How to Run Strategy Meetings Like a Pro
I’ve attended and led many strategy meetings over the years. Some were a colossal waste of time.
3 questions successful strategy meetings answer:
- How can we create customers?
- How can we keep customers?
- What do we do better than competitors that is difficult to copy?
Peter Drucker said, “The purpose of a business is to create and keep customers.”
7 ways to screw up strategy meetings:
- Throw them together at the last minute.
- Define customer value poorly.
- Don’t think about what customers love about you.
- Believe your business is your product. Generac doesn’t sell generators. It sells a feeling of security.
- Get lost in minutia. Nothing like a rabbit hole to destroy effectiveness.
- Focus on solving problems rather than exploiting opportunities.
- Waste too much time predicting an uncertain future.
10 ways to run strategy meetings like a pro:
- Define what you really do. What’s your business?
- Determine the real value you bring customers, from your customer’s point of view.
- Clarify competencies and values that make you unique.
- Make success obvious. How will you know when you succeed?
- Exploit opportunities more than solving problems.
- Eliminate “good” options. Porter said, “The essence of strategy is choosing what not to do.”
- Advantage the entire organization (even if it might limit your department).
- Develop simple language that expresses strategy so that everyone, especially customers, know the value you bring.
- Institute mechanisms to monitor and measure progress.
- Engage in persistent, tenacious, recurring follow through and execution.
Bonus: Make time for casual conversation and private reflection.
Great strategy explains how you will be uniquely useful to current and potential customers.
What happens during the worst strategy meetings? The best?
Still curious:
93% of Successful Companies Abandon Their Original Strategy
Keeping Your Strategy Meetings Focused on the Long Term (hbr.org)
The worst strategy meeting–the group discussed several projects and initiatives they wanted to pursue. There was no discussion of the current strategy and how in needed to changes to compete and succeed in the marketplace.
The best strategy meeting–the group discussed:
–Trends in the marketplace that we served
–The sales performance of our current products and services.
–New customers we might attract
–Our competitive advantage –was it still valued by the customer
–What we needed to stop doing
–To alter our current strategy what resources were required?
Thanks for all the insights, Paul. My favorite: “What we need to stop doing.” It’s more demanding to dismantle old ways of doing things than to launch new initiatives.
Excellent article. I’ve been doing strategy work for more than 30 years. You definitely nailed it.
Thank you, John. You are the strategy expert in my world!
Excellent summary! I think Porter is correct, as in my experience Strategy is as much about deciding what NOT to do as it is about what to do.
But the key point of it all is #10. A brilliant strategy is worthless if not executed with accountability from all on the team.
Insightful guide on running effective strategy meetings. Clear steps and practical tips make this a valuable resource for leaders aiming to improve their strategic planning process.