What is the best way for a business to develop a strategy?On this episode of Emerge Dynamics we’ll be discussing several frameworks for strategy while highlighting the pitfalls of giving this lip service. Once you know your purpose, vision, and objectives, it’s time to start putting a strategy in place. Your strategy is the “how” of your business, and once you understand your strategy, it informs how you articulate and refine your objectives.

Knowing what your strategy is and isn’t is crucial to understand before creating one. Your strategy needs to make you stand out from the competition and clearly be something you can not only execute, but execute better than anybody else. Whether you acknowledge it or not, your differentiation does matter to your customers.

If you want some insight into your strategy, ask yourself: “why do customers choose to buy from me?” A Blue Ocean Strategy helps you avoid turning your industry waters red with competition. If you can create an offer people want and bring it to customers in a unique way, you’ve got a way of navigating the competitive landscape.

Many organizations go from vision to action without implementing a strategy. Your actions and tactics are easier to lay out when you have a strategy, especially as a team driving towards big-picture goals. Without this, you’ll end up with tactics that may or may not fit or work for your business.

Knowing and investing in your core competencies is a critical part of building your strategy. If your business strategy is not where it needs to be yet, find someone who can facilitate this process with you. It’s not impossible to do it on your own, but it’s more difficult if you don’t have an expert walking alongside you. Once you have strategic planning in place, you can move into execution.

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