3 Steps to a Clear Strategy

From our Friday noon memo #9:

Any house built on a shaky foundation will collapse soon. The same applies to a business strategy that is not grounded on a sound mission, vision, and on strategic goals. And yet, many enterprises seem to confuse these essentials. When was the last time you checked it for your organisation? Share your experience with us.

No matter how large is your firm, being clear about its foundations is indispensable for a consistent strategy, to differentiate yourself from the competition and to send a clear message to your customers. Here are three steps to turn a mission-vision conundrum into a powerful driver of your business:

1. Define your mission, or the "raison d'être" of your organisation. You find it by answering the question: "Why do we exist, and what contribution to society does our firm aspire to make?"
2. State your vision. You will need to clarify where you want to be in three to five years, or longer.
3. Derive your strategic goals to pave the way for your vision. Specific and measurable, the goals provide you with an answer to "what to accomplish, and when?"

Interested in regular updates? Sign up here for our weekly Friday noon memo.

Comments

[David Lindelöf]

I can't help but notice how similar these three steps are to the advice given by Stephen Covey in some of his books, The Seven Habits of Effective People in particular. Is this deliberate?

[Natalia Filchakova]

Great observation, David. Thank you.
The similarity is certainly not incidental -- clear mission, vision and goals build the basis of Effective Organisations just as they do for Effective People.
Now, one could argue about the consistent and sustainable execution of these three steps in life, which is what really matters after all. Is it more challenging in case of an organisation or an individual?