Strategy: Map or App?
I’ve been in London part of this week for business. The first time I visited was in 1998. Navigating the city was much different back then compared to now. You could pick up a foldable map of the London Underground and try your best to select the best route to your destination. You could also, of course, rely on the cabs. Today you can finger type your destination into a smart phone and be presented with multiple option based on real-time data. You can anticipate delays, make judgements about whether to walk, grab a cab, an Uber, or take the subway.
It got me to thinking about “strategy” and how so many organizations and communities still think of strategy as that old Underground map. Chart a pathway, put it down on paper and pull it out now again (maybe) to check your progress.
At Purdue, have an alternative - Strategic Doing. It is much more like that app, helping you see multiple ways to get to your destination, suggesting the best one (for now), but giving you real-time feedback in case you need to adjust.
The data points in Strategic Doing, however, come from the people you’ve engaged in your Strategic Doing teams - a core team, focus area teams, and pathfinder teams. Organizations and communities wanting to use this new approach to strategy have to make an initial investment, however, in giving those involved on the teams the opportunity to learn the 10 Rules of Strategic Doing. See, it’s a shared discipline, an operating system, if you will. The 10 Rules are simple; but they are not easy. They have to be learned and practiced. Those organizations and communities that make the investment get amazing results and a return on their investment that is not just marginal. We’re talking 5x, 10x, and that just a start.
If your organization or community is considering a new set of strategies to help you navigate to what’s next? Why settle for a traditional approach to strategy like that old map when you can have a dynamic, agile approach like Strategic Doing. Connect with us to learn more.
