Strategy's Important Work: MarketCues National Research Results (Part Two)

"Be like Curious George. Start with a question and look under the yellow hat to find what's there." — Jim Collins, Good to Great

MarketCues has coached and consulted with many organizations and when they found out what their true inhibitors to their growth were many could not bring themselves to take all of the bold steps required to grow out of their challenges. Of course, it is difficult for a senior leader to face these issues. To help clients put into context this decision making we often point out that this internal conflict of their 'Core Strategy' centers around two questions:

1. What is the cost of maintaining your status quo?
2. What is the value of achieving your growth goals?

In nearly all cases those organizations that invest in their future through changing their strategic directions end up in a stronger financial position than those that sit on the sidelines waiting for the market to change back in their favor. Often, growth is a tricky business and simply grabbing ideas that other organizations have successfully employed rarely builds a more sustainable or scalable organization. Senior leaders know there is a strong need to assess their marketplace, competition, pricing scenarios, and a host of associated issues. But what market context you use to accomplish this strategic planning is critical to achieving success. The following are five key MarketCues' findings that are common problems organizations face in their strategic planning:

Finding #1: Duplicating planning phases and efforts within the organization because there is not a central project owner who is leading strategic planning and has the authority to make high-level strategic decisions.

Finding #2: Failure to obtain critical business intelligence outside the organization's in-house knowledge and thinking.

Finding #3: Underestimation of the complexity of a particular strategic initiative or project.

Finding #4: Inability to execute business objectives due to a lack of accurate market projections void of risk management analysis.

Finding #5: Creating action plans that are too complex to easily understand and therefore too difficult to effectively implement throughout the organization.

MarketCues' research shows that starting with a clear set of business objectives, combined with a focused competitive strategy are the keys to a successful strategic plan. As always, this type of strategic initiative works best when it is initiated by senior management who has the authority to set time aside to focus and monitor the effort. These conditions are critical to developing successful strategies.

Using our SmartPlan360˚ Program for assessment, our clients have pinpointed both their strengths and weaknesses and identified the perception gaps that exist between their organization and their clients. Perception gaps are often the primary cause of disconnects with clients and the reason behind deteriorating financial results. A '360˚ Organizational Assessment can produce stark insights for organizations who want to grow beyond their current understanding or size. By benchmarking an organization's inhibitors to growth an objective strategy can be designed to overcome them and speed growth.

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Tom Marin President of MarketCues, a national consulting firm wants to hear from you! Follow MarketCues on Twitter for strategy and related tips. Tom also welcomes emails, new Linkedin connections, calls to (919) 908-6145 or learn more at: www.marketcues.com.

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