Strategy Management
Definition
"The practice of formulating the goals of the organization and adopting the courses of action and allocation of resources necessary for achieving those goals."
To fulfill this purpose, organizations must:
- Ensure strategies are effective, sustainable, and meet evolving stakeholder needs
- Communicate agreed strategies across the organization and embed them into practices and value streams
Key Terms
Business strategy: A high-level plan outlining organizational purpose and long-term goals, specifying ways to achieve them in dynamic environments.
Digital strategy: A business strategy based all or partly on using digital technology to achieve goals and purpose.
Purpose: The reason an organization exists or its core business.
Vision: The defined aspiration of what an organization would like to become in the future.
Processes
Strategy Generation and Continual Development
- Strategic assessment - Analyze internal and external environment (PESTLE, SWOT, competitive landscape)
- Strategy planning - Formulate options, evaluate trade-offs, develop the strategic plan
- Strategy discussion and approval - Present to governing bodies and stakeholders for review and approval
- Strategy communication and implementation - Cascade through organization, translate into operational plans
- Strategy review - Monitor execution, measure outcomes, adjust as needed
Ad Hoc Strategic Decision-Making
- Detection of a strategic exception - Identify unexpected events requiring immediate strategic attention
- Situational orientation and assessment - Analyze situation and implications
- Discuss and agree decision - Make and document the strategic decision
- Decision communication and implementation - Execute the decision
- Review - Evaluate outcome and capture lessons learned
Recommendations for Practice Success
- Align strategies with stakeholder needs by involving them in development
- Manage strategies continually as a living process, not annual exercise
- Embrace technology, complexity, and uncertainty using the VUCA framework
- Measure, review, and report strategy effectiveness regularly
- Transform strategies into actionable guidelines connecting high-level goals to operational practices
Key Metrics
| Metric | What it measures |
|---|---|
| Stakeholder satisfaction | Perception of strategic direction |
| Stakeholder involvement in strategy planning | Breadth of participation |
| Timeliness of strategy design/renewal | Currency of strategic plans |
| Strategic objectives achieved (%) | Strategy execution effectiveness |
| Strategic initiatives completed (%) | Delivery rate |
| Outdated/irrelevant strategy cases | Strategy currency |
| Strategy resilience to stress events | Robustness |
| Awareness of strategic principles and goals | Communication effectiveness |
| Strategic alignment of practices, value streams, and services | Integration quality |
Key Roles
- Strategic decision-makers - Senior leaders responsible for setting direction
- Strategic management committee - Governing body that reviews and approves strategies
Software Tools
- Analysis and reporting tools
- Collaboration and communication tools
- Enterprise architecture management tools
- Knowledge and document management tools
- Workflow and task management tools