"The use, and overuse, of strategy in business is more often than not pretentious over-claim by people who do not really understand what they are talking about." [i]
An example of this in the workforce management world I've encountered was a manager (at a large company you most certainly have heard of) that wanted his title to include the words "Strategic Payroll". He wasn't planning on redefining the scope of the job at all but you must agree, if you didn't know any better, the word 'Strategic' makes whatever comes after it sound much better. In reality, Payroll delivery is tactical. Putting the word Strategic in front of it is like a putting a Jacksonion (That's Michael not Andrew) uniform on a banana republic general. The more bling the less effective the country's military tends to be.
The etymology (fancy uniform for 'true meaning or use') of the word 'Strategy' is military in origin. I believe business people love to borrow concepts from military doctrine because; 1) many of the same principles of opposition (competitors) and territory (market) translate well and, 2) it just sounds a lot cooler without necessarily enhancing our effectiveness.
In a recent whitepaper about Workforce Management (WFM) I touched on a campaign (there I go tossing about military terms) at Improvizations to help our customers align and reconcile their WFM projects with other strategic initiatives within their organizations. This is much easier, and sometimes not even necessary, in organizations whose leadership has a firm grip on strategy in the first place. This is because reconciling one's forces (ooops, I mean 'departments') towards one mission (I mean 'vision') has long been fundamental to the elements of strategy.
Another manager I've heard about with the ubiquitous title of General but funny name (Sun Tzu) identified nine strategy elements employed in his organization (the Chinese army) that were the cornerstone of his military successes under CEO (King) Wu. Sun Tzu's writings, The Art of War are one of those military works bandied about in business and political circles in recent years. Quite frankly, while his theories may be timeless from a military perspective, they need to be thoroughly sanitized to effectively relate many of them to mainstream business culture today. Tzu was not a big fan of "Think Win\Win" - one of his early demonstrations was executing two of the King's favorite concubines that Tzu had trained to be military commanders. That whole situation is hard to reconcile with most companies' HR policies let alone a clear corporate strategy.
Are you a bit confused about how all this relates to your WFM project (implementing Kronos Workforce Central anyone?) and reconciling it to the corporate strategy? Good. This is how I frequently feel when walking into a new company and asking about what their corporate vision and strategy is. You hear the word a lot, and there are frequently all sorts of theories, citations, and fancy doctrine thrown around but all too often that's really all there is. And that, Grasshopper, is lesson #1. Before you try to align and reconcile your WFM project to a master corporate strategy make sure there really is one first.
You might be able to glean this strategy from various levels in the organization but I suggest you go right to the top. As Sun Tzu put it in chapter 4: " 人皆知我所以勝之形，而莫知我所以制勝之形" - allow me to translate: "All men can see these tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved." It might not be communicated well down throughout the organization so it is better to get is 'straight from the King' as it were. Don't be surprised either if you are the first one to bring a clear version of the CEO's and other leader's strategies to the HR/PR table. It might not match the 2007 PowerPoint slide on your HR VPs wall and it may be hard to break the news the strategy has changed but don't worry, killing the messenger is generally not practiced in most of the companies we've encountered.
Here are two clues to test whether or not your company has a real corporate strategy in play:
Ask all the Sr. Staff (in separate conversations) what are the major components of the current corporate strategy. If the majority has the same answer there probably is one about.
Ask the CEO what the major components of the corporate strategy are. If they match with the majority of senior staffers there is definitely one about.
The reason you go to the senior staffers first is that often they will only have their purview to offer. It is the amalgam you must compare to the CEO's perspective. Whether or not it is a true strategy but also an effective one is a bit more difficult but here are some tests we use to see if it is worth reconciling to. Keep in mind these elements don't necessarily have to be written down in one place or even at all. Of course if the word doesn't get out it is probably harder to get everyone on the same page. Or in Sun Tzu's case; on the same bamboo slat.
The Art of War on Bamboo
Strategy Tests (Courtesy of Sun Tzu-once HR ran it through the PC machine)
Does it have a clear, definable mission or vision? Can it be summed up in a simple statement? Remember the famous Nike mission statement: "Crush Rebok". Any questions? (Honda put a little more detail in theirs: "We will crush, squash, and slaughter Yamaha". )
Does it describe the climate that creates the opportunity (timing, trends, etc) being made or seized. "With the expansion of the MP3 format, wouldn't it be cool to make and sell portable MP3 players".
What business space are we planning to conquer? Sun Tzu called this 'The Ground'. It is not merely the territory but the actual reward from which new advances can be made.
How does the Leadership rate? While many see the quality of the leadership separately from the quality if the strategy we suggest there is one fundamental piece that must be there: Will the people follow them?
A complete strategy also clearly defines the methods (or tactics if you want to eep with the military theme) employed to execute the strategy. Quite often, of course, this is where the IT, Manufacturing, Marketing, Engineering or WFM consultants like us come into the picture. Methods are our stock and trade but unless they are aligned with a true strategy they will fail. Our friend Mr. Tzu liked to put it this way "Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat".
Most companies we get called into fall somewhere in the middle on the strategy continuum-they are not completely without one but it is not wholly aligned throughout the organization. This is most obvious to us when you compare the objectives and direction of different projects throughout the company-they do not align well. (Warning: Sometimes they only appear not to align until you understand the strategy behind it!)
In my next blog I will talk about helping this alignment between the various organizational initiatives and the overall corporate strategy-now that we know that we have one. (Note: no concubines, favored or otherwise, were harmed in the writing of this blog.)
[i] Rosemary Grace Brooks: http://ezinearticles.com/?Strategy---Probably-the-Most-Overused-and-Misunderstood-Word-in-Business&id=1738056