1CMO

Growth strategy | Advisory | Force multiplier

Frameworks

What Is the Job To Be Done?

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People do not want a quarter-inch drill, they want a quarter inch hole.

– Theodore Levitt

A best practice for growth leaders and entrepreneurs who want to develop a successful new product or service is to first consider the job to be done.

Most innovators search for significant problems in defined markets, and then they think about possible solutions. This is a proven approach to achieving business growth. Unfortunately, many go about it the wrong way.

Here is the reason why: There is a natural bias to start the innovation process by improving existing products or relying on unproven assumptions without validating them first. This common mistake often results in innovations that buyers do not want or value (borrowing from above quote, this is creating an improved quarter-inch drill even though buyers are happy with their old drill). A dramatically better approach is to search for ways to help buyers improve how they want to do their jobs (for example, creating better quarter-inch holes, faster, cheaper!)

This focus on the “job to be done” is a subtle, but very powerful, shift in mindset for innovators. Moving from an inside-out perspective to an outside-in perspective does not always come naturally to growth leaders or entrepreneurs. Learning how to leverage this concept can accelerate your path to finding Product/Market Fit and company growth.

To understand what motivates people to act, you first must understand what it is they to need to get done. In a strategic planning context, you need to know the why behind the what.

Job To Be Done Theory

The late professor and business book author Clayton Christensen popularized the job-to-be-done (sometimes called JTBD for short) framework. His core theory: “People don’t simply buy products or services, they ‘hire’ them to make progress in specific circumstances.”

If the solution does the job well, buyers will “hire” it again. If it performs poorly, they will “fire” it and look for something else to solve the problem.

Christensen went on to write: “Innovation becomes much more predictable — and far more profitable — when it begins with a deep understanding of the job the customer is trying to get done.”

The implication of this shift in thinking can be profound. Growth leaders should stop focusing on their products and instead study the job that people are trying to do. By making the job, rather than the product or the customer, the focal point of your analysis you can create commercially successful products and achieve predictable growth.

Why Is This Approach So Useful?

Short answer: Because most new products and/or services fail.

Innovation has always been a top priority—and a big frustration—for growth leaders. For example, one McKinsey survey found that 84% of global executives reported that innovation was extremely important to their growth strategies. However, 94% were dissatisfied with their organizations’ innovation performance.

These numbers are staggering. How can this be? With the proliferation of technology, and the resulting ability to use it for generating customer insight data, companies today know more about their customers than ever before. Yet these insights seldom lead to better or more targeted innovations.

The hard truth is that the vast majority of innovations fall far short of ambitions. For many organizations, innovation is still an expensive and painful hit-or-miss exercise. Why? Many sellers are so focused on building customer profiles and trying to correlate vast data with behavior that they neglect to do something more important: simply understand why their customers make the choices they do. To create offerings that people truly want to buy, firms instead should focus on the job the customer is trying to get done.

Adopting this job-to-be-done approach can help improve your odds of success by providing actionable insights that lead to improved product or service offerings.

If you do the research to truly understand the “job” for which customers “hire” a product or service, you can more accurately develop solutions that align with what customers are already trying to accomplish. When you nail this, at a price point that is acceptable, you have a winning solution.

Applying the JTBD Methodology

In practice, the JTBD methodology is an useful refinement for the common approach of looking for a problem to solve. By focusing on the job-to-be-done, innovators can gain a much deeper understanding of all the customer’s needs and determine which are unmet.

It turns out that when customers are executing a job, they have a complex set of metrics in mind that they use to define the successful execution of their job. It is very helpful to capture these metrics (or desired outcomes) in the form of actionable customer need statements. This approach replaces the typical suggestions or satisfaction inputs companies ordinarily capture and use to create new products.

With this approach, the customer’s job to be done is translated into one or more uniquely structured statements that describes how customers measure value. When you think about it, creating a value statement is a perfectly logical first step in a process intended to create valued products and services.

