April’s Tips, Tricks and Reminders

Tips, Tricks and Reminders is all about strategy – Once again here to help you recall stuff you have heard or know already and show you how to use it in your every day jobs.

In April’s Tips, Tricks and Reminders 

we discuss

Strategy – What is it?
5 Tips for creating a great Strategy: – Why is it important, The difference between Strategy and Tactics, Be Clear, Evolutionary Strategies, Sell your strategy,
This months Skill Shot: – Strategy workshop

Plus, a recommended Pod Cast, Ted Talk and Book

Strategy

Definition – More here 
A strategy is a general plan or set of plans intended to achieve something, especially over a long period.
A Strategy is also seen as the art of planning the best way to gain an advantage or achieve success, especially in business or a conflict situation.

Why is having a clear Strategy so important?

Strategy gives purpose and direction to your life – humans are objective driven.

With out direction and purpose humans will die.

Once all our ambitions are achieved – humans tend to loose direction and purpose and can sink into depression which can quickly spiral out of control.

There are numerous accounts – including the impact on Tyson Fury [The Gypsy King]  when he finally became world heavy weight boxing champion

Source: The power of purpose by Steve Taylor [Senior lecturer in psychology at Leeds Beckett University, UK.]

So, having clear direction is critical other wise you will just drift where the world dictates

Particularly at the current time with the impact of COVID-19 changing the world as we knew it – you may need to revisit your personal and work strategies – if you need help – get in touch.

The difference between Strategy and Tactics

Strategy is where we want to go.
Tactic is how we get there

Lets be clear though – one persons strategy may be another persons tactics

Strategy is hierarchical in nature.

It ‘Nests’ – What is the boss’s strategy [level 1] what is the subordinates strategy [level 2] what is the person who has to make it happen’s strategy [level 3]

e.g. Level

1 : Strategy – [Travel abroad] – Tactic [where]
2 : Strategy – [Travel to France] – Tactic [How]
3 : Strategy – Travel by Car – Tactic [Own Car, Taxi, Hired car, Friend]

It all depends upon where you are in the hierarchy!

Be clear about your personal and business Strategies

As we begin the process of thinking about Strategy – make sure you understand why – why do we want to be there!

Be clear – ask

• Why do I want that?
• What will it deliver to me?
• How will it help me achieve my objectives?  
• How will it make my life easier or give me more time to do other stuff?

Progress relies on unreasonable people making evolutionary jumps

“The only limit to your achievements is your imagination”

Strategy it can be a more efficient way of organising the current way things are done or it could be a truly evolutionary jump –

Progress relies on these evolutionary jumps

Are you someone who can imagine a better, different looking future and then work out what steps need to be taken to make this happen!

Working backwards – from the end result

You need to ask the following 10 questions…To get this outcome…

• What do I need to do and what must be true?
• Understand other things need to be in place before I start?
• Are there things I need to know?
• What skills will I need?
• How long will they take me to learn?
• How long will each task take?
• Is there any individual or group I need to work with to make this happen?
• Who might be a good person or a good group to work with?
• Who do I know who has done this before – how did they do it?
• How do I expedite this by recruiting people with knowledge and skills to my cause.

Can YOU summarise your vision in under 30 seconds?

If you can’t at the moment… a good way to do this is to look to use 11 word or less to write down your vision.

This is very tough but it forces you to crystallise your thoughts and to distil down to the very essence what it is you want to achieve.

Once you have a strategy written down and refined, so you can summarise it in under 30 seconds, you will now able to involve and enthuse others – to do this you will need to understand or ask what is in it for them and how and why will this strategy will help them achieve their goals.

To be WORLD CLASS is all about Attitude Skills and Knowledge
Know what you want and why?
Have you got the skills or a plan to acquire them?
Do YOU have the ATTITUDE to make this a reality?…

That is up to you!

A Final thought

It doesn’t have to be JUST YOU who develops your strategy – in fact there are a lot of reasons why it should be developed with other people who it might affect.

You will have multiple strategies for your life and work

They will change frequently
Remember they ‘Nest’ – they are hierarchical and relate to each other – so your life strategy [if you have one] will interlink with your social strategies, your work strategies

Now is the perfect time to revisit your Life Strategy – how has COVID-19 impacted on your current strategy? – if indeed you had one?!

How will COVOID-19 impact on your customers, on your consumers in the short, medium and long term?

If you need help or just a little guidance then don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Now it is up to you…
will you do it?

‘Skill Shot’
This months Focus is:-

Strategy development

Over the course of a fun and informative 4 hours, your team will work through the process using their own real data from their day job to develop or refine a perfect actionable commercial business strategy for their customer or channel.

When they return to their desks they will be ready to go with a real life strategy to deliver outstanding commercial results along with a perfect template to share.

For more information please contact me on 077 315 47 127 or
visit the website [here]

The Book Club

HBR’s 10 Must Reads on Strategy 

by Michael E. Porter

HBR’s 10 Must Reads series is the definitive collection of books for new and experienced leaders alike. Leaders looking for the inspiration that big ideas provide, both to accelerate their own growth and that of their companies, should look no further.

Focuses on the core topics that every ambitious manager needs to know: leadership, strategy, change, managing people, and managing yourself. Includes timeless advice that will be relevant regardless of an ever-changing business environment.

HBR’s 10 Must Reads on Strategy will inspire you to:

• Distinguish your company from rivals
• Clarify what your company will and won’t do
• Craft a vision for an uncertain future
• Create blue oceans of uncontested market space
• Use the Balanced Scorecard to measure your strategy
• Capture your strategy in a memorable phrase
• Make priorities explicit
• Allocate resources early
• Clarify decision rights for faster decision making

Our suggested Podcast of the month is:-

Strategy and Leadership podcast

 Presenter Anthony Taylor : SME Strategy Consulting

In this podcast Anthony Taylor talks to Micah Lorenc who has been involved in the corporate world, facilitating and developing strategic plans, as well as in the entrepreneurial world, working on new and interesting creative projects. He talks about visualisation, using the description of outcomes and using the 5 why process to develop alternative flexible strategies aimed at helping entrepreneurs and small businesses learn about strategic planning.

– why not give it a try here

This months suggested TEDTalk

According to Martin Reeves – We can all achieve more –

Your Strategy needs a Strategy

All too often companies spend precious time laying out long term strategic plans, only to discover that their maps are out of date in a month.

Business strategy expert Martin Reeves offers a solution. Suggests you need to look at different and even multiple strategies based around if the environment is forecast-able, shape-able or hostile or benign. He advocates transitioning from relying on a single “classical” approach to strategy and moving towards a more tailored approach to strategy and execution, selecting from 5 distinct patterns of success. Classical, Adaptive, Visionary, Shaping and Renewal.

Watch it and let me know if it’s true!

See what you think. Try it here

Thanks for reading …

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