I begin planning with a basic assumption that it is impossible to do everything – there simply isn’t enough money, resources, or time to fulfill everything that is needed or desired. In the face of these constraints, we have to determine what it is that we should focus on. That’s where I turn to strategy.
My former boss and mentor at Merck, Bev Rosella, developed this graphic with clients to help them understand the core components of a strategy. (Bev is now a private consultant – I highly recommend her if you need assistance with articulating your strategy).
A strategy consists of some basic elements:
Vision describes where we want to be in the future. This can be either long-term aspirational vision or a description of the short-term ideal future state, i.e. your three-year vision.
Mission describes the organization – what is the organization, what is its purpose, a high level description of how the organization creates business value.
Business outcomes describe the tangible and measurable results that the organization is driving to achieve its vision over time. This is the tangible description of the business value that is being sought.
Strategic Priorities/Actions are the key initiatives over time that describe how the outcomes are achieved in order to realize the vision.
To me, a strategy is very much like planning a trip. The vision is your final destination, the mission is your mode of travel (i.e. car, foot, a plane, etc.), the outcomes are the results you want from your trip (i.e. I want to arrive in 4 hours or I want to see these monuments on my journey), and the priorities and actions are the route that you take to get there.
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