Raising the level of strategic readiness

By Rukmal De Silva

Do you remember the funny story that you may have heard at some management training about three types of people in this world. People who make things happen, who wait till things happen and who wonder what happened. Probably you do. That story is all about strategic readiness.

First, it makes sense to define what we mean by strategic readiness. As implied in the enclosed questionnaire, it consists of strategic comprehension and ability to mobilize the formulated strategy.

Understanding who we are and where we stand, where we should go and how we get there is the foundation of strategic comprehension. This is the internal view. On the other hand, when it comes to strategic comprehension, you need to have the antennas out there to be in touch with the reality outside your organization. Third, you need to have humility to take the brutal facts of reality as they are and deal with them. Finally, your processes need to support all this.

The mobilization of strategy calls for engaging others into the process. The sooner this step is taken, the better the outcome. Thus, the best enabler of strategic mobilization is your organizational style or culture. Relating to that, you need to be able to put your ego aside if you want to be strategically ready organization. Your ability to take risks and allow failure comes third.

Finally, your processes – especially finances and leadership at all levels – need to support the strategy mobilization.

Now, even though your organization would score poorly when measuring your current strategic readiness, you don’t have to go instantly firing the top management. Strategic readiness can be developed through practice and acquisition of theoretical knowledge. Note, however, that if you embark on this development process, it needs commitment from more than one person in your organization. In the following we reveal some thoughts to get you started.

Heart and the head
Sadly, many organizations and managers think that they exist first and foremost to make loads of money. After a grand career – or maybe a burnout – they leave the company feeling somewhat empty. Of course money is the top priority of top companies, but it’s not the reason for their existence. It’s rather a positive side product. You need to be clear on what you really love to do, what is that something that makes you tick.

That conviction will open many doors for you and will tune your head to see many aspects of the world which you may have missed.

When that starting point is clear, and the guiding values are agreed on and utilized, it’s so much easier to embark on the journey of focused and strategic action.

To make sure the others are ready to join this journey, the best strategic leaders appeal to people’s hearts as well as their heads. When your organization is able to connect to people on the emotional level and offer a rationale, you have all the chances to succeed.

Indeed, in the old economy it was enough that you deal with the head. The decision would be made only when you had enough numerical proof behind it. Still today it can be claimed that analytical skills are something every strategist should have. However, in today’s information age it’s not anymore enough that you are able to break down complex entities and study them under the microscope. You also need an ability to synthesise: to form something new out of the bits and pieces of information pouring in from every direction.

This managing complexity helps in staying ahead of technological, cultural and market trends. Although information systems can be helpful; it’s the curiosity and skill of people that needs to be harnessed to maintain the organization’s ability to learn. Organization – or at least parts of it – needs to be constantly evaluated, improved, shaken and stirred. Once you have a tight-knit team of people in the strategic leadership of your organization who are able to work together and synthesize new ideas into implementable strategies, you have come a long way from operational management done by individuals.

Yet one of the biggest hurdles you may have to overcome is your own self. Your ego and your emotional attachment to your business could put you in a blind spot. In the face of strategic challenges your humility could bring you greater results.

Gut feeling
Today’s constantly changing business environment calls for agility, even from big corporations. And that agility is reached only if people are empowered to make decisions on their own, within a given framework of guidelines. Similarly, the strategic decisions should not be dwelled on too long, but if something feels right, it might just be right.

Actually this is quite a relief for many people dealing with strategy; you don’t need to be a fortune teller to be a good strategist. Unconscious competence would do. You just need to formulate a catchy and simple strategy that inspires people and gives guidelines for further operational plans and action.

Trusting the gut feeling is much easier when an array of opinions is available. That’s why the strategic leaders gladly welcome people from all rungs of the organizational ladder to join in the process. Though getting decisions done and making corrections to direction later on might sound like a good option, there is one trait in contemporary strategic leadership that especially needs the traditional approach. Ironically that trait deals with the future, not the past.

It’s the possible intentions, actions and reactions of competitors, customers and government authorities that need to be predicted and prepared for. Forgetting this while doing strategic decisions leads to failure in the future, as the data gathered for the decision is taken solely from the reality that existed in the past.

Cause and effect or leapfrogs
We are no longer living in the linear world where, as a rule, effect follows a cause. Customer demands, CEOs, stock values, companies, or even whole industries can change overnight. Look what Internet or mobile technology has done to the way we operate in our daily life, talk with anyone from the airline industry after 9/11, or visit the empty beaches of Mirissa and Unawatuna after the Galle attack to see how some things just cannot be predicted.

That’s why the exemplary strategic leaders are ready to experiment at the face of uncertainty. They always hold a couple of aces up their sleeve just in case the reality deals them a poor hand, and most importantly: They are willing to make short-term sacrifices for long-term benefits. Those organizations that are always ahead of their competition are the ones who are continuously implementing their strategy. And for that they have the necessary dollars and other resources put aside. Last but definitely not least, they maintain a culture that supports experimentation and tolerance for risk-taking and failure in order to be ready to welcome the unexpected positive serendipity.

Strategy is not something that you cannot change once you fix it for the next three years. Rather, it should be understood as a learning process. But do not ever put your ego or your self-interest before the strategy. Be prepared to eat humble pie at least once in a while. Let go of the emotional ties to your idea, your project or your master plan. Set the strategy, implement operations and initiatives that are in line with it, tweak if necessary and at the end of the set time period you can clearly see the path you have walked.

Have a hearty laugh, because more often than not the sights you saw at the road were not exactly what you expected.

However, hold on to your dream! Who cares about an occasional walk astray or even a dead-end, if you have consciously gone where you wanted to go? In the beginning you might have had only dreams of where to go, but a good strategy can be your ever-illuminating torch in the deepest and darkest caves of uncertainty.

To communicate a strategy to others, it needs to be clear and focused. Ensuring that every manager at every level is accountable for contributing to the overall strategy is easier said than done.

When leaders are rolling out enticing campaigns for introducing new strategic initiatives, people might think “it’s just another management fad of the year”.

However, in the best organizations the people know why these initiatives are launched, because they were part of formulating the overall strategy where they derive from.

This way the strategic leadership is spread evenly across the organization and the top management can concentrate on building and sustaining momentum through clear communication and cheerleading.

Dive in
Opportunities are around but they are not thrown at us from heaven. You need to tune your whole organization, not only your MD’s or CEO’s mind. To wrap this all up, try to remember at least these suggestions: Be humble. Put your ego aside. First comprehend. Then analyze and synthesize. Reflect. Do not be afraid to be a destroyer and a creator.

Try what you can learn from cartoons. Decide what you want to become. Even the sloths of today can become the saber tooth tigers of tomorrow!