Here is a simple 4-part template to follow: (Written from the buyer’s perspective)

  • When I…(provide context for the buyer’s challenge or problem),
  • But…(details on the barrier or obstacle that gets in their way or prevents success),
  • Help me…(this is the job to be done),
  • So I…(the value buyer will realize from the solution).

For example, using the drill/hole example from earlier, here is a JTBD statement: When I need a quarter inch hole for a project, but I don’t own an expensive professional drill, help me to quickly get a perfectly drilled quarter inch hole, so my project is finished quickly and looks great.

Here’s another example for a Peloton exercise bicycle: When I need an option to workout, but I can’t go to my favorite studio, help me to get a convenient and inspiring indoor workout, so I can feel my best for myself and my family.

A slightly simpler, alternative template:

  • When…(the situation),
  • I want to…(the motivation or forces),
  • So I can…(expected outcome).

Regardless of which template you use, a well-crafted JTBD statement creates clarity around a solution that does not exist today. Ultimately, you might end up with a number of these statements, each detailing a potential “job” your product or service could do. Growth leaders should prioritize them based on those with the highest market demand and largest market gap.

Conclusion

Anyone can build new products. (Well, almost anyone!) Not everyone can build products that solve a real problem and land product-market fit.

To better define the problem you are trying to create a solution for, think about the potential customer’s job to be done. This requires putting the customer hat on and looking at the world through their eyes. The JTBD framework will help you better understand customer behavior, and design better solutions as a result.

While conventional marketing focuses on market demographics or product attributes, JTBD theory goes beyond superficial categories to expose the functional, social, and emotional dimensions that explain why customers make the choices they do.

The JTBD approach reinforces something every growth strategist knows: intent matters. Everyone has reasons for the choices they make—a need to meet, desire to fulfill, objective in mind, some metric of success or completion! Successful products are borne from a deep understanding and solution for that intent.

People do not simply buy products or services; they have a “job” they are trying to get done. Understanding this leads to better innovation of new products and drives company growth.

The painful alternative is to invest time and money building products that nobody wants. You decide which is the better approach…

-Onward

About the author: Kimball Norup is the founder of 1CMO Consulting, a business strategy and growth advisory firm based in Sonoma, California. To read prior articles, or sign up to receive future ones by email, click here.

Beware of the Marketing Jury

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“A jury verdict is just a guess – a well-intentioned guess, generally, but you simply cannot tell fact from fiction by taking a vote.” – William Landay

Despite what they believe, not everyone is a marketing expert.

As a growth-focused member of leadership teams across a diverse number of organizations over the last 20 years, I have witnessed an interesting phenomenon: almost everyone has a strong opinion about marketing.

Moreover, they usually are not shy about sharing it.

It is truly a unique dynamic in the c-suite. You do not see this level of interest and meddling very often in the other management disciplines like Finance, IT, or HR.

However, in marketing it is commonplace. Why?

As I shared in an earlier blog article on reasons why CMOs fail, I think it stems from the fact we are all consumers, exposed to “marketing” (at least the part visible to buyers) countless times every day. This proximity tends to translate into a familiarity, which then leads to the dangerous assumption that we know what works and what doesn’t based on our personal opinion.

Not everyone is a marketing expert.

A Few Marketing Expert Examples

Like many growth executives, I have been on the receiving end for plenty of unsolicited marketing and sales feedback. A few representative examples:

  • “That font just doesn’t look right…”
  • “Our sales reps should target ABC INDUSTRY…”
  • “That shade of blue in our logo is too blue…”
  • “We should advertise in XYZ publication, I read it every month…”
  • “That picture on our homepage doesn’t make us look big enough…”
  • “Sponsoring BIG EVENT is a perfect fit for our brand…”
  • Etc…I could go on, but I think you get the idea!

All of this feedback was well meaning, and delivered with sincerity, but also completely unfounded in anything but subjective opinion.

Not everyone is a marketing expert.

