What is managing strategy really like? How good are you at really managing strategy? If you are not sure, here’s a very simple test:
Get a brand new jigsaw puzzle, open the box and empty all of the pieces onto your desk, face down.
Now, throw away the puzzle box, ask three friendly colleagues to remove an unspecified number of pieces each, at random, and to put the chosen pieces into their pockets, without showing them to you.
Your next task is to construct the jigsaw, quickly and accurately, without turning over any of the pieces.
If this scenario doesn’t daunt you sufficiently, ask one of your colleagues to blind-fold you…
That straightforward exercise is the easiest way I know to simulate the challenge facing most strategists today.
We are continually faced with trying to create a cohesive and cost-effective outcome; given resources that we don’t completely understand, not all of which are under our direct influence, or control, and that may, or may not, eventually fit together into a recognisable pattern.
So much for the challenge, how can we tackle it?
Well, I think that the best way is to build a sustainable strategy model – a tangible* definition of the intricate framework of the various factors that influence our strategic management.
If you do this, you will start to make sense of even the most abstract picture.
*by “tangible definition,” I really do mean something that can be physically manifested and manipulated, either in the form of a printed report, or as an interactive computer model.
Strategy management is, without doubt, an art – and an abstract art at that.
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