They say culture eats strategy for breakfast! Here are my observations...

Your strategy sets out which way you want to head and, very importantly, why. Culture determines whether you will get there. It determines the level of buy in.

In my view, strategy is the map and culture the vehicle. Both have their role, both are important and they are inextricably linked.

You may have developed great action plans to deliver your strategy but it's ultimately your company culture that will determine whether your strategy will survive the implementation phase all the way to the point where you are able to measure whether your strategy got you to where you wanted and needed to go.

Or whether you ended up reverting to business as usual and old familiar habits.

In our family business, we have just begun the process of developing action plans to deliver on our strategy.

It's a really exciting project and phase of our strategy work that has already provided us with a lot of insights, learnings and inspiration.

Reflections so far:

🔵 Every project needs a strong why that is communicated clearly and understood by all

🔵 If you ask people, they will tell you

🔵Make strategy work fun and meaningful and not something else people have to do. We are all busy so it has to make a positive difference to the people who will live it on a daily basis (in addition to the impact it needs to have on the company results, of course)

If you haven't started your strategic planning yet - for your business, family, ownership or perhaps for your entire enterprise, I recommend MakeMyStrategy™ as a tool.

It's great for helping you think things through in the process and it means you have everything in one place for everyone who needs to access it."