The Strategy for Being Strategic

“We have to be strategic about this.”

“I’m being strategic.”

hmmmmm.

The Fonz didn’t need to tell people he was cool. He just was. If you find yourself always saying you are strategic, are you?

#spoileralert: A good strategy has programs and tactics to bring it to life, and has a plan to bridge from what is to what will be. Read more about this in my exit plan blog. It’s fascinating how many people talk separately about ideas and action, yet they are not separate conversations.

Let’s peek behind the curtain. What’s the win-win? That’s the ticket. When it comes to well-being in particular, get strategies in place with an eye to both business goals and improvements to public health. A good business solves a problem for their customers. Be successful helping people reach their goals while you meet your KPI’s and can show ROI.

Here is an action list to help ensure a good outcome:

1. Define “strategy“. Set the stage and make sure everyone understands the vision, process, necessary action steps, and desired outcome. If you have no strategy, the tactical choices made daily become the unintended strategy, and a poor one at that. Ever see an organization do a bunch of things that don’t work together to make a bigger impact? That’s a checklist, not a strategy.
2. Think past one year and plan well into the future with mini goals along the way.
3. Hold firm in a new idea, yet be open to evolve as it unfolds. Have you ever been on a trip and the nav system offers several routes? It’s like that. The finish line/desired outcome doesn’t change, but there may be a better way to get there.
4. Focus on the end outcome and target audience, not the process. Don’t worry more about how the paperwork looks than you do about implementation and action.
5. Establish the guidelines for the team and communicate. If you are playing football but following the rules for volleyball, you are going to have a problem. If you put everyone in uniforms and tell them when the game is, but they don’t know what game is being played, how can you win? When you drive, isn’t it helpful to know which side of the road to be on, what the red, yellow, and green lights mean, and what the speed limit is? To win, everyone involved needs to know the game and the rules so they can be confident in making decisions they know will ladder up to support the bigger picture and end goal.
6. Listen to all the players. Trust the team. Deliver the goods.

Working together towards a common goal for the good of all involved is a beautiful thing. How will you move it forward today?