Catalyzing strategy: guidelines for better strategy and strategic thinking

Purpose VUCA times are pressuring senior executives more than ever to find pathways to growth, reinvention, and innovation. Strategy continues to be a primary tool in the toolkit, and yet execution is regularly rated as poor, and strategy is often misunderstood and misaligned. The article identifies patterns and symptoms of poor strategy processes and structures, and highlights successful approaches to activating strategy by breaking down barriers, communicating strategy more effectively, and creating the conditions for strategic thinking to permeate the organization. Design/methodology/approach This article usefully highlights trends in approaches to the strategy process and strategic practices, drawn from a range of recent robust surveys of thousands of senior strategists, CEOs, and senior executive teams across industries, sectors, continents. It also integrates examples and insights gleaned from applied strategy consulting engagements across industries, and curates contemporary examples from an array of sectors. Findings Most strategy execution is ineffective, slow, and misunderstood. Many strategy processes and structures do not overcome bureaucracy and misalignment, and many organizations lose sight of the links between mission, purpose, and strategy. Higher performing organizations invest in communicating strategy and purpose extensively, deploy dedicated strategy teams at multiple altitudes, and make strategy and strategic thinking a routine practice that informs decision-making (not a static, annual exercise). Originality/value Through succinct examples drawn from an array of industries and the distillation of a range of survey results of strategists and senior executives/CEOs, this paper identifies patterns and symptoms of poor strategy and poor strategic thinking, highlights examples of good strategic thinking and processes, and proposes practical guidelines for improvement to catalyze strategy and strategic thinking throughout an organization. The insights are relevant to an array of organizations, large, medium and small, across industries and sectors.