Studies have found that 67 percent of companies fall short in reaching their strategic objectives.
How do you keep your organization from being one of them?
By addressing these common strategic planning problems from the start.
Strategic Planning Problem #1
You don’t know how to start strategic planning or how to engage your team in the process.
SOLUTion #1: Start With Your Story
The story of your organization holds the key to your strategy. Your organization’s strengths, culture, and people are what will help you reach the ‘happily ever after’ of your strategic vision. Use story to help you highlight what makes you and your team unique in a field of peers and competitors. Telling your organization’s story will help you define:
Your mission & values
Your audience
Your identity & branding
Your competitive advantages
Strategic Planning Problem #2
You have too many priorities and can’t decide which to focus on
SOLUTion #2: Identify Opportunities for Value
Define your strategic priorities - i.e., your ‘ways to winning’ - by answering one question: Where does your organization have the opportunity to create or extract additional value? Creating a strategic value map will help you and your team:
Collaborate on your goals for the future
Define the ‘big bets’ that will move you closer to your future vision
Prioritize which ‘big bets’ matter most now
Strategic Planning Problem #3
Your teams & projects are inconsistent, uncoordinated and inflexible
SOLUTion #3: Establish a Rhythm for Consistent Strategy Execution
They key to consistently executing on your strategic plans is establishing and following an operating rhythm that turns your strategic priorities into ‘the way we do things here’. Establishing an operating rhythm will help you and your teams:
Transform your ways of working from chaotic to predictable
Get better at setting and achieving goals
Create a standard of performance that is consistent across teams
Be more transparent and accountable with project progress and data
Respond more flexibly to change
“Vision without action is a daydream, action without vision is a nightmare.”
Your strategic plan is your organization’s game plan for winning - it is your answer to the question, “How will we win with what we have?”
The best time to start defining your organization’s strategy is now. Create your long-term vision and develop a practical plan to get from here to there.
What’s keeping you from achieving your strategic goals?
This ebook will help you identify and overcome the 7 common challenges that hinder strategy execution. Create a 90-day plan to shift the way your team works and transform your organization into an effective strategy execution powerhouse.
Download My Free Operating Rhythm Ebook
MOre Ways to Bring Your Strategy to Life
Learn how to define, implement and optimize your team’s operating rhythm to go from strategy to reality. Browse my curated collection of courses, articles, books and workshops for leaders at every level.
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A podcast for unapologetic black women
Black women often have to make a choice when it comes to leveling up in life, work or relationships: shrink and stay small or find your voice and live your truth unapologetically. Join host Kisha Solomon as she shares stories and strategies for black women who choose to define their lives, careers and relationships on their own terms.
the trap of 1-size-fits all
There are 2 basic approaches to living life:
The one-size-fits-all (aka, the 1SFA) approach, or
the bespoke (aka, the custom-made) approach.
The 1SFA Approach
The first, and by far, the most popular option is the 1SFA approach. For many, this option just happens to fit them perfectly. For others, it’s simply the easier option - it’s available and everyone else is doing it, plus it comes with perks and membership in coveted clubs.
it’s what everyone who’s anyone is wearing
The New One-Size-Fits-All* Collection
Now available everywhere
*(one size may not actually fit all.)
The Custom-Made Approach
For some, the 1SFA doesn’t work. They may be too big or too allergic to the material it’s made of, or perhaps they simply decide to opt out. These people end up creating their own ‘garments’ using the material and skills available to them.
There’s just one problem.
Those who chose the custom-made approach often become targets. Of shame, ridicule, discrimination, violence - a high price for any garment.
It can seem less costly to just fit in to the 1SFA garment. ‘Maybe I can just wear the 1SFA in public’ they reason. ‘I can wear whatever I want behind closed doors.’
get lifetime membership with your purchase
Join the club. Get perks, benefits & premium access.
Side effects soon begin to appear, including:
imposter syndrome
masking
identity crisis
negative self talk
This is the trap that ensnares many so-called marginalized people:
Either force yourself into a garment that doesn’t fit or change yourself to fit the 1SFA garment.
An ill-fitting garment can change how you feel about yourself entirely .
See a tailor. Be a tailor. Just make sure it fits.
This typically means a literal or figurative modification or ‘cutting off’ of things that are essential to the shape and size of you, including your:
language
name
hair
clothing
behavior
practices of cultural significance
The irony? Doing so can make it more difficult for you to stand out when you want to. In short, when you fall into the 1SFA trap, you may lose your most strategic advantage.
The unapologetic Podcast
The Unapologetic Black Woman's Little Pocketbook of Wisdom is a collection of advice on relationships, jobs, and breaking free of one-size-fits-all through self-awareness. Delivered with a scoop of Iyanla, a dash of Deepak and a heaping of common sense, it makes a perfect gift for coming of age, Mother’s Day, International Women’s Day, graduations, or for sharing with your 'sister circle'.
Put This In Your Pocketbook.
lessons for unapologetic leaders
Browse my curated collection of articles, books and workshops for reclaiming your personal power and using your identity as your strategic advantage.
New to OKRs? This 7-minute video gives a simple overview of how to set quarterly OKRs that align with a larger strategic objective.