The manager breathed her last breath. Immersed in the sea of crystal blue water, her submersible pressure gauge verified what she had just felt. She was out of air. Unable to breathe, the manager ascended until her scuba mask crashed through the surface of the water into the warm Caribbean breeze. She removed the scuba regulator from her mouth and put in her snorkel, swimming back to shore. The inability to breathe provided the manager with a forceful reminder of the importance of intelligently using one’s limited resources, in this case, oxygen.
And so it is with strategy.
Each day we use our limited resources to better the organization’s place in the competitive landscape. Many firms never get to the point of “taking their last breath,” and so they continue a slow leak of resources that dooms them to a mediocre existence. It seems that without the watchful eye of urgency, the discipline to intelligently allocate resources is washed out with the receding tide.
At the heart of strategy is the intelligent allocation of limited resources: time, talent and money. All managers have these resources to varying degrees within their organizations. So, technically, all managers are strategists. The reality is, not all managers are good strategists. Herein lies the pearl of great opportunity: educating managers to effectively allocate their resources enables them to drive both profitability (more resources invested in the right activities) and productivity (fewer resources invested in the wrong activities). The result is a high-performance organization where all levels of management are encouraged and equipped to shape the strategic direction.
In this 8-minute video, I share a set of criteria to use as a baseline to determine if you and your team members are thinking, planning, and acting strategically. We’ll then review three ways to build strategic thinking and planning into a competitive advantage for your group.