Seven Step Strategy
Here at Intrafocus, our team of business strategy experts work with organisations of all kinds and across all industries to support their strategic planning process. Often, this process begins with the strategic workshop and then follows a methodology such as the Balanced Scorecard to ensure that the chosen strategic process is thorough and robust.
We find that our clients tend to have the same questions about business strategy, regardless of how far they are in their strategic planning journey. Some are approaching the topic afresh; perhaps transitioning from a small start-up to a larger scale-up. Others are far more experienced in their strategic approach, but looking to formalise the process for better results and to take their organisation forward in an increasingly competitive market.
The new Strategic Planning Workbook
To help with all business clients, old and new, we have produced a new ‘Strategic Planning Workbook’ e-book. Created by highly experienced strategy consultants with years of hands-on expertise in the field, it guides readers through a 7-step methodology.
Our choice of methodology
A quick search using the phrase ‘strategic planning methods’ will result in a plethora of results suggesting 3-steps, 9-steps, 4-steps, Blue Ocean, OKR, Porters 5 Forces, Hoshin and of course the Balanced Scorecard.
We have worked with numerous different approaches, frameworks and strategic methodologies over the years, we have found the Balanced Scorecard to be the one that offers the best results. It is intuitive, flexible and yet extremely powerful; bringing organisations together in a structured way to focus efforts and to deliver the best results. However, it is a heavy-weight methodology. We have taken the best of the Balanced Scorecard and built a lighter-weight seven-step strategy system that is described in the e-book
What you’ll find in the e-Book
The Workbook is split into seven key sections, each of which is designed to guide the reader through key strategic principles and to simplify the strategic process as far as possible. These stages are:
Step 1: Vision and Purpose
Here we define both vision and purpose and guide readers through the process of creating their own.
Step 2: Strategic Priorities
We define what makes a strategic priority and how to choose ones that are meaningful and relevant to your business.
Step 3: Strategic Objectives
We then look at how priorities are translated into objectives, and how they are chosen – considering the concept of ‘value’ as a key driver in their selection.
Step 4: KPIs
This section looks at Key Performance Indicators, and the core concepts of leading and lagging, plus threshold comparisons.
Step 5: Projects and Actions
We then turn our attention to the definition of strategic projects and actions which bring the planning into delivery stage.
Step 6: Communication
This stage looks at the role of named owners and the role of internal communication in business strategy.
Step 7: Automation
Here we look at dashboard reporting and the interpretation of results, feeding back into the idea of business strategy planning as a cycle.
Get your copy of the Strategic Planning Workbook here
Access other useful strategic templates
You will also find other useful templates, such as a Strategic Plan Summary and Strategic Plan Template to help you in your journey. Together, these documents will give you a valuable starting point or checkpoint as you take your business strategy forward. Remember, we are here to help you at any time and can tailor our services specifically to your needs.
Make the process easier
If you are already progressing your strategic journey, we are pleased to be able to offer a free 30-day trial of Quickscore. This package is one of the world’s leading software solutions for dashboard creation, KPI management, and business strategy management. Having worked with Quickscore for years, we are delighted to recommend it to our clients as a way to make the strategic process far easier, quicker and more data-driven.
Find out more
Keen to take your business strategy to the next level? Ready to leverage your time and effort to gain the best possible results? Whatever your stage of strategic development, our team are here to help you. The first step is usually to organise a Strategy Workshop, delivered by one of our highly-skilled and experienced strategy consultants. We work with some clients to deliver a single workshop to set the scene and set their leadership team in the right direction. With other clients, we deliver ongoing and full-service strategic planning and consultancy services. Whatever your needs, we are happy to assist.
Please contact us for a no-obligation chat about your organisation and its needs, and to find out more about how we might assist.
