“Five to ten years ago you would set your vision and strategy and then start following it. That does not work anymore. Now you have to be alert every day, week and month to renew your strategy.” Olli-Pekka Kallasvvuo, CEO Nokia *
Who would have thought that three year strategic plans developed by companies last September would already be obsolete? The world has changed and those companies that have not invested time in building the capability of their organization to think strategically could be in trouble.
Developing better strategic thinkers is more important than ever. It develops strategic agility. Why have successful companies such as such Kraft, Hershey, Apple, IBM, Dean / WhiteWave Foods, P&G / Gillette and others invest so much time developing their leaders to think more strategically? Why has Wal-Mart been successful over the last year? Very simply…they have invested in the development of their senior leaders at all levels to be able to quickly assess the external landscape and translate that into strategies for success both in the short and long term.
In December of 2007, we wrote in our Insights to Action Whitepaper … Over the last several years, the partners at GlobalEdg have worked with many senior executives and their leadership teams helping them to develop more comprehensive strategic thinking skills. We have found that these capabilities, if not fully developed, will be a recipe for disaster for the organization as well as the executive. Little did we know!
Moving forward and success is about making an organization more strategically agile. Strategy is not owned by a few people in the office of the CEO or President. Today leaders in all functions must be capable of contributing, communicating and aligning people on how to execute it. For example, one CPG company was able to reposition a product for immediate release. Using new consumer insights and leveraging a more flexible manufacturing capability, marketing, manufacturing and sales came together to reposition a brand – capitalizing on the emotional scent that has driven consumers to trust and love the product.
Over the last six months we have seen a dramatic shift in how some organizations are doing business. For example one consumer branded company set aside one week during the first part of this year with cross-functional teams to apply strategic thinking to each line of business. These teams were chartered for only 30 days. The results – a few new Key Issues were identified that did not exist 6 months ago. The organization considered new alternatives and made their recommendations to the executive committee who changed their strategic direction in mid-course.
Is your organization building a performance culture with strategic agility? Are you challenging business people to think about what are the most important areas that will build capability for the near term? Who is partnering with HR to lead the capability building agenda for the company?
Author — Paul Butler, GlobalEdg pbutler@globaledg.com
* Fast Strategy Doz & Kosonen … Wharton School Publishing
