Strategic doing

Sharon Struthers

I’m in a workplace environment where nothing ever gets done. That’s not uncommon, I know. The focus here is always on strategic thinking (or more like strategic scheming.) The primary output of management is strategic planning.

But what seems to get the least amount of attention is strategic doing. There is no balance. All of the time and resources are used up thinking, scheming, planning.

That’s why it takes most organizations literally years to get key projects done. And by the time they’re done, there’s a tinge of obsolescence to them. And when it’s time – at the one year or two year mark - to update the strategic plan, very few of the tactics have been completed or even remembered.

I posted a quote from Steve Yastro the other day that I found inspirational:

‎"I’m a big advocate of strategic planning. But the kind of planning I like is living, organic, flexible and evolving … it’s about creating an approach to your business that enables you to take a kernel of success and help it evolve into something more substantial. Great strategic plans are alive.“

I think this applies to my life, too. I’m going to take my "kernel of success and help it evolve.”