The Marketing Jury Framework

I like frameworks. I find that they help me think through challenges and explain concepts to others.

Here is one I have been playing with to help reconcile this issue of everyone being a marketing expert.

I call it the Marketing Jury. It goes like this…

Over the years I have found that almost every marketing or growth idea is judged not once, but four times.

It does not matter whether the topic is a new strategy, creative concept, sales channel, or marketing tactic. Everything gets scrutinized.

By whom? I like to call them the marketing jury.

However, unlike a normal jury, in this jury there is only one vote that matters.

I’m sure you are wondering who are the four Justices in this marketing Supreme Court?

Juror 1 – Your Loved One

This juror is your spouse, partner, parent, or child.

Before you start laughing, recognize that more glossy, gimmicky, trendy, vanity advertising is bought each year because the business leader’s in-house advisor happened to “like it” than for any other reason.

The unfortunate impact of this jury vote is that many solid go-to-market ideas never see the light of day because a significant other didn’t think it was a good idea when they heard it across the dinner table.

Juror 2 – Your Colleague

This juror is one of your co-workers. Just like clockwork, as soon as you make the decision to implement a new marketing strategy, your CFO, admin, and the stockroom clerk all magically become marketing experts. Complete with strong opinions, based on nothing but gut feel.

This goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway: It is okay to listen politely to this input, but be very careful about taking any action.

Juror 3 – Guess Who?!

You should be very familiar with the third juror. Why? Because it is you!

It is very easy for seasoned marketing and sales executives to have big egos, and to think we know it all because we have seen and done a lot in our careers.

Here’s the news flash: I don’t know everything about marketing and sales, and neither do you.

In fact, we may be one of the worst judges of our own marketing or sales ideas. Over the years, I have run little experiments and asked marketing and sales professionals to guess the outcome of various A/B split tests. The experts are wrong as often as they are right.

The takeaway: Stay humble. Always be in learning mode. If you listen and look hard enough, you just might learn something new.

Juror 4 – The One to Focus On

Spoiler alert: This is the only one of the four jurors with a vote that matters. Why? Because they are your potential or actual customer.

You see, these jurors vote with their wallets. At least figuratively. In a typical complex B2B sales process they vote by clicking on a link, viewing a web page, answered the phone, taking a meeting, requesting more information, stopping by your booth, attending a webinar, signing a contract, etc.

Whatever the action, they responded in a positive manner to some marketing or sales tactic, thereby advancing the sales process.

Always pay close attention to this juror.

They are the only juror with a vote.

How Do You Arrive at a Verdict?

Growth leaders, and their teams, are in a position where they must play judge in this courtroom drama.

They own the growth agenda and strategy. They own the go-to-market program, and budget.

When it comes to jurors #1, 2, and 3 – How you choose to take their feedback will always be situational. Some you can politely listen to, and then ignore. Others you may have to engage in an educational discussion. Still others you might need to do some due diligence and explore the idea further.

Listen to juror #4 – this is your client or prospect. Having a comprehensive go-to-market strategy and defined process is your best friend when it comes to juror #4. When done well, you will have performance metrics for every step of the customer journey through your marketing and sales process. Over time, you will know what works, and more importantly, what doesn’t. You will be able to hear and respond appropriately to juror #4 from Lead status to Closed Won.

In conclusion, beware of the marketing jury – there are many competing voices, but only one you must listen to!

-Onward

Six Fundamental Growth Strategy Questions

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“Progress consists only in the greater clarification of answers to the basic questions of life.” – Leo Tolstoy

Developing a growth strategy for any organization is challenging even in the best of times. In today’s disruptive VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous) business environment, it has become exceptionally more difficult.

One proven approach for dealing with difficult problems, especially those situations where there are many unknowns, is to go back to the basics. If we revert to a few fundamental strategies, and ask some simple questions, we are often in a much better position to start problem solving.

