Reminder: When I say org strategy, I’m referring collectively to your vision statement, mission statement, core values, etc. — the guiding principles of your organization. Specifically, the articulation of those — what you say and how you say it.
Here’s my belief: The main reason most organization strategies, mission statements, core values, etc. are bad is because they’re bloated. Bloated because people see strategy-building as an exercise of including everything that’s important. It’s not.
When you obesify your strategy, you disable your strategy. It lands on deaf ears. People turn a blind eye to it.
I’ll go a step further: A bloated strategy is a dead strategy… dead on arrival. (I’m sure you can picture the connection between bloating and death without any graphic embellishment from me.)
When your corporate strategy is corpulent, you’re likely to experience the 3 frustrating failures of org strategy communication:
Let’s not let that happen.
To avoid that triple catastrophe, there are a half-dozen things you can do. I call them The sticky 6: Things that make an org strategy take hold. Go check those out. When you do, you’ll see that the first thing on the list is simplification. And it’s #1 for a reason.
In this post, we’ll focus on how you can think differently in order to make your org strategy simple.
When working on org strategy, many of us tend to impose rules on ourselves, right at the outset:
• “This is our blueprint. Include everything important.”
• “It’s gotta be actionable. What’s the plan?”
• “Spell it all out. Details matter.”
• “Leadership dictates strategy. Don’t mess with their words.”
Good intentions, no doubt. Unfortunately these notions often lead to negative results. Complexity. Bewilderment. Non-starter-ness. If you feel those pains, it’s time to turn those defaults upside down.
Here are 4 reframes that will help you simplify your org strategy:
Let’s break ‘em down.
I mentioned earlier that people often see strategy-building as an exercise of including everything that’s important. But that’s not what it is. What it actually is: an exercise of eliminating things that are important. So all that’s left are the things that are most important.
So the challenge is, do we have the courage to eliminate things that are important?
It’s hard. Because as soon you suggest eliminating something important, somebody’s gonna say, “But that’s important.” And they’re right!
But you can’t let strategy be an act of hoarding. If you want to get the most out of every person in your organization, you have to declutter their decision-making.
You can’t let strategy be an act of hoarding.
If you’ve got a team that’s tackling strategy, make sure this is understood.
Try saying something like this, right up front:
“We all know there are a million things that are important. But we can’t focus on a million things. Which means we need to have the courage to eliminate things that are important, so that we can focus on the things that are most important. So, as we’re considering what to include, let’s allow ourselves to say, ‘Yes, this is important.’ And also to ask, ‘But is it truly most important?’”
And/or, try this logical progression:
• We can’t succeed without focusing.
• We can’t focus without simplifying.
• We can’t simplify without eliminating.
And/or, try one of my favorite quotations:
“Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”
— Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Terre des Hommes (Wind, Sand and Stars, 1939)
Easier said than done… as I know from personal experience. When I was working on the list of values for Counterpart, I came up with more than 20 traits. All true; all important. But I couldn’t ask anyone to act on so many things, much less remember them. It had to be simpler. So, I narrowed it down to three: Think positive, keep it real, and respect the process.
If you want to get the most out of every person in your organization, you have to declutter their decision-making.
Another fundamental way to simplify your org strategy: Get everybody on the same page in terms of what a strategy actually is.
I say this: A strategy isn’t a plan. It’s what drives the plan.
A plan is a set of action steps. A strategy, on the other hand, is a collection of principles upon which decisions are to be made.
Let me say that again, this time without using the word “upon”:
Principles (strategy) drive decisions. Decisions drive actions (plan).
I get a little squeamish whenever I hear the term “strategic plan.” That’s because I’m afraid that people will confuse meanings. A strategic plan is a plan that’s driven by strategy (as it should be). Not a strategy itself.
Here’s my fave quote for defining strategy:
“A business strategy is a set of guiding principles that … provides a clear roadmap [for] the actions people in the business should take (and not take) and the things they should prioritize (and not prioritize) to achieve desired goals.”
