{"id":1108,"date":"2022-04-02T19:50:38","date_gmt":"2022-04-02T19:50:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/felicia.premierjones.com\/?p=1108"},"modified":"2022-05-02T04:26:55","modified_gmt":"2022-05-02T04:26:55","slug":"what-makes-a-strategy-actionable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/premierjones.com\/felicia\/what-makes-a-strategy-actionable\/","title":{"rendered":"What Makes a Strategy Actionable?"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Corporate strategy provides essential directional guidance to an organization.\u00a0 But, if it is not converted to an executable strategy and implemented, it is worthless.\u00a0 In order for a strategy to create value, you have to make it ‘actionable’.\u00a0 So, what does this mean?\u00a0 In this article, we will cover the traits of a strategy that is ready to be developed into functional action plans, projects, and programs so that it can be acted upon by functional managers and implementation teams within a company.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Here are the traits of an actionable strategy:<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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1. Based on functional area of responsibility<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Unlike strategic plans at the corporate level that contain a broad ranging vision and high level objectives and goals,\u00a0an actionable strategy is related to a specific business function, product, or\/and service.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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2. Credible and relevant<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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An actionable strategy is an approach that is credible and relevant with respect to external factors. External factors, i.e., market opportunities and threats,\u00a0impact business but are outside of an organization’s control.\u00a0\u00a0An actionable strategy aligns with facts and knowledge of customers, competitors, markets. In contrast to brainstorming or technology led innovation methods, an actionable strategy begins with these trends, constraints, and needs in mind.\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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3. Good strategic fit
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Are the strategies achievable with the companies area or expertise and core competencies? If the company lacks personnel, facilities, investment, customer demand, and other internal factors, then a strategy that requires this foundation is not yet actionable. An assessment from the SWOT analysis may reveal weaknesses that lead to continuous improvement programs. An action oriented SWOT, on the other tend, tends to be more geared towards developing inventive, actionable strategies that circumvents organizational weaknesses in order to take advantage of market opportunties or that avoid threats.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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4. Energizing to stakeholders
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What do your leadership, investors, and team members care about? In order for a strategy to be actionable, it must inspire and motivate stakeholder enthusiasm and support. A strategy that is not aligned with the desires, needs, and focus areas of the organization will be a non-starter. A strategy that offers only modest outcomes may be rejected in a highly growth oriented environment. An approach that is very forward thinking and futuristic may be met with a lukewarm response in a risk averse climate. Whether the business is looking for novel solutions, specific results, or high-impact opportunities, an actionable strategy is geared towards accomplishing stakeholder buy-in.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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5. Line of sight
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An actionable strategy is an approach that is credible and relevant with respect to external factors. External factors, i.e., market opportunities and threats,\u00a0impact business but are outside of an organization’s control.\u00a0\u00a0An actionable strategy aligns with facts and knowledge of customers, competitors, and markets. In contrast to brainstorming or technology led innovation methods, an actionable strategy begins with these trends, constraints, and needs in mind.\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Every business relies upon those who are responsible for achieving business results.  You make  commitments.  Each time you do you are staking your reputation on your ability to get results.  Before launching into a new initiative, check this list to make sure that your plans are actionable.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Interested in learning more?  Check out my eBook – Foundations in Business Strategy:  Using an Action Oriented SWOT Analysis.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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About the Author<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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[simple-author-box]<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This entry is part 2 of 4 in the series Action Oriented SWOT Analysis. Corporate strategy provides essential directional guidance to an organization. But, if it is not converted to an executable strategy and implemented, it is worthless. Read to learn the traits that you should make sure your plan has.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1120,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-strategy-management"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/premierjones.com\/felicia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/premierjones.com\/felicia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/premierjones.com\/felicia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/premierjones.com\/felicia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/premierjones.com\/felicia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/premierjones.com\/felicia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1108\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/premierjones.com\/felicia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/premierjones.com\/felicia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/premierjones.com\/felicia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/premierjones.com\/felicia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}