Tackling the challenge like a reporter would, asking basic questions first, is a great way to quickly get clarity. It helps provide valuable perspective and a solid platform from which to develop robust strategy and formulate comprehensive plans.

I like to call this the “start simple” approach, and it is a proven way to begin developing an effective growth strategy.

KISS: Keep It Simple Stupid!

When it is time to think about a new growth strategy and developing a go-to-market plan the best advice is always to start simple. A good place to begin is to make sure your organization is ready for growth in the first place.

There is always a tendency to over-complicate things. This can be a huge time sink, and sometimes a fatal mistake for leaders and their teams. The concept of starting slowly, walking before you run, is a great way to avoid complexity.

Next, you will want to do some investigation, ensuring you have good situational awareness of your market. While there are a many questions that could, and ultimately will, be asked, it is always a good idea to start the strategic planning exercise by answering fundamental questions first. You can layer in more depth and complexity later.

The Only Four Ways to Grow Sales

The very essence of growth strategy for any business organization is to drive growth. Without selling something (to new or existing customers), there can be no growth.

As a reminder, there are only four fundamental ways to increase sales:

  • Increase the number of clients – turning more prospects into paying customers.
  • Increase the average transaction – getting each client to buy more at each purchase.
  • Increase the frequency that the average client buys from you – getting each customer to buy from you more often.
  • Improve the efficiency and effectiveness of each step in the marketing and sales process – driving greater “funnel velocity” and higher conversions.

At least one of these four drivers will be part of any growth strategy.

Focus on Blocking and Tackling

In the game of American Football, blocking and tackling are often called the fundamentals of the game. In the game of growth strategy, I think there are also two fundamentals:

  • Where-to-play – Which specific markets and prospects to target in order to sell your products and/or services.
  • How-to-win – How to create and deliver a compelling value proposition for those prospects so that they choose to buy your products and/or services over any other option.

At first glance, these seem straightforward. However, there is a lot of detail there. To make things a bit easier, these two fundamentals can be broken down into six fundamental growth strategy questions.

Six Fundamental Growth Strategy Questions

The six fundamental growth strategy questions are modeled after a time-tested and proven formula. Journalists, researchers, and police officers learn this basic investigative formula often referred to as “The Five Ws and How” (or, 5W/1H):

  • Who
  • What
  • Where
  • When
  • Why
  • How

Many people consider the answers to these 5W/1H questions as the basic starting point for information gathering or solving any problem. This line of basic questioning is certainly not new…as it turns out; the origins of this line of inquiry go all the way back to the Greek philosopher Aristotle!

In the context of growth, answering these six fundamental questions is a great starting place that will help frame up your strategy and approach:

  1. Who is the buyer? – What is the Ideal Client Profile (ICP)? Their profile with demographic, firmographic, and psychographic details (persona).
  2. What is their need? – What (problem/pain/challenge) does our product/service fix for the buyer?
  3. Where do we find them? – What specific markets, industries, and/or organizations will we target?
  4. When are they likely to buy? – What internal and external influences cause prospective buyers to take action? Are there calendar or market triggers?
  5. Why will they buy? – What is the value proposition of our product and/or service? How is it better and/or different from any alternative solution (including doing nothing)?
  6. How will we win? – What is the repeatable process and tactics that enables a consistent stream of qualified prospects and convinces them we are only logical choice?

The best way to get answers to these questions is to interact with your market. Get out of the building, either figuratively or literally, and talk with your prospective buyers.

Next Steps…

Your answers to the 5W/1H questions above is a great starting point for creating a new growth strategy.

This vital work should be sponsored by the CEO and/or board of directors and is most often led by the Chief Marketing Officer (or an experienced fractional CMO!) in partnership with the head of Sales.

Even though the structure is simple, it provides a great framework to build out a solid growth strategy. With more time and analysis, it can help you define your targeting, messaging, optimal marketing and sales structure, go-to-market programs, and the team to get it done.

