What's your favourite strategy tip that you've learned over the years?

As part of our latest strategy execution based questionnaire, we asked the experts what the most important strategy tip they've learnt in their career is. We have compiled our favourite answers below that give actionable advice for those working in strategy execution.

TL;DR - List of 12 strategy execution top tips as suggested by experts:

1. Write up that describes the outer and inner limit of the strategy. Outer Limits = goals, possibilities, opportunities and future success areas. Inner Limits = limiting assumptions, resources, capabilities and risks
2. Often the answers are right in front of you, but missed due to only thinking 'outside the box'
3. Think of strategy as a hypothesis and not something which is set in stone
4. Be clear in direction and focus, but don't rely too much on long-term strategy planning - in the current market you need to be able to adapt quickly and pivot
5. It's easy to say no to bad ideas, but great decisions come from saying no to good ideas, that pain you to reject. Strategy is similar - you need to reject opportunities that seem good, to focus on the opportunities that will be great
6. Write your strategy down in prose form rather than a powerpoint/decks - these tools cause you to gloss over flaws, while writing makes them obvious, and hence forces you to address them
7. Use data and evidence, but expect the opposite to be true ie black swans
8. Start with your why - it's not as easy as you'd think
9. Commitment and pragmatism of employees enables success - not the plan itself
10. Discipline in running the periodical review is the final stamp for Strategy Execution success
11. The sooner the wider team understand the purpose of business execution the sooner they will see how they are directly affecting things, and the sooner you'll succeed
12. Lots of businesses seem to set a strategy and then rely on middle managers to interpret this and set direction to their own teams - don't do this
13. Focus on niche areas and bring value to dominate markets with significant potential

Kenneth Paul Lewis, Strategy & Leadership Consultant

Be clear on your strategy: Strategies can be ambiguous and they can be built over time. However, the realized strategy and the envisioned one should not be poles apart. Hence, ensure that you have a one page write up that describes the outer and inner limit of the strategy. Outer Limits are goals, possibilities, opportunities and future success areas. Inner Limits are limiting assumptions, resources, capabilities and risks.

Sienam Lulla, Strategy Coach

Take the time to find your niche, and be obsessively focused on delivering value to dominate it. Sounds easy, but it takes hard work. My two businesses before becoming a coach were a hospitality chain in the tristate area in the US and a real estate brokerage in NY. Both are saturated markets. In both businesses, we focused on unmet needs with significant market potential and continuously strategized for customer loyalty. The dividends were huge - minimized competition, reduced marketing costs, and increased profit margins. Even today, in my coaching business, I have adopted the same strategy, and it works brilliantly.

Richard Russell, Leadership Coach

The hard part of strategy is decision-making - it's not defining the opportunities, it's deciding which ones to go after, and which ones not to. As Steve Jobs used to say to Jony Ive, the quality of your decisions is indicated by the quality of ideas you've rejected. It's easy to say no to bad ideas, but great decisions come from saying no to good ideas, that pain you to reject. Strategy is similar - you need to reject opportunities that seem good, to focus on the opportunities that will be great. I also think that writing the strategy down in prose form rather than a powerpoint is critical - powerpoint enables you to gloss over flaws, while writing makes them obvious, and hence forces you to address them.

Daniel Montgomery, Strategic Agility Coach & Author

Strategy is a hypothesis to be tested, not a plan carved in stone.

Cansel Sorgens, Strategy Coach

The most important lesson I’ve learned over the years is that in such a complex world it doesn’t make sense to have long term plans with project roadmaps, etc. Nevertheless in such a jungle it totally makes sense to be clear about one’s directions and focus. The approaches and the ways to reach a goal might change and need to be adaptive, however having a clear direction and focus helps to channel all our efforts towards it. Which is why I coach my clients in crafting their mid-term strategic focus and start working on it in short term iterations with OKRs in order to validate and adapt continuously.

Barry O’Reilly, Business Advisor, Keynote Speaker, and Author

I look at the core strategy choices and ask myself if I could make the opposite choice without looking stupid.

Michael Anyfantakis, Digital Transformation Leader, Capital One

Understand the market size and potential opportunity.

Tom Marks, Transformation Leader, Hewlett Packard

Alternative histories - use these to think through what would happen if you didn’t execute the strategy. And always consider unintended consequences. And sometimes people block strategies not for the perceived reason - look beyond the surface. Use data and evidence, but expect the opposite to be true ie black swans.

Areen Shahbari, Business Strategy Instructor, Harvard University

Make clear trade-offs, play where there is a strong strategic fit and where you can win, build a sustainable competitive advantage, and focus on meeting your customer’s current and future needs by creating value that they will happily pay for now and in the future.

Dan Bachmann, CTO

Share the goals and keep an open mind to alternative solutions in the face of adversity.

Roland Butler, Head of Product

Clear open communications and moving fast to protect a culture of collaboration and support. In scale ups I have worked at it is always the commitment and pragmatism of the employees that has enabled them to succeed and be great places to work. Treat culture as a priority and support it with strong and regular talent review processes and absolutely manage bad behaviour fast.

Peter Munro, CFO

Ensure the top team really does understand, buy in and is completely aligned with the business plan. And then ensure you have the correct skills and experience within that top team to deliver the plan. Without this you won’t succeed.

Shalom Passy, Senior Strategy Consultant

Strategy (top-down) is a must (but not enough)- Building Company Strategy by Company Management is a must (but not enough)- Documenting Strategy into a tool that enables periodical progress review and changes, is a must (but not enough)- Culture change (Global optimization, Critical Chain, Visibility, Transparency, Empowerment) is a must (but not enough- Discipline in running the periodical review is the final stamp for Strategy Execution success.

Alistair Wilkinson, Strategy Contractor

It’s important for the wider team to understand WHY the SLT are focussed on business execution. The sooner the wider team understand the purpose of business execution the sooner they will see how they are directly affecting things. This has a wider benefit to culture and buy-in.

Guy Lock MBE, Chief of Operations

Lots of businesses seem to set a strategy and then rely on middle managers to interpret this and set direction to their own teams. In order to execute more quickly and effectively, a well planned, communicated and tracked Operating Plan is key to success.

Saumya Surendran, Strategy Consultant, IBM

Sometimes its not just about thinking outside the box but also inside the box. The best answers are right in front of you.

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1. How to explain the 'why' in your strategy to employees
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4. Focus & Prioritisation - Best Practice for Strategy Execution
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