Put your strategy in writing and apply it across your organisation
A strategy only works when the people who carry it out can retell it.
In this topic: Strategy 7
A strategy only works when people can retell it
Mission, vision and values, the one-page strategic plan, and how small businesses and large organisations put their strategy to work.
Once you have chosen a course, the next job begins: putting your strategy in writing so the people who carry it out know it, and applying it in the decisions they make every week. A strategy that lives in a slide deck or in the owner's head does not change what happens in the sales meeting or on the shop floor.
David Collis and Michael Rukstad proposed a simple test: can you summarise your strategy in 35 words or fewer (source: Harvard Business Review, April 2008)? If the answer takes a page, the choice has probably not been made yet, and what has not been chosen cannot be passed on. This part of the Strategy theme covers the documents that hold your strategy and how to use them, from a sole trader to a listed group.
Articles on putting your strategy in writing
Mission, vision and values
What each one is, what research says about their effect, and how to write them so they guide hard decisions, with weak and strong examples.
One-page strategic plan
Ten building blocks, from diagnosis to "what we will not do", and a complete worked example that a whole team can retell.
Strategy for small businesses
Why strategy works differently in a small firm, a method in four half-day sessions and how to organise the business around the chosen course.
Strategic planning in large organisations
From the annual planning round to a continuous process, moving money to priorities, and the role of the board in one-tier and two-tier systems.
How the strategy documents fit together
Most organisations already have several of these documents. The trouble starts when they tell different stories: a mission about service, a plan about growth and a budget that rewards cost cutting. Each document answers its own question, and together they should form one line.
| Document | Question it answers | Main readers | Review |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mission, vision and values | Why do we exist, what do we want to become and how do we behave? | Everyone, in daily decisions | Mission and values rarely; vision every few years |
| One-page strategic plan | Where do we compete, how do we win and what do we stop doing? | Management and staff | Choices yearly; goals and initiatives quarterly |
| Business plan | Does it add up, and how is it financed? | Lenders, investors, partners | When you seek finance or the plan changes |
| Annual plan and budget | What do we spend and earn next year? | Management and finance | Yearly, with quarterly forecasts |
| OKRs or a KPI dashboard | Are we on track? | Teams and goal owners | Monthly or quarterly |
Read the table from top to bottom and each document should follow from the one above it. If a line in the budget cannot be traced back to a choice on the one-page plan, either the budget or the plan is out of date.
Where this part fits in the strategy process
- 01
Choose
Work through the strategy in five steps, supported by the models in strategic analysis and strategic choices.
- 02
Put it in writing
Mission, vision and values form the frame. The one-page plan records where you play, how you win and, following Michael Porter, what you choose not to do.
- 03
Execute
Translate the choices into goals, initiatives with owners and a fixed review rhythm, as described in execution and control.
Which route fits your organisation?
Small business
Start with the owner's ambition, captured in a short mission and vision. Summarise the choices on one page and review them with the team every quarter. Keep the number of initiatives small, because the same people also run the daily work. Read strategy for small businesses.
Larger organisation
Write one page for the group and one for each business unit, with clear references between them. Link the planning cycle to decisions about capital and people, and involve the board or supervisory board while the choices are still open. Read strategic planning in large organisations.
Signs your strategy is not yet on paper
- Different answers: ask five employees what the main priority is this year, and you hear five different things.
- Goals without choices: the plan lists targets but says nothing about which customers or work you will turn down.
- Decisions bypass the plan: large quotes, hires and investments are approved without anyone checking them against it.
- A closed file: nobody has opened the plan since the day it was approved.
Start with the article that matches your question, or go back to the Strategy theme for the full process. Other themes are in the knowledge base.
What is the difference between a strategic plan and a business plan?
Do I need a mission and vision before I write a strategy?
How often should I update my strategic plan?
Sources
- Harvard Business Review: David J. Collis and Michael G. Rukstad, Can You Say What Your Strategy Is? (April 2008)
- Harvard Business Review: Michael E. Porter, What Is Strategy? (November-December 1996)
- A. G. Lafley and Roger L. Martin: Playing to Win, How Strategy Really Works, Harvard Business Review Press (2013)
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