Strategy

There are some important changes in strategic planning and how organisations are approaching this. The ‘traditional’ approach to strategic planning – a one-off intensive project to produce and document a […]

‘Making it happen’ is often the hardest part of strategic planning. The strategy has been formulated, after much analysis, assessment, debate and decision-making; the changes and actions required to implement […]

Two years ago in autumn 2019 I was helping a UK healthcare organisation with a ‘demand and capacity planning model’ to enable them to project what beds and staffing they […]

What does it take to be an effective strategic planner? The traditional view of strategic planning practitioners focuses on their abilities as strategic thinkers and analytical planners: how well-versed they […]

I came across this cartoon recently, and it seemed an apt metaphor for how strategy actually happens in organisations compared to the ‘traditional’ view of strategic planning:   It is […]

Let’s consider three typical ‘traditional’ approaches to strategic planning: the ‘strategic plan project‘, where the organisation undertakes an intensive exercise over 2-3 months to produce a document for Board approval, […]

In essence, the aim of strategic planning is to enable the organisation to make sense of its situation and decide how it wants to develop in the future – so […]

Much of what is written about strategy focuses on the tools and techniques used in the process of developing strategy – SWOT and the myriad of other matrices that fill […]

I had the privilege recently of working with a management team to help them strengthen their strategic thinking capabilities (they wanted to contribute more to their organisation’s strategy development, but […]

‘Culture eats strategy for breakfast’ (or ‘for lunch’, depending on which version of the often-repeated phrase one prefers). Usually attributed as a verbal quote by Peter Drucker (the evidence is […]

I came across this video recently (courtesy of a post on Linkedin) from Smith & Nephew, the global medical devices company, about their purpose. It’s powerful and motivational (as was […]

A few weeks ago I presented an online Masterclass for a University Management School about ‘Strategy in a time of uncertainty’, and some of the questions set me thinking about […]

Henry Mintzberg made this comment in his recent video blog (Hoping for the best is not an acceptable strategy). Although the blog was about the coronavirus pandemic rather than specifically […]

These are such strange and troubled times. The priority is saving lives, then saving livelihoods. Organisations have had to react to the sudden disruption of ‘business as usual’, working out […]

Dry, complicated, remote, academic – many people’s impressions about strategic planning are remarkably similar to the popular stereotypes about mathematics: that both are the domains of a few select experts […]

I’ve been reflecting recently on how my thinking about strategic planning started to evolve during the early years of my work with organisations to help them develop and implement their […]