Rethinking Strategy in a Weak Economy
By Ron Cox, CEO, Tailwind
In today’s economy, the ability to make your strategy happen is even more critical than it is when times are good. When you think about it, your efforts to engage, mobilize and align your organization to meet strategic goals consume a lot of scarce resources—talented people, executive mindshare, and good old hard cash. The key question becomes, “Are we using our scarce resources wisely and efficiently?”
If you view the development and deployment of strategy as a major process in your business, you’ll probably note that there are some places where the process doesn’t work as smoothly and elegantly as you would like. When you look at inputs vs. outputs, it might even be one of the most inefficient processes in your whole shop. And your most talented people are directly involved in the strategic process.
When the economy softens, we know we have to cut back on our spending, and the first place we look is in the more tangible areas where we can reduce expenses or mitigate our risks. These are typically on the operational side of the business. We often don’t take a critical look at the strategic processes to see if we can do a better job of getting everyone on the same page and being much more efficient in making our strategy happen.
If we can become more clear, focused and aligned, we can then execute well against our strategic intent. When this happens, we’re not only saving money and making better use of our scarce resources…we’re also increasing the probability that we will be successful. This, in turn, reduces the overall risks to the business and makes our collective performance more predictable.
In a weak economy, it pays to take a critical look at the strategic side of the agenda in addition to the operational side. A little bit of investment in making your strategy more clear and focused, and getting everyone aligned and on the same page in terms of execution will have a positive economic effect on your business that complements what you can also “save” by cutting costs. It also makes your company stronger, helps retain key talent for when the economy rebounds, and creates a positive energy across the board.
