The Art of Strategy

 

The Art of Strategy

I have had many discussions around organisational strategies over the last 25 years or so and keep coming back to the Sun Tzu’s Art of War as a good example of how to create and deploy a workable strategy. I mentioned this to a client the other day and got a quizzical look so I thought I would adapt the summary on wikipedia for The Art of War as a bit of an illustration. At a high level this seems to work really well so I thought I would just throw this out there for comment at this early stage in its development. I am planning to expand and refine this further over the next six months or whenever time permits so please look out for updates. The original wiki text and link are included below for reference.

 

Simple Change Strategies for Organisations

1. Laying Plans/The Calculations. Understand the fundamental factors (The Vision, Environment, Customers, Leadership, and Management) for your organisation and the four elements that determine the outcomes of change (Culture, Customer Experience, Employee Experience, Organisational Performance). By thinking, assessing and comparing these points, a manager can calculate his chances of success. Habitual deviation from these calculations will ensure failure via improper action. Change is a critical step for any organisation, and must not be commenced without due consideration.
2. The Challenge Understand the economy of change, and how success requires winning decisive arguments quickly. Implementing any change is dependent on cost and whether there is sufficient pay back for implementing change.
3. The Plan of Attack The source of strength within any organisation is unity, not size, There are five factors that are needed to succeed in any organisation. In order of importance, these critical factors are: Frontline Teams, Strategy, Alliances, Back Office Teams, and Locations.
4. Tactical Dispositions/Positioning It is important to defend existing positions until the organisation is capable of moving from those positions in without undue risk. In any change driven project it is important to ensure that the current levels of service are maintained and not impacted by loss of resource to new initiatives.
5. Energy/Directing Make best use of creativity and timing in building an organisations momentum. Allow teams to be innovative but ensure that they acknowledge time constraints.
6. Weak Points & Strong/Illusion and Reality An organisations opportunities come from the openings in their environment. These opportunities can be identified by carrying out a simple Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats exercise.
7. Manoeuvring/Engaging The Force Some internal organisational changes will be difficult to implement as there will always be barriers to change. It is important to understand the dangers of direct conflict and how to deal with such confrontations when they are forced upon the leadership.
8. Variation in Tactics/The Nine Variations The most important element in any organisation is the need for flexibility in an it’s responses to internal and external factors and events. An organisation should have a strategy in place that lets them respond to shifting circumstances successfully.
9. Moving The Force To use a cliche most organisations are on a ‘journey’ and will come across many different situations as it moves into new territories. An important element is to focus on evaluating the intentions of people and organisations that will be impacted by your strategies and organisational change projects.
10. Terrain/Situational Positioning There are three general areas of resistance (environment, risk, and constraints) so it is important to plan and work through scenarios to consider their impact on programmes and projects
11. The Nine Situations/Nine Terrains Sales strategy is vital for any organisation whether this is actually for real sales in a market environment or for people selling ideas. It is therefore important to have a defined strategy and plan when addressing Sales & Marketing. There are many methodologies available, even one based on the Art of War, so there will be one to suit your organisation.
12. The Attack by Social Media Ensure that there is a strategy in place regarding the general use of technology and the specific use of the Internet as an enabler. Social Media and Collaborative Tools will help your organisation communicate with it’s customers, internal teams and stakeholders at all levels as well as providing the platform for moving projects and initiatives forward.
13. The Use of Intelligence The importance of developing good information sources and managing these can not be underestimated. Understanding the qualitative performance of an organisation is difficult to measure but is the most important measure there is.

 

 

Extract from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Art_of_War

The Art of War – Chapter Summary

1. Laying Plans/The Calculations explores the five fundamental factors (the Way, seasons, terrain, leadership, and management) and seven elements that determine the outcomes of military engagements. By thinking, assessing and comparing these points, a commander can calculate his chances of victory. Habitual deviation from these calculations will ensure failure via improper action. The text stresses that war is a very grave matter for the state, and must not be commenced without due consideration.
2. Waging War/The Challenge explains how to understand the economy of warfare, and how success requires winning decisive engagements quickly. This section advises that successful military campaigns require limiting the cost of competition and conflict.
3. Attack by Stratagem/The Plan of Attack defines the source of strength as unity, not size, and discusses the five factors that are needed to succeed in any war. In order of importance, these critical factors are: Attack, Strategy, Alliances, Army, and Cities.
4. Tactical Dispositions/Positioning explains the importance of defending existing positions until a commander is capable of advancing from those positions in safety. It teaches commanders the importance of recognizing strategic opportunities, and teaches not to create opportunities for the enemy.
5. Energy/Directing explains the use of creativity and timing in building an army’s momentum.
6. Weak Points & Strong/Illusion and Reality explains how an army’s opportunities come from the openings in the environment caused by the relative weakness of the enemy in a given area.
7. Maneuvering/Engaging The Force explains the dangers of direct conflict and how to win those confrontations when they are forced upon the commander.
8. Variation in Tactics/The Nine Variations focuses on the need for flexibility in an army’s responses. It explains how to respond to shifting circumstances successfully.
9. The Army on the March/Moving The Force describes the different situations in which an army finds itself as it moves through new enemy territories, and how to respond to these situations. Much of this section focuses on evaluating the intentions of others.
10. Terrain/Situational Positioning looks at the three general areas of resistance (distance, dangers, and barriers) and the six types of ground positions that arise from them. Each of these six field positions offer certain advantages and disadvantages.
11. The Nine Situations/Nine Terrains describes the nine common situations (or stages) in a campaign, from scattering to deadly, and the specific focus that a commander will need in order to successfully navigate them.
12. The Attack by Fire/Fiery Attack explains the general use of weapons and the specific use of the environment as a weapon. This section examines the five targets for attack, the five types of environmental attack, and the appropriate responses to such attacks.
13. The Use of Spies/The Use of Intelligence focuses on the importance of developing good information sources, and specifies the five types of intelligence sources and how to best manage each of them.

 

Advertisement

Tags: Business, process, return on investment, Strategy, Sun Tzu, The Art of War, Work Practices