The success of an organization largely
depends upon the vision of the leadership. More importantly the
vision should be supported by a strategic framework, which would
guide individuals and teams to achieve both tactical and strategic
goals set by the management. While building a strategic framework,
you must focus on every bit of strategy and execute a dry-run on the
outcomes. Moving straight from the strategy document to operation is
not an easy job because implementation of strategy needs a real-life
environment where ideas will be translated into actions. In that
process, some pieces of strategy though initially may sound high,
during implementation stage would experience certain snags. So, what
exactly you need is a full-proof strategic framework through which
you can articulate your vision, mission, and values, strategies, and
how would you leverage those ideals eventually. You can also
deliberate upon tactical steps to materialize a strategic goal,
including the methods, processes, tools, and calibration of success.
Everything should be well-documented. In case you deviate from the
defined path or a specified process, the rationality of deference
should also be articulated. Let's first understand what's a strategic
framework and what does it capture.
Strategic Framework
A strategic framework is a master plan
that defines the structure, aspirations, limitations, design and
delivery of a product or service that an organization desires to
deliver. On a broader perspective, a strategic framework is a
top-level guideline defined by the management as how to achieve the
vision of the organization. Every organization starts with a vision.
The vision is achieved through mission, values, and strategies.
Although you can define your vision, mission, and values very
idealistically; without right strategy, you won't be able to achieve
those ideals. So, you need strategic planning in which you can set
your priorities, quantify your existing resources, and leverage
organizational processes, technology, and skills of employees to
achieve those common goals. Here is how strategic planning helps
achieve your business objectives.
Strategic Planning
Strategic planning is a process of
defining organization strategy through which you can analyze the
current position and determine the future course of action and how
you would do it and for whom you would do it, with due diligence.
Strategic planning is fundamentally a deliberations of decisions and
actions those could be implemented down the line. An effective
strategic planning not only talks about a specific action plan, but
also it defines the parameters as how to achieve it successfully.
Thus, strategic planning ensures a strategic framework work in a
flawless manner. The core components of strategic planning
encompasses an understanding of the vision, mission, values, and
strategies of an organization.
Defining Vision
Statement
A vision relates to the future of the
organization – it covers the long-term aspirations. This
articulates the dreams and hopes of the promoters and employees as
well. A vision statement provides continuous inspiration to all the
stakeholders of an organization. While crafting the vision statement
for your organization, you must think futuristic and expand your
imagination to articulate where do you want to reach or what do you
want to achieve in the lifetime of your organization. Let's examine
some vision statements of top global companies:
Walmart: To become the worldwide leader
in retailing.
Chevron: To be the global energy
company most admired for its people, partnership and performance.
GE: We bring good things to life.
Ford Motor: To become the world's
leading consumer company for automotive products and services.
City: To be the most competent,
profitable, and innovative financial organization in the world.
Well, what do you observe here? All
these statements talk about the long-term aspirations of the
organization. These statements don't explain how the organization
will achieve that vision. And to enable vision work for your
organization, you must define your mission statement.
Defining Mission
Statements
A mission statement focuses on the
purpose of an organization. It explains why the organization exists
and how it would achieve the vision. For instance, the mission
statement of Walmart states: “To help people save money so they can
live better.” Let's now decipher how this statement is supporting
the vision of Walmart, which states, “To become the worldwide
leader in retailing.” While the vision of Walmart is an inspiration
for the organization, the mission clearly putting the purpose of its
existence.
Defining Values
Values are the core belief system of
the organization that drive its employees to live by those high
ideals to deliver results unfailingly. Values explain the collective
behavior of the organization. They describe the organizational
culture, business ethics, and relationships amongst different
stakeholders of the organisation. Let's look at some value
propositions that organizations alike believe in. For example,
competency, integrity, respect, diversity, teamwork, quality,
efficiency, and collaboration. Sample these values of Coca-Cola,
which emphasizes on seven parameters:
Leadership: The courage to shape
a better future
Collaboration: Leverage
collective genius
Integrity: Be real
Accountability: If it is to be,
it's up to me
Passion: Committed in heart and
mind
Diversity: As inclusive as our
brands
Quality: What we do, we do well
You can also check the Philosophy of Incrego, which focuses on seven values:
Innovation – Explore groundbreaking technology solutions to address client’s problem
Nurturing – Encourage a culture of professional excellence and continuous innovation to always exceed our client’s expectations
Commitment – Ensure our “clients first” ideology tops our priority
Reliable – Emphasize on the robustness of our services and solutions to ensure peace of mind for our clients
Effective – Assure our clients get the desired results of our services every-time
Growth – Dedicate our efforts for sustained growth of our clients’ businesses
Open-minded – Listen to our customers, employees, and partners without any bias
You can also check the Philosophy of Incrego, which focuses on seven values:
Innovation – Explore groundbreaking technology solutions to address client’s problem
Nurturing – Encourage a culture of professional excellence and continuous innovation to always exceed our client’s expectations
Commitment – Ensure our “clients first” ideology tops our priority
Reliable – Emphasize on the robustness of our services and solutions to ensure peace of mind for our clients
Effective – Assure our clients get the desired results of our services every-time
Growth – Dedicate our efforts for sustained growth of our clients’ businesses
Open-minded – Listen to our customers, employees, and partners without any bias
Defining Strategy
Strategies are the methods or
approaches through which an organization accomplishes its mission and
eventually lives up to the vision of the organization. Each piece of
strategy defines a particular goal and the corresponding action plan
to achieve that goal. For example, the strategy to achieve a sales
target of $100 million in the first quarter can be achieved by
strengthening the sales pitch and converting every lead into a sale.
Similarly, for HR function, the strategy to bring in transparency in
the organization can be achieved by ensuring a continuous top-down
communication and developing channels through which employees can
post their honest feedback about the organizational decisions.
Organizations use various tools and processes for strategic planning.
For example, SWOT analysis helps you analyze the strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in the current situation of
the organization and define corresponding strategy to improvise the
conditions. Similarly, Balanced Scorecard is a performance management
tool that helps managers to track the staff performance.
