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Strategy Development

Focusing the Lens / Defining the Journey

Details

Role: Strategy

Focus: Current Growth

Outputs: Innovation-Driven Growth Strategy

Strategy Development is about understanding your organization's unique goals and aspirations for achieving new growth through innovation – aka ‘innovation-driven growth’ – and then, based on that, crafting a well-conceived Innovation-Driven Growth Strategy by which it can, in fact, move toward achieving those goals and aspirations.

There are several key activities involved in doing this – namely:

First – ‘focusing the lens’:   we work with you to define the strategic domains in which the organization seeks to grow.   Doing this establishes your ‘hunting grounds’… where you will actively search for new opportunities.

Second – ‘defining Goal Zero’:   we work with you to establish your organization's unique goals and aspirations for what it ultimately wants to achieve.

Third – ‘scouting your white space’:   we undertake extensive research to uncover appropriate new opportunities for your organization to pursue — so that it can in fact achieve its ‘Goal Zero’.

Fourth – ‘choosing your paths’:   we work with you to select the most appropriate opportunities to pursue given their alignment to your goals, their expected impacts, and the available resources and capabilities in the organization and its ecosystem.

Fifth – ‘staking your ground’:   we define and document for you a series of strategic initiatives – each involving some form of new innovation – by which the organization can in fact pursue and capitalize on each of the chosen opportunities.
As can be appreciated from these activities, Strategy Development involves a lot of extremely careful and focused research, contemplation, and justification in order to arrive at a truly winning Innovation-Driven Growth Strategy.

But — this is an absolutely necessity if, in fact, your organization's aspiration is to become the driving force in its markets.

And to the extent that your organization intends to be around for the long run, this ultimately has to become its aim and aspiration, as aiming for anything else will simply put it in a follower's position – and follower positions no longer have any staying power.   The only real way it can ensure its long-term survival and growth is by taking this very aggressive pursuit of being the ‘market driver’.

Finally – and beyond all this – your organization has to clearly understand that the world around it is changing and moving extremely rapidly!   What this means is that it has to approach any strategy – including this one – in a fluid and agile manner (not in a rigid, unswerving manner) — understanding that there may in fact arise the need to pivot on any one of its initiatives as circumstances change and new insights are learned.

This is why such work has to fundamentally become an ongoing and unending endeavor at all times — executed in very much a circular and iterative manner.

Fortunately for you, Strategy X will be here – always – to guide and coach you along the way — for as long as you need.

Our Strategy Development work is divided into three sequential stages.
—
Framing & Visioning | Opportunity Discovery | Strategy Definition

Framing & Visioning

The purpose of Framing & Visioning is two-fold.

First is to establish the specific Domains your organization intends to seek growth in, including – to the extent known at this point – any Sub-Domains, Themes, and/or Sub-Themes of concern inside those.

This defines your organization's ‘hunting grounds’ — where it intends to go about actively seeking out new opportunities to deliver next-generation value.

We use a number of frameworks and tools to analyze and consider different Themes and Sub-Themes here.

Second is to define and cast a unique and compelling Vision for each such Domain / Sub-Domain / Theme / Sub-Theme, and inside those Visions, a set of very definitive Goals the organization will strive toward.

These Visions and Goals reflect the organization's unique aspirations for each of the Domains chosen.   They therefore represent what we refer to as the organization's ‘Goal Zero’ in each case.

We work with your leaders to capture and reflect each of these aspirations – including quite often surveying the entire organization to capture and reflect their collective values, priorities, and aspirations for going forward.   Doing this of course works best when the organization has previously defined a compelling purpose that the entire organization has bought into and rallied around.

The process in which we work with you to define and refine each of these parameters is typically an iterative and discovery-driven process, as we go about undertaking research to identify what new opportunities do and do not lie in certain specific places.   The findings of that research may lead to adjustments in certain of these Visions and Goals – and potentially even in the choice of Domains and Sub-Domains being searched in.

