Sinkholes/Doline in Your Strategy

Strategy is the backbone of any organization. It can be compared with a ship's rudder. One can imagine the state of the ship that tries to sail without a rudder. Similarly, it is impossible for an organization to keep functioning effectively without a proper strategy in place. Oftentimes, top officials of organizations confuse strategy with mission, vision or even goals of an organization. One must understand that strategy in itself is not an achievable goal or objective, instead, it is a means to achieve your goals. In short, it is a roadmap to your organization's success. Thus, having an effective strategy is a must for every organization. Sinkholes in your strategy must be identified and rectified on time.    

The real question is how you can identify whether your strategy is foolproof or not? Business strategy consultants usually begin by answering these two critical questions.  

• What are the distinct strengths of your organization which give you an edge over your competitors? 
• What are the chances that these strengths will become obsolete in near future? 

When you answer the first question you become aware about the capabilities of your organization. Next, check if your existing strategy makes utilization of these distinct capabilities to their utmost potential. If not, you have got a problem with your strategy. 

The second question is far more critical and has a huge impact on the future of your organization. So many iconic businesses that were at their peak had to bite dust, just because their USPs became obsolete after a while, and they did not have a backup plan to cope with the changing market demands. There are so many examples to illustrate this fact, the latest being that of smart phones. Some giant handset manufacturing companies either had to lose business to android phones or had to come up with their own smart phones. Similarly, many printing related businesses could not cope with the digital revolution. 

Thus, it is imperative to build your business on technologies that are either time-proof or can be molded to meet the market demands in future. If not, then this sinkhole can become bigger enough to swallow your entire business.

Strategize Your Business to Achieve Your Goal

Strategy planning is the heart and soul of any business. In simple words, it is your roadmap to achieve your business goals. An impeccable strategy can take your business places, whereas a defective one can sink it in no time. Strategizing your business is pure mind game, which involves answering these questions:

•             Where is your business right now?

•             What are your business goals?

•             How do you plan to achieve them?

•             What is the time span for achieving them?

•             How will you identify if you have achieved your goals or not?

When you have found out answers to these questions you have a rough sketch of your roadmap ready with you. In other words, you have chalked down a strategy for achieving your business goals. 

Effective Strategy Planning

There is a minute difference between an efficient strategy and an effective one. Oftentimes, people take effectiveness for efficiency and vice-a-verse. An organization that runs efficiently may not always be an effective one. Efficient planning takes into account what the weaknesses of an organization are and what are the ways to improve it. There is no doubt that this strategy planning will yield competitive results for the organization, however, it may deter it from achieving humungous success that it is capable of. An effective strategy planning not only takes into account the weaknesses of an organization and devises ways to improve them, but it also identifies its strength and ways to harness it. Besides, it also takes into account the feedback of stakeholders, which is pivotal in the success of any organization. Needless to say, an effective strategy planning can be your sure shot way to a great organizational success. 

Strategy consulting firms are better equipped at effectively implementing a strategy for organizations. Some of the techniques used by strategy consulting firms include:

•             Healthy brainstorming.

•             Identifying key problem areas.

•             Devising multiple solutions.

•             Identifying feasible solutions.

•             Implementing performance metrics.

•             Devising tools such as Balanced Score Card to measure and validate performance.

•             Tracking and reporting the execution of strategy.

Thus, the importance of devising an effective strategy for your business cannot be undermined. Strategizing your business insulates it from future challenges.