STRATEGY: What it Is. What it Isn’t.
From Make to Stick by the Heath brothers:
“Herb Kelleher [the longest-serving CEO of Southwest] once told someone, “I can teach you the secret to running this airline in thirty seconds. This is it: We are THE low-cost airline. Once you understand that fact, you can make any decision about this company`s future as well as I can.”
“Here`s an example,” he continues. “Tracy from marketing comes into your office. She says her surveys indicate that the passengers might enjoy a light entree on the Houston to Las Vegas flight. All we offer is peanuts, and she thinks a nice chicken Caesar salad would be popular. What do you say?” The person stammered for a moment, so Kelleher responded: “You say, `Tracy, will adding that chicken Caesar salad make us THE low-fare airline from Houston to Las Vegas? Because if it doesn’t help us become the unchallenged low-fare airline, we`re not serving any damn chicken salad.`”
The strategic planning ritual as often practiced is definitely a ritual, partly planning, and not at all strategic. This is at a time when we need strategy – when situations are more fluid, challenges are greater, and threats high.
Roger has done some great work here and here; Kevin and Roger have also covered it extensively here.
What can I bring? The short version. After all, here in the States, we have a holiday tomorrow, celebrating our independence (which seemed to go OK for the first 240 years), so we want to make this bite-sized:
STRATEGY IS NOT: A spreadsheet of plans and projections.
• Tactics – the “what: you will execute.
• A spreadsheet prognostication; nor can strategy be displayed in a spreadsheet
• An extensive PowerPoint deck
• A slide that says “Testing. Testing. Testing.”
• A donor model
• Solely additive (the laundry list approach to strategy)
• What you hope will happen
STRATEGY IS:• Brief and clear – what is your “we are the low-cost airline”?
• Recitable
• Risky (but not delusional) If there’s no risk involved it’s not strategy.
• Uncomfortable
• Focused on a longer horizon
• About what you will do
• And what you won’t do – what is your chicken Caesar salad?
• Addressing the two or three most important issues you face (for good or ill)
Other thoughts and additions?
Nick
9 responses to “STRATEGY: What it Is. What it Isn’t.”
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Right from our home page! I am happy to say our strategy holds tight across our entire product line and drives our development of new products.
While I agree that strategy should not be represented in a spreadsheet, there does need to be a strategic plan of some kind, or at least an ACtivity System Map – see ‘HBR’s 10 Must Reads on Strategy’ for some great reads – including of course, Southwest.
I’ll definitely give this one a read and post again!
This is all true and good advice for brand strategy and organizational strategy, but fundraising strategy should continue to include testing and modeling please. Also, thanks for the Herb Kelleher story…always enjoy reading about his work.
Agree with both. A plan is an outcome of a strategy. Testing and modeling are both inputs to and outcomes of a strategy. I was mostly railing at when those are done in substitution for a strategy. I once had a single-spaced, 80-something-double-sided page “strategic plan.” I used it to elevate my monitor a little bit. That was, as far as I could tell, more value than almost anyone else got out of it.
Herb Kelleher of Southwest is also credited with this quote on the same subject: “We have a strategic plan. It’s called doing things.”
I have always liked the framework public relations professionals use, as it helps separate strategy (“we are the low cost airline”) from what you will do. There are four basic components to how they plan:
1) Goal – A broad primary outcome.
2) Strategy – The approach you take to achieve a goal.
3) Objective – A measurable step you take to achieve a strategy.
4) Tactic – A tool you use in pursuing an objective aligned with your strategy.
For fundraisers, the goal is always as simple as “raise money to further our mission”. Clearly that goal will become more specific depending on the context.
Strategy – like Nick said – is brief and clear. It also needs to be more specific than goals, but shouldn’t get into the weeds.
Objectives and tactics cover the details of how to execute a strategy. In my opinion, these should not be part of the strategic planning process. These are for front line fundraisers, gift officers, prospect researchers, prospect managers, annual giving, and others to design and execute.
Every employee in a fundraising operation should be laser focused on objectives and tactics, and Strategy with capital “s” should be their guideline.
Strategy is singular. Strategy is simple (although simple can be far from easy!) The best strategies can be said in a single sentence (recitable). Strategy involves sacrifice – namely, all the things you’re not going to ‘do’ or ‘be’. The hardest part (in my experience) of sticking to strategy is fending off all the efforts to put the sacrificed items back on the table because it feels too (you nailed it Nick) uncomfortable.
Great post – thank you!
Strategy is the WHY. Why do this instead of that? Why are we focusing on x and rather y? Why are we doing it this particular way? If you have clear answers for these kinds of questions you probably have a clear strategy. Unless your answer is: because that’s the way we’ve always done it.
Great contribution Brandon! That said, I generally cut out the objective stage and go with Goal, Strategy & Tactics.
Taking said strategic plan off the paper and turning it into action, in my experience, hinges on a) cultural buy in (as we know, culture eats strategy for lunch every day), and b) translating the strategic plan down into individual work plans, with priorities & goals.
The magic is when everyone is bought into the vision, accepts the strategic choices, commits to their individual (work) plan, and then gets an opportunity to share in celebrating progress along the way towards the goal. This creates the momentum needed to sustain the drive culturally.
Without celebration, strategic plans are like pushing a wet noodle up hill :0
Cheers
And, of course, creating strategy and being strategic are not the same thing: https://hbr.org/2018/04/your-strategic-plans-probably-arent-strategic-or-even-plans