Strategic relevance is the process of staying in tune with what matters most in a dynamic environment. This strategic mindset allows a CEO to respond to change with speed and agility while keeping the best interest and core vales of the organization in mind and aligned with a long-term vision of sustainable value.
The approach to providing relevant, real-time meaning to strategy should entail the following three imperatives:
- Synchronize strategic decision making with market events. Use market-triggered reviews of strategic plans to facilitate timely response to emerging business challenges vs. calendar-driven annual reviews tied to budgeting cycles. Outcomes include midcourse corrections and/or reallocation of resources toward areas of greatest business impact.
- Incorporate scenario planning into the strategic planning process. Focused attention on potential areas of vulnerability enables organizations to develop and communicate contingency plans for risky scenarios and rework or terminate initiatives in jeopardy. This works to keep all well informed and in tune with keeping the strategy relevant (i.e. no surprises).
- Employ a dynamic, yet disciplined strategic planning framework. One that is capable of deep dive assessments as well as accelerated analytical exercises in response to new, unexpected considerations. Such a framework enables companies to build upon existing strategic perspective while gaining enhanced value from new insights driven by changing market/industry conditions. It must be interactive, repeatable and malleable to the need at hand.
The most significant variables to ensuring strategic relevance are speed, agility and comprehension of an organization’s values and long-term vision. If an organization knows well what they stand for and an aspiration of where/what they want to be, then they can move as fast as necessary to drive decision-making with confidence whether in the formation of an original strategy or a new strategic pivot influenced by changing industry dynamics. Doing so is significant to delivering sustained value.
Discover more about how to ensure strategic relevance and utilize a helpful checklist to calibrate your organizations effectiveness by contacting PlazaBridge Group. Download the CEO’s Guide To Ensuring Strategic Relevance. Click here
by Tim Peters, Partner
