Move guide
Put it on one page and commit
Your report suggested a move on at least one of these two practices:
- whether the strategy can be stated;
- whether choices survive contact.
This move guide puts the strategy on one page that leaders retell the same way. It airs and settles the dissent, then asks the leadership to defend the choices in public.
1. When it applies
Use this move guide if your report placed either practice in the lowest two stages.
| Practice | Where it may sit today | Where this move guide aims |
|---|---|---|
| Whether the strategy can be stated | Lagging: "Ask five leaders what the strategy is and you get five different slogans." Basic: "A strategy document exists from the last planning cycle; almost nobody could summarise it." |
Competent: "The strategy fits on a page and leaders retell it consistently: where we compete, how we win, what we'll do." |
| Whether choices survive contact | Lagging: "Strategy decisions are relitigated whenever a strong voice objects or a bad month lands." Basic: "Consensus was soft, everyone nodded, few committed, and execution is patchy." |
Competent: "Leadership defends the choices publicly and holds them through normal turbulence." |
If both already sit at the middle stage or higher, skip this move guide.
It needs setting the goals and making the choices first. The page states the choices made there.
2. What to do
Five steps. They take about two weeks.
- Write the strategy on one page: the goals, where you compete, how you win, and what you will do. The articulation worksheet does this.
- Test it. Can your top five leaders retell it without the page? Table A below scores the test.
- Have each leader argue the strongest case against the strategy once. Settle each point. The conviction worksheet does this.
- Set the decision date in advance, and decide on it.
- Ask for public commitment, and hold the choices through normal turbulence.
The two free worksheets do the recording:
- /worksheets/strategy/articulation for the page and the retell test;
- /worksheets/strategy/conviction for the dissent and the commitment.
Test it before you commit
Before you ask for commitment in step 5 above, test the page with eleven questions. Answer each with evidence. Every "no" is work to do before you commit.
Before you commit, can you answer yes, with evidence?
- Alternatives
At least two options were worked through and set aside, with the reason written down.
- What we will not do
The page lists things the business has decided to stop or not start.
- Focus
Most spare money and people sit with three or four priorities.
- Evidence
Each big choice rests on facts, including some that rivals do not have.
- Adds up
If the main choices work, the numbers reach the goals.
- Fits
Where we compete, how we win and the capabilities behind it support each other.
- Group fit
For a group: each business unit's page sits under the group page.
- Customers want it
Target customers find the offer compelling, and it differs from rivals'.
- It can last
Rivals cannot copy it quickly, and it can take a shock.
- A plan we can meet
Each part has named actions, an owner and a date.
- Backed
The whole leadership team backs it, in the room and outside it.
Where leaders still disagree, settle the tension by its source.
- People read it differentlyWrite down the reasoning, and what it means day to day.
- People doubt it will workAgree the analysis that would settle the doubt, and run it.
- Behaviour pulls the other wayChange the incentives and processes that reward something else.
- Too few resourcesAgree the priorities and how much each gets.
- A tension that never goes awayAgree the principles for managing the balance, and review them.
Read the page against the five choices
The five linked choices in A.G. Lafley and Roger Martin's book Playing to Win make a quick check of the page. Each should have a place on it, and each should follow from the one above.
| Choice | Where it sits on the page | On the page? |
|---|---|---|
| What winning means | The vision and the targets | |
| Where you compete | The themes: the customers, segments and regions you chose | |
| How you win there | The themes and their initiatives | |
| The capabilities it needs | The capabilities row under the themes | |
| The systems behind them | The measures and reviews that track the plan |
A gap in the last column is a choice not yet made. Settle it before you ask for commitment.
3. What to produce
One table, plus the two worksheets above.
Table A. The retell test
| Leader | Where we compete, in their words | How we win, in their words | What we will do, in their words | Matches the page? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Five different answers mean the page is not yet the strategy.
4. A worked example
Illustrative. Written for this move guide. It describes no client.
A family-owned building products company makes timber trusses and frames for builders.
The page.
- The strategy filled a 40-slide deck. The chief executive cut it to one page: three goals, two segments to win, one way to win them, and four initiatives.
The retell test.
- At the first try, five leaders gave five versions. Two named segments the page did not.
- After a second session, all five retold it the same way.
The dissent.
- The sales director argued for keeping volume builders. The case was heard, answered with the segment numbers, and closed.
- The board decided on the date set a month earlier.
Two weeks on.
- 1 page down from a 40-slide deck
- 5 of 5 leaders retell it the same way
- 1 dissent heard and settled
On a retake, both practices could be answered at the middle stage.
What it looked like in our work
From our own work. Figures changed.
An asset finance business put its strategy on one page. It held a vision, four goals, three themes of three initiatives each, and one enabler.
| Layer | What it said |
|---|---|
| Vision | To be the best provider of its kind, by improving the customer's experience without rest |
| Goals | A profit target, customer satisfaction of 75%, a target fleet size, staff engagement of 75% |
| Enabler | Organisational capability, structure and systems |
- A. Market growthGrow in the core markets and build services: the business market, the employee market, and services.
- B. Operational excellenceWin on service and efficiency: service and operations, contract profitability, and the supply chain.
- C. FundingSource and deploy capital well: capital and portfolio mix, more sources of funding, and a white-label offer.
Every initiative sat under one theme, and every theme served the goals.
Find the purpose
Illustrative.
If you put a purpose above the vision, find it by asking "why does that matter?" of what you do. Stop when the answer stops changing.
Keep asking why. An example for a building supplies business:
- What we do
We deliver building supplies to site, on time.
- Why?
Builders lose money when a crew waits.
- Why?
Their margins depend on every day going to plan.
Purpose We help builders finish on time and on budget.
5. Effort and dependencies
- Chief executiveWrites the page and runs the retell test.
- Each leaderArgues the strongest case against the strategy once.
- BoardDecides on the date set in advance.
What you need
- The choices page from setting the goals and making the choices.
How long
- About two weeks.
What gets in the way. We have seen these in our own work:
- Five leaders, five slogans. At a financial services business, each leader described the institution's purpose differently. The board and executive had not agreed their roles.
- Consensus that is not commitment. The same business's soft consensus let a strong voice reopen settled choices.
6. How will you know it worked?
The test is what leaders say when the page is not in the room. Retake the check after the first challenge to the choices. Each of these should be true when you answer:
| Practice | You can answer Competent when | A document alone does not count if |
|---|---|---|
| Whether the strategy can be stated | The strategy fits on a page and leaders retell it consistently: where we compete, how we win, what we will do. | The page exists, but leaders still describe the strategy differently. |
| Whether choices survive contact | Leadership defends the choices publicly and holds them through normal turbulence. | The choices are reopened whenever someone objects. |
The worked example is illustrative.
Think we've used your work without proper credit? Tell us and we'll fix it.