The Big Ten: Competitive Business Strategies

What is Strategy?

Simply put, strategy is the way in which you plan on matching what you do best with the customers you plan to reach.

At CultureSparq, we believe team work is the most essential factor to winning the strategy game.  Creating an environment for teams to immerse themselves in a collaborative culture of getting business done is a good start.  Plus having diverse opinions should be encouraged especially when the population of the workforce and customers are increasingly shifting.

Competition 

As a leader it will be important for you to create a competitive synergy where each team member can learn different ways to compete at becoming better assets to the organization. 

Mobilizing a winning culture requires a level of precision which can only be achieved when your leaders are pushing the same strategy across the organization while promoting teams to achieve its desired results in an unpredictable environment. 

Contrary to what "everybody knows," strategy is not about achieving results in a known and foreseeable environment, but in an environment that is unknown and unforeseeable. So it’s best to have a team with a high emotional IQ and the skills to deliver your strategy. 

To position your strategy to win for you and your customers —  we want to share some key principles you should consider in developing your strategy

Key Principles 

1.   Commit Fully to a Definite Objective

The objective must be precisely defined, and you must commit fully to it. This commitment is not only important for yourself, it is important to gain and maintain the commitment of those you lead. 

2.   Seize the Initiative and Keep It

You must get the initiative and keep it until you achieve your goal. Don’t emphasized on theory, or even planning, but more on action. It’s not enough to have a great idea you must take action on it for it to mean anything.

3.   Economize to Mass Your Resources

You can’t be strong everywhere because your resources will always be limited. Consider time. The idea is to economize where your efforts and resources are not critical and concentrate them where they are more important. 

4.   Use Strategic Positioning

To achieve any strategic objective, you will need to be agile due to environmental or other unexpected changes. You may need to modify your approach and positioning, even as you continue to work toward an objective. 

5.   Do the Unexpected

When you have competition, it is most effective to surprise your competition and do the unexpected. This principle can also be profitably applied with customers and prospects, so long as the surprise is pleasant. 

6.   Keep Things Simple

The more things that can go wrong, the more will go wrong. If you want less to go wrong, keep your strategy simple where fewer things can go wrong.

7.  Prepare Multiple Simultaneous Alternatives

Since some actions inspired by your thinking are going to fail, you should always have an alternative action, even an alternative intermediate objective thought through and ready to be implemented.

8.   Take the Indirect Route to Your Objective

Moving directly against any human thought or endeavor always arouses opposition. People hold on all the more strongly to their previously held notions. So moving indirectly, perhaps using an incentive desired by those you want to persuade or influence can work well. 

9.   Practice Timing and Sequencing

There is a time for every purpose. Implementing the “right” strategy at the wrong time or in the wrong sequence can be just as ineffective as if the strategy was all wrong.

10. Exploit Your Success

Don’t stop or slow down when you are winning and achieving your objectives. Not staying continually ahead of your competition is simply giving your competition another chance to stop you.

We Build The Culture to give your customers a better experience.  CultureSparq can help you get started.   

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