- You've failed yourself if you do strategic thinking once,
set a course and just keep at it forever.
Circumstances change,
and you may end up steering yourself wildly off course.
But at the opposite end of the spectrum,
you've also failed yourself
if you can't reliably follow through on your strategy
and fall victim to shiny object syndrome,
constantly jumping from one thing to the next
following idle whims.
So how do you balance the two?
How can you make strategic thinking a way of life?
As we discussed earlier,
it's important to regularly audit your strategy,
to set up milestones in advance, let's say every quarter,
and check in to see how things are progressing
and whether results are living up to your expectations
or might warrant some changes.
The general rule though, is that if you've taken the time
to create a thoughtful strategy, you should stick with it
until there's a clear reason not to.
Here are the questions to ask yourself
to figure out if that's the case.
Are you failing to meet your initial expectations?
This is the most obvious case
where a change in strategy might be warranted.
You thought 200 people would sign up for the program
and only 15 did.
You shouldn't scrap things immediately,
it's important not to rush to conclusions.
But first, look at the tactics you used.
Maybe the marketing wasn't effective for instance.
But if you investigate and everything else checks out,
maybe the initial premise was flawed
and you need to change your strategy
and offer a different program instead.
Has there been a major change in circumstances?
Sometimes big unexpected things happen
and we have to adapt to the repercussions.
Your strategy may have involved
focusing on a particular line of business
because your biggest client
was going to sign a huge contract, but when your buyer,
the person you knew best and was your biggest advocate,
decided to leave her position,
that sure thing contract suddenly blew up
so that may be a time to change strategy.
Is there an alternative possibility
that's demonstrably more promising?
This is the place where you're most likely
to experience shiny object syndrome,
chasing the exciting new things
so you have to watch yourself carefully here.
Let's imagine that expectations
have generally been met with your initial strategy
and there hasn't been a major change in circumstances.
So what could prompt you to abandon a plan
that's working reasonably well?
Hopefully not much.
The only correct answer is that something that provides you
with a far greater probability for growth and success
than the path you're already pursuing.
Note that I said probability not possibility.
It needs to be very likely.
Now, it's easy to get excited about a new opportunity
and convince yourself that this is the right path
because it's new and different.
It's possible you might discover something
that really is better,
that's almost certain to generate 20% growth
when you're getting 10% growth now for instance.
But don't delude yourself into thinking
you can pursue both opportunities
at the the same time equally well.
If you're truly convinced,
run a small test first to see if your hypothesis pans out
and don't rush into anything
without consulting with trusted colleagues and advisors.
The bar needs to be very high
when you're switching away from a strategy
that's already working.
Sometimes you do need to change your strategy
but to be effective,
you should do it sparingly and thoughtfully.