7 Vragen om te bepalen hoe Sterk de Strategie van je organisatie is in 2011 e.v.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7zYMZN-8lM

Eerder dit jaar vond er bij de Harvard Business School een research symposium plaats. Eén van de bijdragen was afkomstig van Prof. Bob Simons. Zijn thesis: "Seven Strategy Questions: A Simple Approach for Better Execution". Een Strategie voor je organisatie bepalen is al lastig, zeker een Goede Strategie, je dient daarvoor keuzes te maken. Maar als je er dan uiteindelijk toch 1-tje hebt, voldoet die dan? Is de Strategie in 2011 e.v. ook uitvoerbaar?

Simons komt met 7 vragen, als je Strategisch Plan die vragen positief beantwoordt dan 'ben je al een heel eind op de goede weg'. :-)

Eerst maar eens zijn inleiding, Simons stelt: "The essence of strategy is choice. While not easy, failure to make a choice means that an organization lacks a clear strategy.

Choices are not just about what to do. More importantly, they are about what not to do. Steve Jobs has said, “People think focus means saying yes to things you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the 100 other good ideas.”

There is no magic bullet, metric, or scorecard that will enable managers to make the hard choices they must make. Making hard choices comes from learning to ask the right questions."

1. Wie is je belangrijkste klant? Bob Simons: “I want to push you to make a choice, to decide who the primary customer is. I’m going to argue that what we need to do on an execution front is to allocate as many resources as possible to meet the needs of our primary customer.”  Tja, wie is de belangrijkste klant van je organisatie? Is dat de Grootste? De meest rendabele (nb; wat vaak weer NIET de grootste is....)? De lastigste? (nb; sommige organisaties leven op van kritiek, van daar hun telefoonteams...) Is het per ongeluk de interne klant? etc.etc. "The term “customer” must be employed with care.", inderdaad.
2. Hoe is het verband tussen de Kernwaarden van je organisatie en je medewerkers, je klanten, je aandeelhouders? Wie van hen komt het eerst? Simons: "Managers have to make difficult decisions. Often different stakeholders have differing perspectives regarding these decisions. Many organizations have lofty statements about satisfying multiple stakeholders. This hinders strategy execution. It is essential that business leaders prioritize among their stakeholders and then use this prioritization when making tough decisions."
3. Welke Kritische Succes Factoren volg je? "The purpose of tracking performance goals is to help make decisions. But in most companies, various scorecards are used to track from 20 to 60 performance variables—and these performance variables are not used for decision making.  The key word is critical. Organizations should have a clear understanding of their theory of value creation and then track only those performance variables that are critical in showing if value is being created."
4. Binnen welke kaders vind de uitvoering van je Strategie plaats? "Behaviors that need to be paid attention to are ethical behavior, reputation, and strategic focus. The forces of pressure and opportunity are both positive. They help drive innovation and fuel entrepreneurial activity. But that can create temptation. When rationalization is added to the mix, people can justify their actions with explanations such as “everybody does it” or “I won’t get caught” or “I’ll fix it next period.”
5. Hoe genereer je een creatieve spanning? "In addition to creative tension, innovation is related to motivated employees who are challenged to do their best, as well as organizational structures/processes to encourage innovation across business units. As a general rule, less complex structures more readily promote business innovation."
6. Hoe gecommitteerd zijn je medewerkers om hun kennis te delen, om elkaar te helpen? "This also gets at an organization’s theory of motivation. Some organizations create structures and cultures focused on shared responsibility while others have cultures of self interest." Dat laatste is 'in dit kader' dus niet zo handig....
7. Welke onzekerheden in je Strategie houden je 's nachts wakker? "Without doubt, today’s strategy will not work tomorrow. This makes it essential that organizations focus on those uncertainties that might upset their strategy. This can include technology, regulation, changing customer preferences, demographics, or something else specific to an industry or company. The imperative is to build interactive processes that constantly move information from the bottom of the organization to the top." Ofwel Beware of the Black Swan!!

Bron: SEVEN STRATEGY QUESTIONS: A SIMPLE APPROACH FOR BETTER EXECUTION

Als je Strategie de vragen weet te beantwoorden dan worden het weer mooie tijden vanaf 01/01/11, toch? ;-)