The realistic time horizon for strategic thinking is shrinking year by year as more and more aspects of our lives become interconnected. To think of strategy in the same terms as businesses did even a decade ago is no longer viable. So, how does strategy retain its relevance in today’s world? What are the inputs, new models and outputs. More importantly how do we embed strategy in every aspect of organisational thinking?
Strategy has to adapt to the conditions in which it was developed which means it has to be resilient. So the ‘set and forget’ school of strategy can’t work in an environment where massive step change can be accelerated by interconnected systems. Strategy must be connected to the to external conditions, internal capabilities and the ongoing nature of the business which is increasingly project-based.
To develop strategy in this environment requires an understanding of systems as well as a process for creating resilient strategy. These two components are key to the strategy work of Emergent Form and are:
- Systems thinking – understanding how things are interconnected and not self-contained
- Strategy in action – continually linking the outside influences with inside capabilities through projects.
Comments