All Stakeholders Are Important"
Read the article "Simplifying Strategy And Execution: Aligning Possibility, Purpose And Principles"
Read the article "Simplifying Strategy And Execution: Strategic Intuition Precedes Strategic Thinking"
Read the article "Simplifying Strategy And Execution: Strategic Planning Is An Oxymoron"
Read the article "Simplifying Strategy And Execution: Transparency Is Essential"
Buy Ian Berry's Audio Seminar CD from the Resource Centre:
What Real Leaders Do And Fake Ones Don't