‘Strategy’ and ‘strategic plan’ are often used synonymously. However there’s a difference between them and it helps to be clear on what that is. To paraphrase the rapper KRS-ONE*, a plan is something you have, a strategy is something you live.
Definitions: why bother?
There are guaranteed to be as many definitions as there are people in the room. These are the ones I find helpful:
- Strategies are patterns in a stream of decisions (Henry Mintzberg).
- Strategic plans set out where you’ve been, where you’re going and how you get there. (Some people would say ‘where you’re going’ is most important and that ‘how you get there’ belongs in an operational plan, not a strategy.)
- Strategic decisions are those which are: long term, involve the commitment of resources and hard to reverse.
Don’t get bogged down in other people’s definitions of ‘strategy’, ‘vision’, ‘mission’ etc. Do you really need each of these things? Why? What do they mean to you?
People sometimes seem to think that what the plan says is more important than what the organisation actually does and believes.
Strategy as performance – take the test
There’s a growing risk of strategic planning being performative: leaders want a plan because everyone else has one. They want to tick a box or show that they understand strategy, so they think their plan should look like everyone else’s. It’s one of the reasons I’m super cautious about which charities I help with strategic planning. People sometimes seem to think that what the plan says is more important than what the organisation actually does and believes.
Try this test for yourself: compare your strategic plan with your accounts. The things you spend your money on are your strategic priorities, no matter what your plan says.
The things you spend your money on are your strategic priorities, no matter what your plan says.
Tips for creating a clear way forward (whatever you call it)
- If a strategic plan – or any part of it – needs explaining, it’s not working.
- If a term isn’t clear, don’t use it.
- If it feels like form filling (‘Everyone expects a vision statement’) don’t do it.
- If people can’t see themselves in it, it’ll fail.
- If it doesn’t inspire and guide behaviour, it’s pointless.
- If it doesn’t inform decision-making, it’s dangerous.
Needless to say then, our updated strategy means something to us. It’s guided by what matters to us in the long term, but (or actually, so!) it guides our everyday decision making.
Download the refreshed strategy here:
*’Rap is something you do, hip hop is something you live’, KRS-ONE