Likewise – even after we finish this work – all of these parameters – your Domains, Sub-Domains, Themes, Sub-Themes, Visions, and Goals – are fully malleable and therefore wide open to reevaluation and adjustment over time as new insights are learned and new strategic opportunities identified.   Indeed, each of these parameters should ideally be revisited on an ongoing regular basis, in an iterative ongoing manner.

Opportunity Discovery

The purpose of Opportunity Discovery is to engage in research aimed at exploring the ‘white space’ around your organization, and thereby uncover what new strategic opportunities lie around it inside the chosen Domains and Sub-Domains – and potentially in alignment with any Themes and Sub-Themes chosen.

Here we search for unmet and/or unarticulated needs inside your existing markets (a practice known as ‘needfinding’) — plus any emerging needs in those and other markets – to identify any number of potential new opportunities for the organization to consider.

In doing this, the more narrowly the search parameters have been defined (in other words, the more specific we have been around the Domains, Sub-Domains, Themes, and Sub-Themes of interest), the more challenging the hunt for new opportunities will be — but when such new opportunities are found, they will tend to be very aligned strategically.

Conversely, the more broadly the search parameters have been defined (in other words, the less specific we have been around the Domains, Sub-Domains, Themes, and Sub-Themes of interest), the easier the hunt for new opportunities will be — but the odds of really strong strategic alignment for any one of them will tend to be commensurately lower.

There is therefore a balancing act to be had in finding the right opportunities with the right amount of strategic alignment.   Either way, the scouting work will be undertaken, but it can be difficult at times to know the right balance point until one gets into the process.

As potential new opportunities are being identified, additional research can be undertaken as needed and desired to properly qualify – and to the extent possible quantify – each such opportunity for both its present and future potential value.

The findings of this additional research can then be used to comparatively evaluate the different opportunity options before the organization and in so doing choose which ones the organization will in fact pursue and resource.   For those chosen, this research is thus used to justify their selection.

The end result of this work will be the clear identification – and in most cases qualification – of select new opportunities to consider.

Strategy Definition

The purpose of Strategy Definition is to ultimately define the Innovation-Driven Growth Strategy your organization will pursue — so that it can, in fact, develop and deliver impactful new innovations that enable it to realize its unique goals and aspirations inside the Domains and Sub-Domains selected.

We define this strategy based on the selection of strategically-aligned opportunities that we (us and your organization's leadership) collectively choose.

This yields a series of strategic initiatives for the organization to engage in for each respective strategic horizon (short, medium, and long term) — each involving a particular form of innovation — whether it be design, technology, product, service, experience, brand, package, marketing, business model, ecosystem, or some other form – or some combination of these — by which the organization can in fact capitalize on each chosen opportunity.

In defining these initiatives, the Horizon 2 & Horizon 3 initiatives will generally involve more radical forms of innovation than will those of Horizon 1, and consequently will entail more work to fully refine the new outcome or offering.   This series of initiatives (spanning the three horizons) will be chosen so as to build on one another – and in so doing, meet markets where their key ‘intersection points’ are expected to lie — in keeping with a predefined cadence of offerings and refinements from the organization.

For each strategic initiative prescribed, we profile the initiative in comprehensive detail.

This includes – amongst other things – defining the strategic growth ‘pathway’ it involves.   We define six different types of strategic ‘pathway’ — each involving a specific form and degree of novelty.   The choice of strategic pathway will be dictated by the type of opportunity involved, what that opportunity demands, and when that opportunity is expected to manifest.

We also prescribe for each initiative a certain strategic growth ‘vehicle’ – as deemed best suited to its particular development and launch.   We define 18 unique types of growth ‘vehicle’ that an organization can employ – clustered into four groups.   The choice of strategic vehicle will be determined by the nature of the innovation, as it relates to the capabilities and resources of the organization and its business ecosystem.
To learn more about any of our practices and methods in undertaking this work, drop us a line… we'll be happy to explain them in complete detail.
The outcome of our Strategy Development work
The outcome, and thus deliverable, of our strategy development work is the creation and documentation of a new Innovation Driven Growth Strategy.

