Crunch time

No matter how beautifully documented, or well thought-out a strategy is, its only value lies in guiding action.

Without action, strategy is worthless.

But motivating action in the process of delivering strategy is where almost all strategy falls apart.

The point at which strategy is truly tested - at the stage of implementation - we call that (borrowing unashamedly from a grotesque Americanism) crunch time.

Navigating your way through crunch time successfully, is critical if your investment in the strategy process is to yield any kind of return.

The trick to getting this right is a deeper understanding of the mechanics of successful strategy.

By its nature, strategic thinking is big picture thinking; it's broad, creative, enquiring and open. On the other hand, strategy implementation is quite different; it's logical, progressive, detailed and methodical.

In combination, the two-types of thinking work together to deliver the right results, but an individual or organisation that is able to master both divergent and convergent thinking is rare.

That's why you generally don't find a lot of creative accountants.

Awareness however is the first step to resolution and by just having line of sight of the fact that great strategy requires these two types of thinking methods, you're way ahead of most.

Next step?

Well, there are three areas in your life that you can train for improvement: your body, your skillset and your mind.

By actively training your mind to be more flexible and adaptable and honing your skillset as an organisation to become more competent in systems thinking, as well as project management, your crunch time success rate will certainly improve.