One of the disadvantages to being a “strategist” is that unlike project management or change management, there is not a clear and established process for how to develop strategy. If anything, there are a ton of different versions out there. Each has a different flavor than the next. And many are connected to a book or training that you can pay a price to learn more about. But luckily for you, I’ve done a lot of the reading and research for you. And not just that—the testing. Not just what works best as a strategist to follow, but what tends to resonate with the business. Which is really the most important part. Many times, strategists come and go, but the business must carry on the work and be able to understand the process enough to achieve their strategy.
Through this constant testing and learning, I’ve come up with a 4-step strategy process that is incredibly scalable for what you want to do and how you want to do it. Spoiler alert: it’s not rocket science. It’s pretty simple. You’ve maybe even used similar versions.
Regardless of the process, the key is committing to doing the work.
Step 1: Get on the same page (scope definition)
We steal this from our project manager friends because it is such a good practice to do. You need to create some sort of a “project charter” to understand what you’re actually wanting to do—“strategy” means very different things to different people. Your Board and your CEO probably think about it differently.
But, be very clear about the following things:
- What do you want to solve?
- How long do you think it will take and who all needs to be involved?
- Who makes the decisions?
- Who approves the strategy?
Step 2: What’s going on? (current state)
I’m sure everyone thinks they know what is happening right now . . . but do they? And does everyone have the same view? I doubt it!
This is an essential step to creating or updating your strategy. If you don’t have a common view of what’s wrong or your opportunity, then how are you going to change it? Not only do you need to understand what’s happening in your credit union, but you also need to know what’s happening outside of it: customer behavior, market intelligence, competitor intel. All of this can help influence where you want to go in the future.
The most important part here is not to be overwhelmed (or overly impressed) with the amount of data you collect. The key is to determine what the data is telling you and use those insights to craft your strategy. Data without insights is just a bunch of data.
Step 3: What are you going to do about it? (strategic design)
This is really where the magic happens. Take the themes that the current state gave you and update or create your strategy. Make it unique. Do not fall back on cliches. Credit unions, I beg of you, if your strategy is to “serve our members well” please tell me how that is different than the credit union down the road who is also trying to serve their members well. Use your current state data to lean into what makes you, you—and have that reflected in your strategy.
Whereas the first two steps have some easy templates you could use, this step tends to be a bit more creative. I’m firm on updating (or affirming) your mission and vision and then setting new goals. After that, it will probably depend on your credit union and how much detail they would like to see. It’s a fine line—too little and your strategy doesn’t give direction, too much and you start to solve.
Step 4: What steps are necessary to take action? (strategy roadmap)
Step 3 is where so many credit unions stop. And why not, you have a strategy! You succeeded! It’s probably formatted nicely—maybe even got enhanced by marketing. We can all print it off and hang it at our desk. But then what? How do we make our strategy actually happen? How do we get where we want to go?
This is where a roadmap is essential. It is THE connection between strategy and execution. It translates how you think you’ll execute your strategy into a shared map that everyone can follow to move the credit union forward.
I normally recommend a three-year roadmap (or less). Anything more and it’s hard to really put a plan behind it.
Size the gap between where you are (what you learned in current state) and where you want to go (your updated strategy). Some gaps may be larger than others. How will you fill those gaps and how long will it take? Do you fill it with people, processes, technology? How much money do you need to do this? So many questions, but once you take the time to cross-functionally answer these, you have a document that you can share organization wide and everyone knows how and where they participate. It truly is the map for your future!
Do you want to know more about this four-step process? I could talk about it all day and I’ll get a chance to talk about it for an hour on June 5th with CUInsight’s Mastery Course—From Chaos to Clarity: Mastering Strategy, Execution, and Change. Please join me and bring lots of questions!
