A few years ago, grudgingly acknowledging the physical changes of middle age, I decided to modify my fitness routine, with less cardio/endurance activity and more focus on strength and flexibility. Step One was taking my first yoga class. This was predictably awkward, with my ignorance and immobility combining for some truly cringe-worthy moments in those first few weeks. But they kept letting me come back, and since then I have made some solid progress. Along the way, I have come to welcome and appreciate one of the opening lines of my instructor in every class: Set an intention for your practice.
The words practice and intention are rich in meaning, and it’s worth unpacking them as we consider strategy development and leadership in organizations. Indeed, it’s helpful to think about Strategy as a highly intentional Practice.
First, it’s easy to see that Practice is related to Practical – as in the practical application of something rather than the theoretical. Working on strategy sometimes gets a bad rap in organizations because it’s “high level” and distant from day-to-day challenges. But if Strategy creates a compelling vision of the future and a credible path to get there, then what could be more practical for the organization? Strategy is practical when it connects the organization’s Why, What, and How through the creation of roadmaps with specific milestones and performance metrics.
Second, any successful practice requires discipline and habit. Attending to matters of strategy comes under nearly constant fire from urgent, in-the-moment challenges. Leadership must fiercely protect the space and time required to do Strategy work. Further, the selection of specific frameworks and models for strategy work must be done with care, balancing continuity (to avoid the flavor-of-the-month syndrome) with the natural evolution of the business and growing maturity of the leadership team.
Third, practice is work – it requires sincere effort, creative energy, and meaningful contribution from all participants. Strategy meetings that devolve into philosophical discussions or ethereal ideas without meaningful outputs and next steps are a waste of time. It’s not always pretty, and sometimes takes longer than one would like, but there must be a team-wide commitment to move through a defined process and produce the agreed-upon deliverables – and adjust as learning occurs.
Fourth, practice of Strategy is company-specific. There are many well-respected frameworks and models to facilitate the work, but even the adoption and application of these to your specific business and leadership circumstances will be unique. Avoid the temptation to compare your practice to others; strategy means something different to virtually every company, and everyone’s journey is distinct.
Which leads me to one final idea. Practice is dynamic and generates progress – which creates a new frontier for accomplishment. In my yoga practice, I’ve improved my balance and flexibility, so my instructor has introduced more challenging poses and started talking about “the poses between the poses” (whatever that means). Your team will grow in its ability to practice strategy – creating new opportunities to clarify direction and accelerate performance. Plan for new challenges. I have always appreciated the tension between accomplishment and further growth in this quotation, written in 1951 by the leader of a program designing a new method of preparing teachers for the classroom:
“We have not succeeded in answering all our problems. The answers we have found only serve to raise a whole set of new questions. In some ways we feel we are as confused as ever, but we believe we are confused on a higher level and about more important things.” May your strategy practice deliver your leadership team to a similar position, and beyond – before I can do this:
Strategy, Creativity, and Leadership 