There is only one thing more important than strategy, but unfortunately it is often overlooked, or even forgotten. So what is more important than strategy?
The results your strategy is designed to deliver.
We have seen organisations become so focused on implementing their strategy that they forget about the original results their strategy was designed to deliver.
We call this being ‘activity-based’, rather than ‘results-baseed’.
‘Activity based’ is where the focus is on planning and completing activities.
‘Results-based‘ is where the focus is on achieving results and activities are assessed in the context of what impact they make on the results.
Results are what matter. Results are what your strategies are designed to deliver.
Avoid getting sidetracked by all the activity
It is easy to get side-tracked by activity. Activity is the bulk of what managers deal with: planning, communicating, coordinating, reviewing…activity.
Here is an example of how easy it is to get sidetracked by activity.
A company wants to improve quality and decides getting ISO accredited will be an effective way to achieve this.
The result – improved quality
The strategy – accredited ISO quality system
It is a big project and it takes a lot of work to become accredited. At some stage, getting accredited gets elevated to the end result, and the original result of improved quality is forgotten.
The Company then celebrates their achievement of attaining accreditation, with no real analysis of the impact accreditation has made on quality.
The strategy (accredited system) has become more important than the result (improved quality).
Stay on track by being results-based
It is essential to keep strategy in context - strategy is simply how you have decided to achieve your goals. Your strategy may or may not work.
Therefore it is essential to regularly assess:
- what effect is the strategy having on your desired results or goals?
- given the effect on results, is the strategy still the most effective strategy for your business?
Try our results-based methods
Activate has a practical results-based management framework that makes linking strategy to measurable results easy. All our consulting services and training workshops utilise this method. We have also taught this method for over 14 years through the workshops and training we provided through:
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