Dansk
All organizations can suffer from strategy nausea. The cure is not less strategy - but better strategy.
Hey - the calendar says October, and the year wheel says strategy work. Oh no, here we go again!
That's what employees, middle managers and board members may be thinking as the next strategy period approaches. Another endless six months of pseudo-work, visions, core values and PowerPoints that lead to nothing.
So why do they do it at all?
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Ironically, it's often because the board or management needs to demonstrate "drive". Or even more banal: Because the old strategy period has expired. And you have to have a strategy, right?
Such "random" causes can quickly lead strategy, action planning and execution astray - and cause chronic strategy nausea throughout the organization.
So it's only right to ask: Couldn't we just not do it? What would happen if we just did our work instead of messing around with templates, plans and follow-up meetings?
You've probably guessed my answer: No, it's stupid not to. Because what we do, the way we do it and the goals we pursue don't fall from the sky. It's always guided by someone or something.
If it's not the strategy that sets the direction, it might instead be the CEO's gut feeling, the middle manager's mood swings, the scheming colleague, the engineer's pet project, the lawyer's whimsical paragraph wrangling or management's self-set bonus targets. It rarely makes more sense, productivity or motivation in the long run.
The problem with strategy nausea is not the strategy itself, but that many strategies are simply too poor.
A good strategy doesn't have to take up a lot of space, but it provides a clear direction that everyone in the organization can understand and follow.
It weeds out the useless projects with real strategic choices.
It opens the door to the outside world and our own inner "engine room", removing the blinders and creating the basis for real change.
It builds on what we know, rather than wavering on what we believe.
It's engaging and not formulated as vague intentions, but concrete prioritized actions that can be communicated and followed up. And it's easy to adjust when needed.
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The last point, in particular, is perhaps the best cure for strategy nausea. Strategic change must be driven by a real need - not by the calendar or the vanity of management or others.
If recruitment needs suddenly disappear, it makes no sense to strengthen recruitment efforts for the rest of the strategy period. And if the components for the products are chronically backordered, a KPI about increased production is just words. Then they need to be changed.
Strategy sickness is not caused by too much strategy. It is caused by too little strategy. The cure is better strategy. Remember that the next time strategy sickness strikes.
This column is published in Jyllands-Posten Business and FINANCE on October 24, 2023.
We can now all have full focus on the ball and everyone has become a partner in our strategy
Peter Hartvig
Owner and CEO. Managing Director
Hartvig Consult