Is the strategy sufficient for what the group needs to do in the next two to three years? Will the strategy help your group support the larger organization’s goals? Your group’s strategy may be well thought through and logically integrated. But is it also adequate? That is, will it empower the group to carry out what it needs to do to succeed—and to help the larger organization succeed—in the next two to three years?
To assess adequacy, use these three approaches:
Ask some probing questions. Does your boss believe the strategy will provide enough return on the effort your group will expend to implement it? Are there plans in place to secure, develop, and preserve resources with which to carry out the strategy? Are profit and other targets high enough to keep the group on the right track? Is enough money earmarked for capital investment? For research?
Use the well-known SWOT method: Analyze the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats associated with the strategy. Here’s an example of each:
- A strategy strength: Flexibility to develop and launch new products in response to rapid changes in customer preferences
- A strategy weakness: Overreliance on a few aging products
- A strategy opportunity: A new market that your group might serve by extending an existing brand
- A strategy threat: A competitor that is entering a core market with a superior new technology
Probe the history of the strategy’s creation. Find out who drove the strategy development process. Did they rush the process? Drag it out? If the former, they might not have thought through all the ramifications. If the latter, it might represent a lowest-common-denominator compromise that emerged from a political battle. Any mistakes during the development process could compromise the strategy’s adequacy.