🔥 An HR Tactician's Guide to Strategy 🔥 (1 of 5)

What is strategy, anyhow? Fancy MBA terms will guide you in creating a unique plan that involves a position and maximizing your activities for success in your niche. To me, a strategy can be defined in three words: How to Win, because strategy is about winning, whether you define it by making buckets of money or accomplishing your organization's goal of saving the world. Define what winning means.

Digging deeper into those words, you must include these elements to create an effective strategy: (1) an assessment of your market; (2) your company must intentionally pick a corner to compete in; (3) you and your team must become the masters of your craft; (4) your organization must fight like hell to keep most of your rivals out; (5) select what activities your company will not be undertaking; and, most importantly, (6) have the team and company resources in sync.

Whatever your end game may be, careful planning, deploying the appropriate resources and tools, and adjusting your strategic roadmap is the only way to win.

Why? The game changes, the landscape evolves, and your competitors can think and recalibrate, too.

However, there's more. Like the secret recipe of Coca-Cola or the secret sauce on the Big Mac, any product suitable for the market has a distinct element. A strategy only works when the tacticians properly align the leaders and managers of the company with the right competencies, psychometrics, and emotional intelligence.

My approach will deviate from the pact, for you must make your path to be a trailer blazer. Here is how: Your managers must evolve into influential, emotionally intelligent leaders, and your leaders must coach with compassion. Being kinder than necessary is needed for your team to recalibrate and refocus as they build the plane already in the air—weather and final destination keep changing. All these elements become what is called a Strategic Intention, which requires your utmost attention for it to be successful.

Phase One: The Role of a Strategist & Understanding Competitive Forces

One of the original thought leaders of strategy, Professor Michael Porter, wrote in his publication, "How Competitive Forces Shape Strategy," the essential functions of the strategist and how she needs to cope and effectively deal with competition in the marketplace. Porter contends that five competitive forces are in play: the threat of entrants, the power of suppliers, the power of buyers, the risk of substitute products or services, and rivalry among existing competitors.[i]

The threat of entrants is those new competitors coming into your corner to take your market share. The power of suppliers can charge premium prices, provide limited quantities, and force vendors to pay for the development of products/services. The power of buyers centers on consumers' ability to demand lower prices while asking for higher quality and compelling competitors to court the consumers' business. The threat of substitute products or services creates uncertainty as other industries/services attract your target customers. Finally, rivalry among existing competitors brings all kinds of disorder as competitors tend to move towards price competition to grab market share, reducing revenue and profitability as the business simultaneously copes with the other forces.[ii]

Preview: the post series will give you a jump start on how to create an effective strategy; we'll explore six crucial elements of an effective strategy:

1️⃣ Assessing your market: Gain a deep understanding of your industry landscape and identify growth opportunities.

2️⃣ Choosing your competitive corner: Select a specific niche to focus on and position your organization for success.

3️⃣ Mastery of your craft: Develop expertise and become the go-to authority in your chosen field.

4️⃣ Fierce competition: Adopt a mindset of relentless determination to keep competitors at bay.

5️⃣ Strategic exclusions: Determine what activities your company should avoid, ensuring a focused approach.

6️⃣ Alignment of resources: Ensure your team and company resources are in sync and ready to execute your strategy effectively.

You got this! Jump onto Part II