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Initial situation
Most business strategies are developed by a small group of senior managers with the assistance of external consultants.
Experience demonstrates that the majority of these strategies do not work or do not do so particularly well. Although the ideas behind them may be sound or even brilliant, they create massive problems when they are implemented.
The reason for this is that they win over neither the hearts nor the minds of the employees, so they are either not thoroughly understood or indeed not understood at all and therefore not supported. As a consequence, a great deal of effort is required to dispel the misconceptions and resistance, the costs of which are then booked as “change management”
Our experience shows that this can be avoided! Involving the employees in an integrated development approach means that the strategy becomes the employees’ strategy and so they are more motivated to implement it – with the positive side effect of building up strategic competence on a broad basis.
The following ten propositions are the basis on which to develop a strategy which is integrated into the company and supported by its employees.
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Employees who think and act strategically are essential for a company’s survival.
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Employees learn strategic thinking by working on strategic tasks rather than in seminars.
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A company’s best strategists are its employees.
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Real expertise comes from a company’s customers (and non-customers), rather than from consultants.
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Strategic methods and tools are sufficiently well known and can easily be obtained.
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Employees who develop a strategy will also implement it – without change management.
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Senior management focuses on the right questions and assignment of tasks during the strategy development process.
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The mutual development of strategies creates a culture of dialogue and a common language.
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Overall strategic responsibility always lies with top management.
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This integrated approach creates a unique strategy that is tailored to the company’s requirements and is difficult or impossible to copy.