-Onward

Dealing with VUCA Forces

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“Expect the unexpected.” – Bear Bryant

We are accelerating into a new and unpredictable VUCA business environment.

The disruptive forces of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity are playing out across almost every company and industry.

Against this backdrop, VUCA has proven to be a great organizing framework to help strategic leaders think about potential new threats. However, I have noticed that many organizations struggle to identify VUCA threats and translate them into actionable inputs as they are making their strategic plans.

In this article we’ll start to break down the challenge and work towards an approach for dealing with VUCA forces.

What is VUCA?

The United States Army War College was one of the first organizations to embrace the concept of VUCA, after the so-called Cold War ended. Military planners began to worry about the radically different, unstable, and completely unfamiliar international security environment that had emerged. They coined the acronym VUCA to describe it:

  • Volatile – Change that is rapid and unpredictable in its nature and extent. The challenge is unexpected or unstable, and may be of unknown duration. However, it is not necessarily hard to understand; knowledge about it is often available.
  • Uncertain – The present is unclear and the future is uncertain. Despite a lack of other information, the event’s basic cause and effect are known. Change is possible but not a given.
  • Complex – Many different, interconnected factors come into play, with the potential to cause chaos and confusion. The situation has many interconnected parts and variables. Some information is available or predictable, but the volume or nature of it can be overwhelming to process.
  • Ambiguous – There is a lack of clarity or awareness about situations. Causal relationships are completely unclear. No precedents exist; you face “unknown unknowns.”

For simplicity, let’s look at each element in isololation:

  • In a purely volatile (but not uncertain, complex and ambiguous) world, there is a lot of fast, but predictable change. 
  • On the other hand, in a purely uncertain (but not volatile, complex and ambiguous) world, it is hard to tell how things will develop.
  • In a purely complex (but not volatile, uncertain and ambiguous) world, things are hard to untangle and understand.
  • Finally, in a purely ambiguous (but not volatile, uncertain and complex) world, things are just hard to discern at all.

We see proof of these every day.

Unfortunately, out in the wild these dark forces do not typically present themselves in isolation. Rather, they can come at undesirable times, and in a variety of combinations and sequences. All of which makes the job of leaders infinitely more challenging.

Why is Understanding VUCA So Important?

While its origins lie in military planning, the concept of VUCA transfers perfectly to the world of business. Especially now.

Many experts predict that volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity are going to become even more prevalent in the future. To manage teams and create strategic plans for organizations in this “new normal” era of disruption, leaders need to be aware of the changes that this kind of environment can cause.

The turbulent and unpredictable VUCA forces of change will affect all organizations, at all levels. This type of environment poses many threats to an organization, including:

  • Overwhelming your team and making them anxious or nervous about the future.
  • Sapping their energy and motivation to take action.
  • Throwing uncertainty into their career paths.
  • Causing skills to become obsolete and forcing constant retraining.
  • Consuming large amounts of time and resources to understand and combat.
  • Increasing the complexity of making decisions, and the chances of making mistakes.
  • Slowing down the decision-making process.
  • Causing short-term thinking, and knee-jerk reactions.
  • Jeopardizing strategic long-term projects, developments and innovation.

As a result, we need to develop new skills, practice new behaviors, and take better approaches to manage the threat. If this environment affects your industry or organization, you have to reconsider the way you and your business plan and execute.

This is the value of the VUCA Strategic Planning Methodology.

Benefits of Embracing VUCA

Every leader, and every organization, has a basic choice when it comes to VUCA.

You can either allow VUCA forces to “own” you – running the risk of overloading and overwhelming your organization. Or, you can accept and manage it – working vigilantly with your team to plan for and mitigate its effects.

Ironically, if you decide to accept VUCA, you also start to gain immunity to its impact…

When you accept VUCA as something that is not going away, you also make yourself and your people less vulnerable, and you empower everyone to deal better with uncontrollable, unpredictable forces. You are shifting from a reactive to a proactive approach. Practicing forward-looking strategy instead of backward-looking tactics.

