Several people have asked me what topics I encourage organizations to tackle as they prepare strategic plans for 2023 and beyond.
First and foremost, I encourage them to verify the validity of the vision, mission and values. Leaders may believe these to be pertinent, but their teams may have a different view. The leadership team must take the opportunity to sincerely hear their teams out and may decide to adjust certain elements – or the entirety – of the vision, mission and values to ensure they are compelling to those who must carry them out.
Next, I encourage leadership teams to have some difficult discussions around several topics as they develop their strategy which necessarily cascades from the vision. Strategy, for me, is the adaptable path towards a vision. For many companies, however, certain things, like their business model and pricing structures, are almost set in stone, which eliminates this element of adaptability.
The difficult discussions I facilitate are designed to challenge the status quo and define real strategies, as opposed to extensions of “the way we do things.”
Focusing on the company’s vision, the six areas that I think are essential to re-thinking a company’s strategy in this era of incredible uncertainty, rate of change and inflation are:
- Business model review
- Talent motivation, attraction, and development
- Pricing and profit model assessment
- Customer-centered product and service design
- Supply chain resilience and procurement practice assessment
What emerges from these discussions must be further investigated, decided upon, prioritized, and resourced. Thus starts the development of a strategic plan for 2023 and beyond, on the basis of a well-articulated vision, mission, and values, and from the standpoint of challenging the status quo to emerge from the uncertainty, risk, and high inflation as a stronger organization.
If you would like to talk about the results you can expect from a facilitated strategy process, contact me at lesley@lesleyantoun.com!
Written by Lesley Antoun
Lesley Antoun creates crystal clear strategies with leaders, with their teams and with their organizations. Her consulting firm has offered advisory services and strategic planning expertise to small privately-held companies, large publicly traded corporations, Crown corporations, Universities and First Nations organizations.
Lesley Antoun Consulting 