A short piece on strategy

Strategy: using what’s inside your control to influence what’s not.

This idea works whatever time and resource scope you’re operating in, from “how could I use the next hour of my own time?” to “how could I use the next year of my 100,000 person-strong organisation?”

Strategy is often mistaken for a plan. You do usually need a simplistic high-level plan to navigate the political aspect. This is your deliberate strategy.

But remember: at the start of any initiative, you know the least you’ll ever know again about that initiative. It’s astronomically unlikely that your Plan A nails everything you don’t know yet.

You already know this in your belly – simply from noticing how frequently your plans for just the next hour of your time go awry. You think adding more time and people is going to make things better?!

This is why Strategy is also the way you respond to unfolding conditions in an adaptive way. This is your emergent strategy.

“The deliberate strategy is what we present to the shareholders. The emergent strategy is what we actually do.” – a Japanese CFO quoted by JP Castlin

Or in other words:

• have a Plan A

• “sell” Plan A

• hold Plan A very lightly

• agree Pivot Triggers (or Survival Metrics or Kill Criteria if you prefer) for the tiny first iteration of Plan A

• share those Pivot Triggers with everyone who’s involved in Plan A, so they understand this is not a linear plan and it’s not set in stone

• prioritise Speed-to-Signal and probe for the signals you need to decide whether to double down on Plan A or adapt the plan.

That’s how we do it at Trigger Strategy Group, anyway.

How do you balance that tension between the deliberate strategy and the emergent strategy?

Tom x