Why Strategy Must Change

Penguins have a tough job to do in a harsh and unforgiving environment. They survive and succeed by making behavioural and structural adaptations. Behaviourally, they survive winter storms by combining the body heat of the community, and tens of thousands of them may huddle together for warmth. Structurally, they have evolved a short, stiff tail. This allows them to lean backwards and balance on their heels and tail, reducing heat loss through their feet. Adaptations like these are made from generations of experience, trial and error and responding to changes in environment.

To the best of our knowledge, there are no recorded instances of a small group of senior penguins going on a strategy away day to predict what changes they will make in the next five years.

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Five years ago, I bought a house in South London with my girlfriend. We planned to fix the house up, and go out and have some nice meals while we were doing it. We did this because being able to go home together at the end of the day makes everything else in life bearable. Going out to eat together is one of the linchpins of our relationship. This is, very broadly, who we are.

Five years later, my wife, my daughter, and I are waiting to move into our new house in Brighton. None of those things (aside from getting married) were a fixed goal of mine five years ago, and the 2016 me would be very surprised! Looking back, I can rationalise this. I can group my decisions and link up some events and conversations. I can build a case that this was what I’d always planned. But that wouldn’t be honest.

My personal experience, and my observation from my working life, is that long term strategies always end up out of date. Our instinct is to shift the scenery to make it look like we always knew what would happen.

In 2016 I did not know what the world would be like in five years. From Brexit to Omicron, the world is a different place. Even without those global events, I’d argue that as much changes over that kind of timescale as remains the same. But I’d also argue that I’m the same person. My values (why I do things) and what is important to me (who I am) remain pretty constant, even as my priorities change. What changes is how I’m doing things, and what I’m doing.

I’ve seen models in which strategy is the bridge between purpose and action, a fixed set of objectives to get from one stage to another. In fact, I would contend strategy is the combination of values and action — it’s the whole thing, not a step in a linear path.

Whether you print, publish or save, your strategy is out of date from the moment it is complete. So would it follow that an effective strategy is one that isn’t complete? One that can reflect, redirect and re-purpose?

Rather than having fixed objectives for a particular timescale, we need to let go of the idea that we can predict the future. Our values (who we are) are our anchor, and our purpose (why we’re here) is our direction. Our objectives and plans, what we do, and how we do it, should be continuously reviewed and improved, or we will miss opportunities.

But is this kind of adaptive strategy is even a strategy in the traditional sense of that word? We are shackled to the notion, or illusion, of certainty. Letting go of it would be a huge cognitive effort for individuals, teams, and organisations. But making the appropriate structural and behavioural changes shouldn’t be a decision that we make as a result of a long meeting. It needs to be who we are.

If we are not able or willing to do that, we won’t survive, let alone thrive.

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These notes are taken from my weekly newsletter The Week In Pieces -thoughts and links on ways of working, personal and team coaching, balancing work with life and more. Subscribers get a set of curated links and resources straight into their inbox every week — you can take a look and subscribe here.