Strategic Intent

I recently picked up a very small book in the strategy shelves of my local library.  It was from the Harvard Business Review classics series and it dealt with strategic intent.  I didn't really need to get the book out being quite familiar with the term and having read the book Competing for the Future by Hamel and Prahalad but it just looked appealing so I grabbed it anyway (I love reading about strategy and that doesn't make me a nerd).

For me strategic intent is a key part of the actual essence of strategic management and more specifically strategic decision making.  It basically puts a dirty great big stake in the ground about where you want to be in the future (kind of like what you want to be when you grow up).  Once this is established, all actions, tasks, plans, tactics, budgets etc etc need to be moving towards this and not away from it.  There is a nice saying - the only way to work towards an objective is to work towards an objective, you shouldn't head off in the opposite direction.

Hamel and Prahalad use the Apollo program as an example, it was America's strategic intent to put a man on the moon and return him safely.  Once this intention (or vision, mission, guiding principle or whatever you call it) is established, it crystallises effort towards this goal.  If it is easy to understand, worthy, a stretch but achievable then it is these sorts of strategic intents that really can fire up an organisation.  How exciting is it to have the goal of returning 12% ROCE (return on capital employed), doesn't really make you leap out of bed in the morning.

I find strategy exciting and organisations that don't find the idea of working towards a worthy future goal exciting are probably not the most fun places to work.  Have a check of your own organisations strategic intent and ask yourself the following;

  • What is it?
  • Is it worthy and exciting?
  • How many people around here know it?
  • How many people around here get it?
Until next the blog..................

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