Strategy

“Strategy is a commodity, execution is an art.”
– Peter Drucker

Strategic Thinking: Clearly define problem-based outcomes.

Driving projects by outcomes means defining success based on problem resolution and measuring progress by how effectively you solve the problem.

Druckerʼs essential Client-Customer strategy questions:

WHAT IS YOUR MISSION — who are your clients, and why do you serve them?
WHO IS YOUR CUSTOMER — donors, businesses, or government?
WHAT DOES YOUR CUSTOMER VALUE — altruism, community, or self-interest?
WHAT RESULTS DO YOU SEEK — what does your program deliver for your client and customer?
WHAT IS YOUR PLAN — how will you align the values of the customer and client?

Strategic Thinking: Shift the focus from delivering things to delivering outcomes.

As a leader, you’re held responsible for your team’s work and incentivized to deliver results.

Playing to Win – Strategy
Strategy is about making choices.
Strategy is about increasing our odds of success rather than guaranteeing it. Strategy-making combines rigour and creativity.

An integrated cascade of choices:

  • What is our winning aspiration?
    A winning aspiration is a future-oriented statement about the guiding purpose of the organization: What does our organization exist to do?
    What does winning mean for us?
  • Where will we play?
    Customer segment
    Distribution channel
    Product or service Geography
    Stage of production
    It is also about where NOT to play.
  • How will we win?
    This choice is about how we will win on our chosen playing field. What is our competitive advantage?
  • What capabilities must be in place?
    Capabilities are the activities that enable our organization to bring the where-to- play, how-to-play and how-to-win choices to life.
  • What management systems are required?
    Management systems are the processes, structures, and rules that build our capabilities and reinforce and measure our organization’s strategic choices.