For some, it conjures up images of graphs, PowerPoints, and massive documents that are hundreds of pages long that sit on a shelf and never get looked at again. For others, it’s a load of waffle that doesn’t mean anything to the majority of the people in the business, but makes senior people feel better about themselves and how they are running the business.
For us at Figure 8? A strategy is your intention as a business. It’s the draft story that you want to make a reality. It’s a guide, that if defined and used in the right way ultimately helps everyone in the business make more effective and purpose driven decisions.
That was the starting point for our recent workshop with Whyfield clients – how can business leaders harness effective strategic planning to boost decision making in your business, helping you to move forwards effectively with direction, purpose and drive?
Every business was started with an idea of what the owner/leader wanted to achieve, or how they want to make a difference. This might not be written down or made into a fancy presentation that is beamed onto big screens in front of hundreds of employees, but it’s what drives you and your business.
‘Strategy’ as a label covers many things and at Figure 8 we like to keep things simple, so we define strategy as:
“How you will achieve your goals as a business”
We believe strategy should be simple, easy to understand and ultimately mean something for everyone in your business. It should answer:
If you can answer those 5 questions, you’re on your way to having your own super strategy!
But a strategy isn’t just about being able to answer those 5 questions, it’s about using the answers to drive the business forward. Figure 8’s Super Strategy Model enables you to take those answers and develop them into an effective strategy to help your business thrive.
Building a clear vision to set out what you want to achieve and by when, understanding the outcomes you need to achieve as a business to make your vision a reality, defining the deliverables the business needs to make happen year on year, and setting out the activities in a prioritised action plan that will give you the tools, technology, processes, capability and people you need to succeed.
You need to be able to create a clear relationship between the activities happening at an operational level, to the business vision and the outcomes you need to achieve. And none of this is possible without having the right people, with the right skills and capabilities, in the right positions to help you, and the right culture in your organisation to harness the power of your people.
The right strategy inspires you & your people, helps your customers understand what you do and how you do, gives potential investors the confidence in you and your business and guides everyone in your business.
If you’re a business leader looking at how you can make your business dreams a reality, harness the power of your people and make sure you’re all pulling in the right direction, we’d love to help you succeed. Get in touch with Figure 8 Consulting today
At Figure 8 we believe that providing clear strategic direction and empowering people is the best way to deliver brilliant change and make it stick – and that’s what we’re most passionate about helping our clients achieve.
Core to our mission is delivering the support, advice and consultancy that is truly flexible to our clients’ needs, bringing real value that delivers tangible results. We work with businesses that need us, at the point they need us most, and help them thrive. If you’re interested in understanding how we can help your business, let’s have a chat.