 Some companies confuse strategic goals with strategy. "We plan to achieve $5M in sales this year" is a great goal, but how will you do it? Strategy addresses the how. In fact, good strategy has three parts: an objective, a guiding principle and an action to be taken. Examples:
We will achieve $5M in sales (objective) by leveraging our R&D strength (principle) to provide the most fully featured product on the market (action). Opening new offices (action) focused on the growing north part of the county (principle) will allow us to double our revenue (objective). Of these three elements, the guiding principle is usually what makes a strategy great. The principle should be compelling, such as leveraging some unique capability of the company or exploiting a new market trend. It is the guiding principle that is the core of the strategy and provides confidence that the actions taken will achieve the goals. |