VUCA is definitely a challenge for leaders, and presents an opportunity to develop and improve leadership and management skills. It is also an opportunity for individuals and teams to up their game and become more effective.

A Playbook for Managing in a VUCA World

How do you effectively manage teams and organizations with these VUCA forces?

  • The accelerating rate of change (volatility)
  • The lack of predictability (uncertainty)
  • The interconnectedness of cause-and-effect forces (complexity)
  • And the strong potential for misreads (ambiguity).

If we embrace and think about each of these disruptive forces we can begin to develop a playbook for managing and leading in a VUCA world. As we contemplate strategic approaches to combat each VUCA element, a strategic approach begins to emerge.

  1. We can counter volatility with vision. Creating a compelling vision, values, and purpose for your organization.
  2. We can meet uncertainty with understanding. Greater situational awareness, understanding what your competitors and the market are doing.
  3. We can react to complexity with clarity. Clearly structured teams and effective communication from leaders on the strategy and objectives.
  4. We can fight ambiguity with adaptability. An agile approach to developing a strategic plan and execution.

The next article will go deeper into this approach and explore each element in greater detail.

-Onward  

The VUCA Strategic Planning Framework

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“In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.” – General Dwight D. Eisenhower

The last six months have proven the traditional approach to strategic planning is no longer effective.

We do not live in a static or predictable world. If a VUCA environment – with all its disruption and unpredictability – is the new normal, then organizations need to adopt a strategic planning process that is more robust and agile.

Organizations today need strategic plans designed to handle the accelerating pace of change, extreme unpredictability, and widespread VUCA disruptions across the global economy.

The VUCA Strategic Planning framework helps leaders and their teams develop comprehensive, yet flexible, plans that help determine the future of their organization.

The Need for Flexibility and Agility

To succeed in this new era, organizations need to be flexible and agile. Leaders and their teams must get out of the building and maintain the discipline of a bias to action!

As a result, organizations must also be flexible in their strategic planning and agile in their execution.

Yes, it still requires that we define why the organization exists and what we do. However, it also demands that we constantly question every assumption about the business, the market, and the environment, and make quick decisions based on what we find.

Leaders and their teams must constantly ask the question: “What if?…”

Instead of driving the bus by looking through the rear-view mirror, this agile approach to strategic planning demands that we steer by looking through the front windshield. We need to focus – gazing not just at the road ahead, but also far into the horizon, to an unknown future – so that we can better anticipate what might be coming up and react appropriately to any disruptive forces or changes that might hit us.

This flexible approach to strategy is a key ingredient to successful execution.

VUCA Strategic Planning Framework – Overview

The graphic below provides a visual overview of the VUCA Strategic Planning Framework.

There are four core phases in the process:

  • Planning Foundation – Where we define the Core Ideology (Mission, Values, Purpose) of the organization, the Envisioned Future (Vision, Long-term goals), and the Strategic Gap that separates them.
  • Strategy Development – Where we formulate the go-forward Strategy, and make a go/no-go Strategy Decision.
  • Plan Creation – Where we develop the VUCA Plan, and do Scenario Planning.
  • Management Cycle – Where we add in the Strategy Portfolio, and leverage the Management Cycle for effective execution.

The foundation to every effective VUCA Plan is robust Situational Awareness. This continuous process happens throughout the four phases of strategic plan development and execution, and represented by the parallel work stream running the length of the process.

There are also four phases to situational awareness, matching each of the strategic planning phases:

  • Perceiving – This phase is all about gaining clarity on the “as is” status of the organization through internal analysis and an external analysis of the marketplace or economy.
  • Understanding –By taking information from the first phase and interpreting it through a new or existing mental model, or strategic framework, we can be begin to make sense of the connections between the elements and stress-test possible approaches to reach “future state”.
  • Predicting – After reviewing the information and insights from the first two phases, we can leverage this knowledge to project forward and begin to predict potential future impacts or outcomes. This is an important element for Scenario Planning.
  • Reacting – During the execution phase leaders and their teams in the field must observe, interpret, and react to all the inputs they receive from the market. This is where we must react to VUCA forces and make decisions about whether to proceed, pivot, or stop!

