Strategy is often overly long
When talking about strategy, companies typically have thick documents as their strategy. It isn’t uncommon to find strategy documents (usually in PowerPoint format) with hundreds of pages. These elaborate, detailed presentations are usually the culmination of the hard work of many people in the companies over many weeks (if not months).
Ironically, these thick strategy documents create many communication and implementation issues. For the employees to implement the strategy, they need to embrace the strategy. For them to embrace the strategy, they need to understand the strategy. This means the CEO is expected to communicate the strategy over and over (the adage in communication is that a message must be “said seven times” before the message sticks with a listener).
But, long strategy documents are hard to communicate, hard to explain, and hard to connect. Even the most eloquent CEOs will struggle to present a hundred-page PowerPoint presentation. No wonder, in many companies, the thick strategy documents often end up collecting dust on the shelf, and the intended strategies are never get implemented.
So what to do? You need to distill the essence of your strategy into 1 word.
The Benefits of One-Word Strategy
Why? Because one-word strategy is easy to explain, easy to describe, and easy to implement. Furthermore, unlike the rigid, detailed, elaborated strategy documents, having a one-word strategy allows for simplicity, flexibility, and adaptability. In my book, the G.O.S.P.E.L. of Strategy, I argued that a good strategy could be expressed in one paragraph but a great strategy in one word (if you are interested, you can read about it here).
All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word. -Winston Churchill, the Great Statesman
But the most important benefit of a one-word strategy is the process of creating it. By summarizing everything into one word, you are forced to distill the essence of your strategy. It gives you clarity on what your point of differentiation is. It helps you to define how you win and what makes you unique. It clarifies the way you do things and the choices you make. This is why distilling your strategy into one word is so powerful. It helps to create a winning strategy. It is powerful.
Better than one thousand hollow words, is one word. -Siddhārtha Gautama, the Buddha
But how do you distill the essence of your strategy into one word? These 3 simple steps may be helpful.
Three Steps to Create Your One-Word Strategy
The first step, you must identify the single, most important process in your company that defines your company’s core competitive advantage. It could be product innovation, new market entry, partnering, spinout creation, acquisition, recruitment, or training. For some companies, the key process is obvious, e.g., for Ted Baker (an apparel brand), the key process would be ‘design.’ For other companies, the key process is less obvious, e.g., for Akamai Technology (a content delivery network), the key process is not ‘new product development,’ but ‘customer care.’
You will gain a new perspective by simply identifying your most important process. For example, a client of mine, let’s call her Jayne, was a CEO of a snack manufacturing company. She was unsure about the company’s most critical process: “Is ‘manufacturing’ or ‘marketing’ the most important process?” While it sounds like a trick question (as the snack manufacturing company manufactures and markets its products), it actually presents a profound choice.
If Jayne thinks the company’s most important process is manufacturing, she sees it as a manufacturing company. Thus, its key differentiation is in the manufacturing process (e.g., it is so efficient; or so unique that no one else can do it). Then, the company should focus on improving its manufacturing capability.
On the other hand, if Jayne thinks the company’s most important process is marketing, she sees it as a marketing company. Thus, its key differentiation is the marketing process (e.g., it can create brand power and winning propositions). Then, the company should focus on improving its marketing capability. For a marketing company, manufacturing capability may not even be critical, as products can be outsourced.
Why not choose to improve both manufacturing and marketing? If your company is like most companies, you usually face limited resources and have to do trade-offs.
The second step, for that one identified process, you must pinpoint the one thing that defines how you do the process differently. For example, Lego’s one thing is whether children will learn while having fun. Miramax’s one thing is that every movie’s main character must be appealing but deeply flawed. In Sanofi, the one thing is that every R&D project must bypass the hurdles. For Disney movies, the one thing is about finding where you belong. Every Disney movie is about the protagonist that isn’t where they belong (and that’s the source of their unhappiness, strife, or struggle). And finding where they belong (either emotionally, physically, or mentally) solves their issue.
In Jayne’s case, she identified the marketing process as the single, most important process in the company. Then, her one rule was that every brand proposition must be based on rigorous insights from extensive market research. No new products or brands would be launched without first undertaking qualitative and quantitative research (such as focus group discussions, surveys, and taste tests). All existing brands were also repositioned based on market research to ensure they offer attractive propositions for consumers.
The third step, once you identify the one thing for your one process, you must pick the one word that represents the essence of the one thing. That way, you know that this one word represents the one thing, and that one thing embodies the one most important process that defines your competitive advantage.
In Jayne’s case, her one word is ‘Insights.’ It is because the insights generated from deep market research are the source of competitive advantage that allows her company to win and become the leading player in their market. Using the one-word ‘Insights’ as the one-word strategy, Jayne successfully explained the company’s strategy to the employees (and the board) and convinced them. Before long, the employees adopted the strategy and started using ‘Insights’ as the one-word mantra. In a meeting, a factory manager challenged the NPD team on whether the new product was based on insights. When you hear the one-word in day-to-day conversations, you know that the strategy is working.
Conclusion
Distilling your strategy into one word is a game changer because it forces you to choose, simplify, and focus. It also helps you to communicate and implement your strategy. So, what is your one-word strategy?
If you need help in simplifying your strategy, please check my offer here.
Alternatively, continue to explore the secrets of Winning Strategy here.