Re: Growing Strategists LO544

Keith Cowan (cowan@pci.on.ca)
Sun, 26 Mar 1995 18:06:26 -0500 (EST)

Replying to Growing Strategists LO541 --

> Organisational design is a key to strategy development as well as
> implementation. A design for strategic thinking involves designing
> information flows from the outside as well as from the actual processes of
> the day to day operation.
>
> The practices are those of thinking, of meetings, of dialogue, of time
> devoted to strategic thinking, of listening, of inclusion - the regular
> behaviours that promote strategic thinking. These are done with others
> and are unlikely to be learned except in a context and environment where
> they are valued.
>
> An effective covert way to increase strategic thinking in an organisation
> is have the existing executive take on a major part of the development
> challenge and thus have to increase their own time, attention and skill.
> Mike McMaster <Michael@kbddean.demon.co.uk>

I have had great success by observing corporate behaviour and inferring
a strategy based on their behaviour. This is a kind of organizational
mirror which forces the question: "If this is how you are perceived by
your actions, is this the strategy that you really want to pursue?"
This approach gets the executives committed better than a "strategy
development exercise" by a consultant (internal or external). Once they
engage, it is relatively easy to plot alternative courses for the company.
They recognize that they are, in fact, following a strategy, and they may
as well acknowledge it and plan their actions rather than pursue the unspoken
course by default...Hope this helps...It has been great for me...

--
Keith Cowan       Phone: (416)565-6253           FAX: (905)858-7131
Toronto        Internet: cowan@pci.on.ca  Compuserve: 72212,51