5/23/2007
How to Overcome Fear of Strategy
Yesterday I wrote about why companies avoid strategic planning. Today, a few suggestions for overcoming the fear and getting started.
1. Don’t think of it as strategy. Think of it as an action plan. When we hear the word “strategy,” we often envision a group of executives sitting around a table endlessly discussing impractical ideas. No! Strategy provides a context for taking decisive action, action to transform your business from good to great. Emphasizing action prevents the “analysis paralysis” that SMBs so rightfully dread.
2. Do customer research. SMBs fear that strategic planning is detached from the customer and therefore unreliable. Exactly! A winning strategy MUST be connected to the customer. Why sit in a meeting speculating about what your customers want when you can just as easily ask them? Many times I’ve surveyed customers for a client and found their wants and needs to be quite different from what my client assumed. And even if customers end up telling you what you already know, that validation gives you the confidence to plan boldly and then take action.
Why structure customer research when you’re talking to customers every day?
a. Anecdotal feedback can be misleading. For instance, if you alter customer service procedures to accommodate the “squeaky wheels,” you may worsen service for the 98% of your customers that were satisfied to begin with.
b. If you don’t ask the right questions, you won’t get the right answers.
c. Customer attitudes change, and sometimes change quickly. If you base future action totally on past experience, you won’t know if your assumptions are still valid. That can lead to serious errors. The collapse of the American auto industry started in the 1970′s when Detroit ignored a new attitude–consumer demand for fuel efficient cars. Japan noticed, got their foot in the American door, and never looked back.
3. Get help facilitating your planning process. Conducting a productive meeting is exceedingly difficult. People go off on tangents. Disagreements go unresolved. Nobody knows what to say. Outside facilitators can work wonders by providing structure and focus. For instance, they know how to employ analysis tools like a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) to rivet attention on key issues. (For details on SWOT, here is an informative blog post from Husam at Internet Marketing for SMEs.)
Remember that facilitators are not consultants. Consultants introduce new ideas and make recommendations. Facilitators ask questions and tap into your experience. Often, the key to successful strategy is not new ideas, but turning what you already know into an actionable plan.
4. Rightsize your meeting. Just as a giant bag of french fries will clog your arteries, a supersized meeting will clog your decision-making process. Although the outcomes of effective strategic planning heightens morale, strategic planning itself is not a morale-building exercise, it’s real work. That said, companies with a large staff will want and need to involve more than a few people. The larger the meeting, the more imperative it is to have solid facilitation. In smaller companies, the planning group might be a few people or perhaps even the owner and an outside resource.
Above all, leadership needs to be honest with itself. If leaders do not truly value the input of a particular employee, and are not prepared to act on it, that employee should not be involved in strategic planning. When employees are invited to participate in this process, their expectations are high–you can’t afford to have them walk away frustrated and disappointed.
5. Benchmark. Which of your competitors is really doing a bang-up job? Who do you admire in your industry, and why? What company in a related industry sparks ideas that you can use? Benchmarking, just like customer research, makes strategic ideas real rather than theoretical. Make the marketplace your strategic laboratory. When you see something that works–use it and improve it. When you see something that doesn’t work–learn from it.
Other suggestions? Please let us know!
4 Responses to How to Overcome Fear of Strategy
Brad, since you mention “fear” in your title, I thought it was a natural link to your thoughts on braincramp. Thanks for your ideas!
Brad, I was just going to say “thank you” for listing my blog as part of your treasure trove. Next thing you know I came across this post on overcoming fear of strategy.
My take on this? I think rationally, many SMB CEO’s/Owners/MD’s know they should do more and better planning.
The challenge is that it can be uncomfortable and confrontational, especially when it is the first time, and especially with outsiders involved.
What if what you find is different than what you always believed? It can also be uncomfortable when subordinates have ideas that challenge the conventional thinking, in plain view of everyone.
Maybe the challenge for those who want to convince leaders to undertake this type of activity is less about reason and more about emotion…what do you think?
Hi David,
I’m no psychologist (Robyn may have insight on this), but what you say makes complete sense. You have to be in just the right mindset to confront new ideas and challenges. Mental discomfort is an important reason why effective facilitation is so important. If personalities take over, the process goes nowhere. I’ve heard it said many times that in business, pain or gain drives decision. Maybe for some executives, the pain has to be excruciating before they will attempt strategic planning.
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