There are a lot of moving parts to any business. You have clients, you have staff, and you have products or services. It can be tough to keep everything organized and on track. That’s where strategy comes in.
Strategy is the glue that holds everything together and makes sure that everyone is working towards the same outcome. In this article, we will discuss the difference between strategy, vision, goals, and plans, and how each one is relevant to your company.
Vision – The why
A vision for a company is an inspirational long-term outcome that expresses the larger purpose behind the organization’s actions. It serves as a foundational core for what the company stands for and provides a sense of direction – it is an ideal future state toward which to strive. A well-crafted vision should be inspirational, emphasizing how the organisation will work to make a positive impact.
Additionally, a vision must act as a transformation force that compels individuals into wanting to participate in reaching it – employees and customers alike should be driven by their desire to aid in achieving this grand vision. The vision should also be broad yet meaningful enough to resonate with those aligned by its values and help establish a loyal tribe that believes in and supports your mission.
Goals – The what
Goals are essential elements in any successful project or journey—not only do they provide a framework for understanding where you want to go, but they also embody the actionable milestones necessary to get there. It is important to have goals to measure progress, evaluate how much effort is being put in, and how much reward is reaped from it.
This highlights the importance of defining goals with clear metrics— not only tracking the end goal but also measuring progress along the way—so that you can accurately assess speed and success as you go and adjust your course accordingly.
Goals must also define what ”success” looks like for everyone involved so it is clear what should happen by when, who is responsible, and how it will be measured; this lets all members of the team understand their part in making them happen, as well as how progress towards those goals will be measured to understand when goals are achieved and, if unsuccessful, where attention should have been directed.
Setting and revising goals also helps teams test assumptions and reassess direction as needed, which helps pivot quickly where necessary and maximise your odds of achieving long-term success.
Plan – The how
A plan provides step-by-step guidance as to how you and your team can reach the established objectives, and it offers clarity of purpose for everyone involved. Without a plan, progress or success can be difficult to achieve due to the lack of order, direction, and guidance.
The plan should also include specifications on team roles and responsibilities, resources and tools needed, and when each step needs to be completed. With this knowledge in hand, teams can move confidently forward with intentionality – leading from point A to B.
Regardless of how ambitious a plan might be, effective plan development requires consideration of the company’s present capabilities and a thorough understanding of the desired outcome. The plan should encourage people to take initiative, think creatively, and exercise autonomy in how actions are implemented.
Taking ownership in the process promotes collaboration and inevitably increases the odds of success through a greater commitment from all involved. This is why co-creation is essential for lasting success -engaging creativity, collaboration and individual input helps ensure the necessary buy-in to generate progress quickly and efficiently.
Strategy – The glue
A strategy allows you to bring the various elements of your vision, goals, and plans together and helps prevent competition and conflicting priorities from taking hold. A good strategy looks at the big picture while considering all potential impacts related to the specific tasks and objectives being undertaken.
An effective strategy requires careful planning and communication between team members in order to ensure everyone is working towards the same successful outcome. Aligning their respective goals under one strategy can help minimize situations where teams are working towards different outcomes even when attempting to achieve the same results.
Using strategy as a storytelling device is also incredibly powerful when it comes to engaging teams and onboarding new members. It allows you to craft an organized-yet-detailed narrative of how everything came together, from the considerations taken to the assumptions made, as well as the desired outcome.
In addition to increasing team engagement by allowing them to voice their feedback and ask questions, strategy can also help accelerate the onboarding process of new members by sharing all the key information and providing the necessary context for them to be successful in their role.
Overall, your strategy serves not only as a method of getting the job done but also as a medium of communication that helps engage your team and take them on the journey of understanding how it all works and the value of their individual contribution.
Putting it all together
When it comes to business success, mapping out the strategy of a company is key to maintaining and achieving success, and it requires a combination of different parts to make up one cohesive system. Goals must be properly defined and a plan with steps must be created in order to bring the vision to fruition.
A strategy should break down complex objectives into achievable components, so it is important to remember that an effective strategy doesn’t just sit on its own once defined – it needs to be implemented into your operations. All of your strategy components should be interconnected, each serving its own part while being mutually reinforcing across the entire company structure, hence why operationalizing your strategy is the key to success.
Having a defined and implemented strategy allows companies to more successfully align goals with resources both short-term and long-term, bringing them closer towards their ambitious objectives. Taking the time to properly plan and execute a strategy can be time consuming, but it is well worth it in the long run, since teams that act with alignment have much greater odds of success than those with competing expectations.
What is one action you can implement this week as a result of reading this article? Give it a go and let me know how you go!
