If your organization’s strategy seems confused, ineffective, or coming up short, then it may have some holes. A full strategy covers both sides of these 3 dimensions:
- Private and Public – Expressed your strategy in two voices: private for you and your organization, public for your clients and your marketing. The way you understand your company (private) is necessarily more detailed than the way you engage your clients (public).
- Internal and External – Focus on what’s important to two different audiences: those inside your organization (employee-focused) and those outside (client-focused). So that they stay, both audiences need to understand from their own perspective the value and potential of the organization.
- Short-term and Aspirational – Specify both short-term, practical goals and long-term, aspirational ones.
Your complete strategy has something to say about each combination of these three dimensions. It includes, for example, the private (for your eyes), external (client-focused), and short-term: “We will increase project gross margin to 0.31 next year.” And it would include the public (client/marketing version), internal (employee-focused), aspirational: “We hope to remain your favorite supplier of these products. To that end, we not only invest heavily in R&D, we invest an equal amount in our processes, culture, leadership, and well-being as a company.”
In your corner,
Mike