VUCA Strategic Planning Framework – Details

In the VUCA Strategic Planning framework, Core Ideology and Envisioned Future, combined with robust Situational Awareness detailing the current state of the organization and its operating environment, create the springboard for strategy development:

  • Core Ideology – Defining the mission, values, and purpose of the organization. These elements describe why the organization exists and what it stands for today. They form the “true North” guideposts for making strategic decisions and are the foundation for any VUCA strategic plan.
  • Envisioned Future – Defining a clear vision of what the organization aspires to become or achieve and its long-term goals. These elements explain the desired “future state” and the long-term goals you and your team are working towards achieving in order to get there.
  • Situational Awareness – A thorough analysis of the environment in which the organization operates is vital. Situational awareness involves knowing where you are (“current state”) and being aware of what is happening in your environment (internal and external perspective) to understand how information, external events, and one’s own actions might affect both immediate and future outcomes.

Once this planning foundation is in place, leaders should consider strategic options that will enable the organization to bridge the “gap” between the current state and the desired future state while factoring in the operating environment as revealed by the situational analysis. Strategy is the mechanism to do this:

  • Strategy – Defining the approach that will guide individuals and teams on “how” to achieve the short-term objectives that move the organization from its starting point towards achieving its long-term goals. Strategy plays a vital role in VUCA strategic planning.
  • Strategy Decision – Once formulated, leaders must then decide if the strategy is the best one to help the organization achieve its long-term goals. If the decision is to move ahead with executing a chosen strategy then it is time to commit, and proceed with creating a complete Strategic Plan around that strategy.

The strategic planning process culminates in the creation of a VUCA Strategic Plan:

  • VUCA Strategic Plan – A clear time and resource based plan, that details the strategy and actions by which the organization intends to reach its Envisioned Future. Clarity on objectives, owners, and timelines will help ensure successful execution.

In addition to their primary VUCA Strategic Plan, leadership teams should also take several additional steps to help mitigate the potential risk of disruption or failure:

  • Scenario Planning – Identify the potential VUCA impacts that could derail your primary strategy or impede your ability to achieve the defined objectives, and action plan your response to them. Because almost no plan goes as expected, by answering “what if” across a comprehensive set of possible future scenarios your team will be better prepared to quickly react and make decisions when/if a disruption happens.
  • Strategy Portfolio– Viable alternative, complementary, or even competing strategies that your organization will resource and your team will execute in addition to the primary strategy. Your Strategy Portfolio will develop from the strategy formulation phase, additional insights gained from situational awareness, and scenario planning that went into creating your VUCA Plan. This element mitigates risk and maximizes future opportunity for the organization.

In the final stage of the VUCA strategic planning process the focus shifts from planning to execution. It is now time for leaders to delegate the responsibility for taking action and manage the outcomes.

  • Management Cycle – A circular workflow, where individuals or teams do the work of executing the strategic plan, review progress, and make course-correction decisions. The leaders of the organization manage this on a regular cadence until the objectives are either achieved, changed, or deleted.

To Your Continued Success

So, there you have it – the VUCA Strategic Planning framework – a comprehensive and integrated approach to strategic planning in times of change and disruption. It was  expressly designed to help leaders and their teams deal with a VUCA environment, effectively plan the future of their organization, and take action.

This agile and flexible approach to strategic planning, and execution, is the key to success for any organization.

I am looking forward to sharing additional tools, techniques, and best practices for each stage of the process. I would also welcome any feedback or suggestions on the framework as you work with it. If you would like to talk about how best to create a VUCA Plan for your organization, please feel free to reach out.

To your continued success.

-Onward