— Michael D. Watkins, Harvard Business Review
So when you’re working on strategy, step away from the action steps. Focus on setting decision-making criteria. Keep it big-picture. And keep it long-term — a strategy generally should be good for 5 years or more. And some elements of your strategy, like core values, should be applicable forever.
This brings me to one last way to think about it: A strategy includes things you might put in a frame and hang in your lobby or conference room. Things like your mission statement. Vision statement. Core values. Standards. Keys to success. A plan, on the other hand, is a to-do list. And nobody frames a to-do list. So when you’re evaluating ideas, ask “Can we frame this on the wall? Will it still be applicable 5 years from now?”
A plan is a to-do list. Nobody frames a to-do list.
Strategy vs. plan: One’s a poster; one’s a Post-it® note.
Consider this benchmark for simplicity: Get your entire strategy down to a single slide. #Goals, right?
Which means you are going to have to leave some important things out.
The thing is, there will always be more to the story. It’s likely impossible to capture everything there is to know about your organization in a single document — no matter how many slides you have.
What you want, then, is for your strategy to be a guide for telling the whole story.
Think of it as chapter titles. Or even headlines. Using the right word, expression, or short sentence that helps people “get it” at a high level. But also allows you to convey that there’s more to “it.”
In other words, each item should be a “doorway” to a deeper discussion. Where you can get into all the profound explanation and pertinences of execution.
Of course you’ve got to do this without being too vague. But that’s entirely possible.
For example, at Counterpart, we have three core values. Easy enough to remember — everybody loves a list of three. But each core value has legs to it. Or tentacles. Or whatever you wanna call them. Like this:
So you can see how we’ve united all these ideas with a single theme, which we can then expand on during a new hire’s orientation. And that’s exactly what we do.
Your org strategy is a piece of communication. It’s a message. And a very important one at that.
Who’s the primary target audience for this message? It’s not just you or the leadership or the board. It’s every single person in your organization.
(Your secondary audience may be external, such as shareholders.)
So, whether you have employees or volunteers or both, remember: Your org-strategy message is to them, for them. And if you want their full buy-in, you need to find a way to make it about them.
Think: What does your org strategy mean to Orville? How does it affect Deepak’s decision-making? Does it make Maya’s work more meaningful?
This is the idea of affiliation, which is one of the sticky 6. Your people should feel closely associated with your strategy. If they don’t see how they’re connected to it — if it seems irrelevant to what they do — then they won’t follow it. That’s one of 3 frustrating failures that you definitely want to avoid.
OK, you get it. But what does target audience have to do with simplifying?
Well, if you’re a high-level leader, you’re high-minded. You see the big picture. You’re looking out into the future. And that’s your job. But you have to remember that your target audience doesn’t necessarily see the forest, because they work in the trees. So make your principles accessible. Write for… well, I don’t want to say “the lowest common denominator,” because I don’t consider anybody’s job to be “low.” And neither should you. My point is, convey your ideas in simple enough terms that everybody gets your meaning. That’s the first step to making it meaningful.
Imagine your entire strategy on a single slide. Boy, wouldn’t that be an act of simplification!
It can be done, I promise. That’s the entire premise of my Single Slide Strategy framework.
Its graphic and ordered structure is designed to make all the ideas connect and flow.
Done correctly, it speaks to everything important, without saying everything important.
Single Slide Strategy® speaks to everything important, without saying everything important.
It opens all the right doors, so you can ensure simplicity, yet provide for necessary depth.
Of course, you can use whatever framework you want, but you still have to put the right words in there. Like I said earlier, your org strategy is a message — to your coworkers first, but potentially to your shareholders, industry, and even the world. What you say and how you say it both matter. So consider The 4 things that make a message work™. And avoid The 4 ways your message works against you™.
Take these ideas to heart. Let me know if they help.
Consider using the Single Slide Strategy framework.
Consider getting expert help to guide you through it.
Not sure if you need org strategy at all? Hey, maybe you don’t. Book some consulting time with me, and we can figure it out together.
