Using SOAPs to Gauge Strategic Maturity

Many people who work in IT organizations labor under the assumption that their business clients have a clear understanding of their strategy - it is simply waiting on a shelf for someone to ask for it. The reality, of course, is that maturity varies from truly visionary organizations to the constant fire drill teams. I've found that the development of the SOAP can be a good indicator of my clients' strategic maturity which is why the process is just as important as the end deliverable.

 

For an organization that is mature in it's strategic discipline, the SOAP is a painless exercise. They can articulate their vision and mission; they have clear understanding of their priorities and the outcomes they're driving and the actions they need to take to get there. This is - at most - a 2-3 hour workshop with a week to tweak over email and perhaps a follow-on meeting for validation.

 

Immature organizations struggle with SOAPs. They may question the value of the activity, since the organization's strategy should already be obvious to everyone who's involved. Their strategic priorities will read like motherhood and apple pie -  "Beat the competition," "Grow Revenue" and "Satisfy Customers."  I had a client once that even articulated that their strategic priority was to "Win Everywhere."

 

(A priority should be more specific and actionable. A simple test I use is to ask myself - if I were a general (or a VP), could I use the priority  to answer credibly what my strategy is? Example: "General, what is your strategy to win the battle?" "My strategy is to 'Win Everywhere.'")

 

A key indicator of low strategic maturity can be gleaned from how the SOAPs are constructed. If the construction is generally top-down, the maturity is tends to be higher than when the activity is bottom-up. Low maturity organizations will begin with a focus on the imperatives which amounts to documenting their current and near-term initiatives. They will then articulate priorities by categorizing the imperatives.

An organization with a strong understanding of its strategy, however, does not need to categorize imperatives to identify priorities. It can easily define the priorities and organize imperatives which fit the priority.

 

Knowing the strategic maturity of the organization won't directly benefit the organization - it's really helpful for you to know how to handle the organization throughout the engagement. The value of the work will be obvious to the strategically mature organization; you will spend much more time explaining the value to organizations that are less mature. Managing those expectations will be critical to your success.