Did You Mistake 2023 Planning With Strategy?

Strategy is misunderstood ...

Coming up with strategic planning is not doing strategy.

Often, when companies sit down to do strategy, they come up with a strategic plan dominated by budget allocation and initiatives. Do you know how this makes a difference?

Think of it this way: if you are an investor, would you invest in something that will not exist in two years? With finite capital, talent, infrastructure, and time, strategy is more important than planning.

Why do the entrepreneurs and business owners then suffice with a strategic plan instead? Let's explore:

Strategy Is Misunderstood:

Strategic planning isn't strategic thinking. One is analysis, and the other is synthesis - Henry Mintzberg

The strategy of any company sets the context of how the organization will create the end value in order to win (not in the zero-sum sense) in the market, while planning is then about allocating resources to the set context that is deemed to make you win.

Switching Easy For Hard:

When entrepreneurs and business owners sit down to do strategy, what they often resort to is the process of analysis. And analysis yields plans because they are made on the following assumptions:

1. The markets operating under conditions of stability

2. Our market position is going to stay put

3. We have all the information that makes us feel safe

4. Customers will always prefer us over our competitors

5. Our competitive advantage will always sustain

Imagine if you were coming up with a strategy with the above assumptions. Would you ever have a strategy? The dimensions above are some of the most fundamental discussions that are often never had in strategy rooms.

Mike Tyson says it the best: “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.

What Do Strategists Do Differently

Strategist questions the assumptions of businesses over which it is built today and try to see whether those assumptions will hold true tomorrow because they are interested in winning, and they do so by:

1. Identifying the playing grounds of tomorrow

2. Being creative and open-minded

3. Being comfortable with the nuisance of uncertainty

4. Assessing how they will win and what it entails

5. They test their assumptions rigorously to unearth truths