We find ourselves in a rapidly changing business and societal landscape. Ways of doing things, even those that were once tried and tested, rarely result in the same outcomes.
Over the decades, the concept of strategy has evolved dramatically.
In this article, we explore some key threads on strategy evolution, touching on both traditional and modern approaches to strategy. We discuss the key aspects of each, paying special attention to contemporary methods like Design Thinking, Human-Centered Design, and Open Strategy.
Moreover, we highlight how these modern approaches to strategy are well-suited to meet the diverse needs and challenges of today’s world.
Evolution of Strategy – some key threads
Strategy, as a concept, has a long and storied history. From its roots in military tactics to gaining a competitive edge in the world of business, the use of strategy has changed alongside our evolving societies.
We are now at an inflection point where we can identify older approaches to organisational strategy, as a direct comparison to modern ones.
Traditional Strategy Approaches
The Industrial Revolution prompted the need for structured business planning. Traditional strategies emerged, revolving around achieving and maintaining competitive advantages through well-defined plans, hierarchies, and a strong emphasis on resource allocation. In essence, a ‘top-down’, linear process.
Traditional approaches to strategy have been characterised by defining features, such as:
- Long-term Planning – Creating detailed, long-term plans that outline a company’s path over an extended period of time.
- Top-Down Hierarchy – Traditional strategies are typically developed at the highest levels of management and then cascaded down through the organisation.
- Competitive Focus – Traditional strategies are geared towards achieving and maintaining a competitive advantage. Companies analyse their competitors and aim to outperform them.
- Resource Allocation – A significant portion of traditional strategy involves resource allocation. Companies carefully allocate budgets and resources based on the priorities set in their strategic plans.
Roger Martin’s now all time most viewed (3.7M) HBR video ‘A Plan Is Not a Strategy’ speaks to some of this traditional thinking in recent times.
While traditional approaches to strategy have been integral components of organisations for many years and some aspects still apply, our rapidly changing external conditions have created a shift towards more responsive and collaborative strategies.
Modern Strategy Approaches
Modern strategy approaches have emerged as a response to the limitations of traditional methods, and the high failure rate of many strategic plans.
Modern strategy is characterised by principles that distinguish it from traditional, rigid, hierarchical approaches. These characteristics emphasise adaptability and a deep understanding of the human element in the strategy process.
Modern strategy approaches are typically defined by their:
- Human-Centred Focus – Modern strategies are centered around people. They prioritise understanding human needs, behaviours, and experiences to inform decision-making.
- Innovation and Creativity – Modern approaches encourage creative problem-solving and innovation. They advocate for thinking outside the box, exploring new ideas, and fostering a culture of experimentation to drive growth.
- Adaptability – Modern strategies recognise the increasing pace –of change and can adjust to market shifts, new information, or unexpected changes.
- Iterative & Continuous nature – Modern approaches, such as Design Thinking, are developed incrementally, tested, and refined through repeated cycles, ensuring strategies are fine-tuned to the real-world.
- Open Collaboration – Openness and collaboration are central to modern strategies encouraging input from diverse stakeholders, including employees, clients, partners, and taking “wisdom from the crowds”, as noted in Open Strategy.
- Client-Centricity – Organisations aim to deeply understand their client’s needs and preferences, co-design solutions with them, and deliver services that align with these unique insights.
Foundstone: A modern strategy advisory
Foundstone delivers tangible results through our modern strategy methods. We advocate for modern strategy methodologies for one primary reason…
Because – we have seen first-hand that they work.
Our own evolution in the strategy space hasn’t been linear but iterative and responsive to what we were seeing have the best results for our clients and their communities.
Foundstone was launched with the core principle of helping CEOs and boards use modern strategy approaches to achieve more tangible and impactful outcomes.
We’ve spent 5+ years delivering this approach and have seen time after time the positive impact on clients, allowing them to create innovative solutions and better meet the needs of their customers.
Our facilitation approach blends a unique way of getting client, market and staff insights that result in clear strategy and business development outcomes.
With Open Strategy now gaining significant momentum – largely thanks to the work of Julia Hautz, Stephan Friedrich von den Eichen, Christian Stadler and Kurt Matzler in their book ‘Open Strategy’ – a critical piece to the puzzle of elevating modern concepts into real, board-level strategy deliberations, has been added.
Walking the modern strategy walk
The evolution of strategy is ongoing, and organisations must remain ‘open’ in their approach.
With ongoing uncertainty, we need strategy approaches that allow us to respond to unpredictable changes in new and practical ways.
As a leader, you can start shifting your mindset from looking at strategy as an offsite event with senior leaders to instead being a process that includes a broader range of perspectives that provide unique insights to make better strategy decisions.
Start to have conversations in the context of strategy with people both outside and inside your organisation that you wouldn’t typically include and see what unique insights arise.
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How modern is your current strategy process?
Read more about our Modern Strategy Methodology to see how it can help grow your organisation.
