We often hear people referring to a person who has contributed immensely to the success of a cause or an organization as ‘being strategic’.
Yet, when you ask those renowned persons to share their strategies, mostly they respond by saying that they cannot recall any special strategy which made their organizations thrive.
This is because being strategic is a competency or a way of living and it becomes difficult to differentiate when you master that skill, as it becomes so much a part of you.
Strategic thinking
We need to develop this competency at the required level, according to our job profiles and responsibilities. As Michael Porter found out a few decades ago, if we are to serve our customers effectively and efficiently in a world which is characterized by influential customers, fierce competitors, new entrants, innovate substitutes and powerful suppliers, then we need to be strategic.
Strategic thinking has different facets such as, critical thinking, solutions thinking, forward and long term thinking, etc.
Strategy in real life
As we go along life’s journey, we keep gathering knowledge and experience in our areas of expertise. We also begin to understand the culture that surrounds our vocations.
Our quest to identify a real market opportunity that has the potential to help us with our revenue and profit making aspirations, should ideally originate from this knowledge and experience. Therefore, this window of opportunity needs to be analyzed thoroughly and turned into a clear business proposition.
Our decision, regarding who we want to serve through this opportunity and how we plan to serve, is crucial.
Thereafter, the strategy implementation has to be taken care of. We need to decide how our limited resources would be managed, taking advantage of this opportunity to serve relentlessly over a long period of time.
Strategic edge
Strategic knowledge will give you an edge over others, even during economic down times.
Tough times could be turned into great moments for advancements, if we correctly distinguish the industry life cycles.
For example, look at nature; it has seasonal cycles. Individuals who are into seasonal business, exploit the economies of scale to their advantage. Take our own life’s cycle which moves from childhood to old age: smart people get the maximum from each season in life.
Game changes
Likewise, there are political, socio-structural and industrial cycles. Clever companies exploit industry cycles for their gain. This comes with the strategic knowledge of understanding systems, structures and processes, which give insight to forecast the future precisely and anticipate threats accurately, taking full advantage of opportunities based on strengths and capitalizing on the weaknesses of competitors.
To identify customers that your competitors are unable to serve will require structural, operational and lateral thinking. Visionary and dynamic thinking would be necessary to enrol the services of key people and talented staff.
If you want to beat competition, then you have to think from a different perspective than your competitors, which has to be logical, yet, open minded. At most times, people make the mistake of trying to change their business model to suit the changing or challenging environment.
Although, this might work for a short time, in the long run, if one is unable to survive the long haul, it may become a self-defeating plan.
Many organizations that were birthed with inspiring mandates become outdated after being in operation for some decades because of their unwillingness to be open-minded, flexible and creative.
Sustainability
Keep your business safe with limited exposure. Do not be over ambitious by exposing your business model and secrets to danger. Many well-meaning senior executives go berserk chasing after every opportunity that come their way, to the point where it detrimentally affects the very existence of their organizations.
Be strategic
Look at the core of your business, and focus on your competencies.
Developing strategic skills is a lifelong learning process, like learning to become a good gardener. Carefully and lovingly prune and cut only the stems and branches which are weak and are not producing, but not the core or the roots.
If you do the pruning correctly, seasoning it with emotional intelligence and grace, you will have a lush tree that would bring forth beautiful flowers and fruits in season; giving a lot of shade to all of your employees even during the dry seasons.
(The writer is an HRD & Business Psychology Practitioner)