Strategy: Achieving Outcomes That Add Value

Anyone who has worked in an organisation has either seen or been a part of the process of creating the next 3 to 5 year strategic plan. This is inevitably followed by lots of fanfare to launch the new strategy.

However, once this is done, try asking people at all levels throughout the business, what they think the organisation will look like in three years’ time - given the strategy will be successful. A lot of people won’t be able to answer that question, or you will get wildly different versions of the expected future.

Senior leadership can get so wrapped up in the process of creating a strategy, that they lose sight of the fact that they failed to come up with a future state that forms the basis of good strategy. There is a huge blind spot that stems from a lack of understanding of the fundamentals.

The everyday workings of a business (BAU) are controlled by processes, controls, etc. to deliver the expected outputs. With practice, people get good at delivering these somewhat repetitive outputs.

Getting those same people to deliver new value, and creating an environment where they can do this rapidly and effectively, is going to require you to do something different.

This book explores some of the elements that can help your organisation actually achieve something of significant value from its strategy, where outcomes become the greater focus as opposed to just outputs.