What is a strategy and why is it important?

What is a strategy and why is it important?
Even the best-laid plans of mice and men often go wrong’, goes the saying. That may be true, but having some kind of plan is typically better than having none at all. 

Yet the ability to properly develop, execute and sustain a solid strategic plan remains surprisingly beyond the reach of many organisations, including the private, public and non-profit sectors.

Strategy (from Greek στρατηγία stratēgia, “art of troop leader; office of general, command, generalship”[1]) is a high-level plan to achieve one or more goals under conditions of uncertainty. – Wikipedia

To achieve anything we need a view of both the micro and the macro, the forest and the trees—and how both perspectives slot together.

Strategy is aimed at the future, concerns the long term and involves different facets of an organisation. It describes how the ends (goals) will be achieved by the means (resources).

McKeown (2011) argues that “strategy is about shaping the future” and is the human attempt to get to “desirable ends with available means”.

A business strategy, in simple terms, is a documented plan on how an organisation is setting out to achieve their goals.

A business strategy contains a number of key principles that outlines how a company will go about attaining these goals.

For example, it will explain, how to deal with your competitors, look at the needs and expectations of customers, and will examine the long term growth and sustainability of their organisation.

Why is strategy misunderstood?
Michael Porter suggests in his 1996 book that strategy is not operational effectiveness.

The most basic mix-up is between “objective,” “strategy,” and “action.”

An “objective” is something you’re trying to achieve — a marker of the success of the organisation. 

At the other end of the spectrum is “action.”

A strategy is a process of creating a set of well-aligned activities with the aim of occupying a valuable position in a competitive landscape.

Goals are not strategy.
’My strategy to win the 400 meters at the Olympics is by running faster than anyone else’”. A good goal, but it does not tell you anything about how you intend to achieve it. Your route towards the goal; that is strategy.

Strategy is not tactics
Tactics are a system or mode of procedure. Strategy and tactics are complementary. Neither works well without the other. 

Sun Tzu recognized this two and a half millennia ago when he stated, 
“Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy are the noise before defeat.” 

We need to take a long-term view and think ahead while choosing short-term steps to take now for the sake of what we want later.

Strategy is not secret. 
A strategy is only really strategy if alters the behaviour of the people in your organisation; what they do and how they do it. 

If nobody knows about it, it cannot influence their actions and decisions. In which case it may be an impressive PowerPoint; but a strategy, it is not.

The key question to answer when developing a strategy is … how can we win in our market. This means that strategy isn’t just about one thing. It involves understanding your world in detail and then mapping out a route to success.

It can take a lot of thought and analysis to develop a good strategy.