Most leaders think they’ve got strategy down pat. They don’t.

Most leaders know that they need to make more time for strategic thinking. But they don’t.

Most leaders think strategic thinking starts with brand new ideas. They’re wrong.

And these mistakes are costly!

Consider these crazy statistics:

  • Only 2% of leaders are confident that they will achieve 80-100% of their strategic objectives.
  • In an alarming 49% of organisations, leaders spend only one day a month reviewing their strategic implementation.

So leaders doubt their ability to deliver, and don’t spend enough time reviewing their plan. Yikes!

Let’s go back to basics.

Successful leadership strategy starts with a plan, to develop the plan

Likely you know the fundamentals. It’s about your why, your Compass.

We make sure we:

  • Clarify purpose

  • Articulate vision

  • Consider impact.

Smart leadership considers the destination before picking the map

Possibly, you stretch your thinking and make sure you have the big picture covered. This is about where you are headed. This is the Map of your journey.

We get clear when we:

  • Understand context

  • Generate ideas

  • Make decisions.

Next it’s time to get down to brass tacks. Details matter. This is where we outline our Route Plan: how we get to where we want to go.

This is what we do next:

  • We craft a plan

  • We take action

  • We course correct.

Leadership responsibility means looking backwards as well as forwards

Leadership is an adventure! One of the joys of looking backwards is to see how far we’ve come. Then we can look forward to the next mountain to climb. In leading strategy, we need to look in both directions.