This strategy will prescribe for the organization the following items
(to varying levels of detail, depending on the need):

  • The prescribed Growth Directions.
    This includes the Strategic Domains we've collectively chosen, a clear and compelling Vision for each such Domain, and unique Goals for each Domain inside of each of the three strategic horizons (short, medium, and long term).

  • A selection of well-crafted Initiatives for each Domain / Horizon combination.
    In each case, the degree of novelty and reach of the innovations involved will be established based on a collective discussion between us and you – with us providing our recommendations based on the stated Goals.
This is all formally documented in a final Growth Strategy Report.

The only real basis for achieving true Innovation-Driven Growth
Strategy Development – as we execute it herein – is the only real basis for being able to define and craft a world-class innovation-driven growth strategy that your organization can confidently pursue and in so doing become the leading force in its markets.

With such a strategy, your organization can embark on a journey of exponential growth and leadership in each of these markets, for the foreseeable future.   Moreover, such a strategy will catalyze the organization's evolution toward becoming the true driving force in each of these markets – via its medium and long term initiatives.

No other type of strategy – including those whose growth is driven by sales, marketing, or even M&A – is able to catalyze the sort of leadership and growth that a truly innovation-driven strategy will.   Such a strategy has no equals.   And, yes, while executing such a strategy does in fact require more effort, more skill, and more care, no other type of strategy can yield the level of leadership and business impact as can it.   Start your journey today!

Drop us a line to learn more about this work.
Understand the Future
Learn how to think properly about the future
Develop a Future Fit Mindset
Weave this mindset deeply into your organization
Own Your Destiny
Show your organization how to own its future
Activate Powerful Strategies
Pursue long term strategies with deep impact
Develop Innovation Capabilities
Develop the capacity to be the innovation pacesetter
Dominate Your Markets
Become the real driving force in your markets
Reinvent Your Culture
Cultivate a new culture that can go the distance
Become a Digital Powerhouse
Go deep on the journey of digital transformation
Become an Iconic Organization
Achieve outcomes & results that legends are made of

Engage Us

Your challenges are complex.   Working with us shouldn't be.   We work hard to explain and simplify each step along our collective journey… what we'll be doing, how undertaking that step will work, how long each step or phase is expected to take, and the mechanisms by which each step or phase will succeed in achieving your organization's unique goals and aspirations.

At the end of the day, we want to ensure you're confident in our journey ahead — and that our work will deliver for your organization the outcomes and results – and impacts – needed for it to be able to own and shape its future.   That's why we're here.

01. Conversation
Real change starts with a conversation.   Here, we sit and talk with you about your organization and its needs & aspirations going forward.   This is a no-judgment / high-aspiration zone – and so we're completely open and honest here… nothing's off the table… everything is fair game.   We want to know the whole story… where you've been, where you presently are, and where it is you want to go.   That gets us to Step 2.
02. Proposal
Understanding both your present situation and your future aspirations, we prepare for you a Proposal detailing exactly what course of action we intend to undertake with your organization – in this case that revolving around Strategy Development.   Documenting this plan of action and its expected outcomes puts us all on the same page with respect to our collective gameplan and its goalposts. That gets us to Step 3.
03. Execution
At the agreed-upon date, we engage with your organization and begin working together to execute the plan.   This requires a firm commitment from both sides to do all the hard work needed to achieve success.   Together, we work the plan methodically and systematically — checking in at numerous points to ensure that our efforts are in fact achieving their intended outcomes and results (if not, we circle back and either reinforce an effort and adjust the plan – always in tune with how your organization is responding).   Our goal is to fully achieve the engagement's expected outcomes, results, and impacts.
04. Follow Up
Because not all outcomes and results can be known immediately, we follow up with you over the course of several months – even years if need be – to ensure your organization is remaining on course with our interventions and in fact achieving its intended outcomes and results.   In most cases it will be.   But if for some reason it's not, then we'll still be here to help it get back – and remain – on track — ensuring that it continues achieving the needed outcomes, results, and impacts over the long run.

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