It is around this time of the year leaders go for a strategic planning retreat. Here are five questions to answer during the planning retreat. Question 1 What is the strategy in your strategic document? Carefully review your old strategy to see if your strategy has been defined simply. If an independent party reads through your strategic plan document, would they be able to understand your ‘strategy’? Insight: Many organizations have a document called the Strategic Plan. However, if you removed their name from the cover of the document, and control changed the same throughout the document, it could easily…
How to stop coronavirus pandemic from gaining momentum
We are now living in coronavirus times. Businesses world over are slowly resuming and re-opening as people and leaders sidestep the statistics and the daily updates. Many major news networks no longer provide ongoing daily updates about the state of the pandemic. Compare the situation today with that around February and March 2020, at the peak of the coronavirus pandemic, everywhere one looked, it was about the coronavirus pandemic. This is no longer the issue and it is a cause for worry. It appears there is reducing the transparency of the intensity of the infections by different countries as the…
Action makes all the difference
“Hope is not a strategy.” Vince Lombardi A story is told of the man who was fond of going early morning to Church to pray for wealth. He made praying to God like an occupation. The first one in the Church, and the last to leave. He would go to Church, from Monday to Sunday. Prayer is not enough without action. And action is useless in the wrong direction. And the action in the right direction is not enough without hope, which comes from prayer. Study carefully the figure below: Which of the two people is likely to win the…
Reliable leadership is all we need
At a certain point in our life, we all have been or can become leaders. In fact, what is not known to many people is that human beings and indeed most mammals are born with hidden leadership qualities. Leadership is an art of motivating a group of people so that they act toward achieving a common goal. When placed in a business setting, leadership means guiding fellow members, workers and colleagues with a set strategy set to meet the organization/company’s needs most especially making a profit and keeping the legacy of the organization. On the other hand, any governance to…
The strategy insights, part 2
Once the problem has been defined, the next thing is to decide on the strategic choices – do you compete on price i.e. low-cost producer and sell at the lowest price. In which case, your source of competitive advantage is affordable pricing? Or do you focus on being differentiated by making products and offering services that your customers adore, in which case they are willing to pay any price? To do so, you must understand your market or customer segments, their incomes and offer products that are highly differentiated and appropriate for each segment. For example, Apple’s iPhone may be…
The strategy insights, part 1
“Strategy is about making choices, trade-offs; it’s about deliberately choosing to be different.” Michael Porter Many leaders want to keep their options open. Because they want to avoid accountability. Keeping one’s options open is not prudent leadership, it is an indication of lack of confidence in the decision-making processes. Keeping your options open means more resource commitment, trial and error, and limited focus. It is not easy to win when you do so many things at the same time. However, do not confuse choice with identifying a specific sector or business and going a mile deep into the business or…
