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In January of 2010, I conducted
a survey of leaders from
fourteen different organizations
about their strategies. The
industries ranged from high
technology firms to nonprofit
service companies. The goal of
the survey was to uncover the
strategy challenges for the new
year. The survey can be
downloaded
here. |
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In summary, respondents were
asked to rank their company or
work group in a set of
categories. A "1" represented
the lowest performance while a
"5" represented the best
performance. The graph below
shows the average ranking for
each company or work group. Note
that more than half (8 of 14)
rated themselves no better than
average. |
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The survey consisted of five
questions. The results are
presented below.
1. What is your relationship to
strategy decision makers in your
company or work group?
2. What
types of strategy do you
influence or decide in your
company or work group?
3. How
would you assess your company's
or work group's strategy
effectiveness?
4. What critical strategy
challenges does your company or
work group face in 2010?
5. What
types of strategy help would
help you most?
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Notes:
Most respondents influence
strategy decisions in their
company.
Less than half have
responsibility for a significant
strategy while almost 30% manage
multiple strategies. |
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Notes:
This respondent sample is highly
product oriented. |
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Notes:
Fascinating that executing
strategy received highest
average score while reacting to
competitors, evaluating strategy
and managing strategy were the
lowest scores.
It is hard to reconcile a high
execution score with a low
evaluation score. After all, how
would a company know that it was
executing well what it did not
effectively evaluate? |
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Notes:
Surprisingly, there was little
need in this population for
strategies to reduce cost
(common theme in 2009).
Three difference responses
referenced the competitive
environment and all were
frequently identified as
challenges in 2010. |
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Notes:
Interesting that few (14%) need
help selling strategy within
their business.
However, almost 60% would like
to have someone to talk to about
their strategy to test ideas, to
receive suggestions and to
reflect on the strategy.
Comparing these results with the
overall rankings it appears that
most al organizations need
strategy help of some sort (even
when their performance is above
average). |
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