About 20 minutes ago, I Googled “How to become a better strategist?” Read his first five articles. I got frustrated reading only explanations of general study tips and strategies. So I’d like to make the question more specific and assume a strategist within the company. But how can you become a better strategist now?
You need to build knowledge about each area of the company and how they work together. Additionally, strategists need to understand the environment (customers, competition, etc.) and how it affects the company. Being able to make good decisions requires experience in business life and knowledge of strategy development itself.
In other words, the process of continuously learning about the company’s situation and strategy itself, combined with market feedback, can make you a better strategist. Or even shorter: Knowledge and experience by application!
My goal here is to provide a guide that I couldn’t find…
Learn the basics of strategy
As you may have already guessed, accumulating basic knowledge about strategy is inevitable. You can’t become good at anything without knowing the basics.
In the field of strategy, especially corporate strategy, there are many ways to acquire the basics.
- Book
- YouTube
- Seminar
- Webinar (meaning “pre-recorded”)
- websites like us
- coaching
The question you face is, “How do I tell the difference between good content and bad content?” Don’t worry too much. You can’t know in advance whether your content will make sense.
You can’t meaningfully answer this question until you try it. Information must first be absorbed so that the “strategic neurons” in the brain can connect. Therefore, only after finding the second source can we say with certainty how we found the first source. Only then can comparisons be made.
I have two suggestions to get you started.
- Check out these two articles: “What are the 6 steps to strategy development?” and “How do I move from tactical to strategic thinking?”On the other hand, they are free 😉. On the one hand, initial information is accumulated that can be used for comparison.
- Read the textbook or listen to the textbook. It may sound boring, but it’s one of the best ways to build knowledge quickly. And learn from the best along the way.
You can then dig deeper and choose, for example, seminars that are meaningful to you.
Learn the basics of business administration
Although I have newly acquired knowledge about strategy and corporate strategy, my knowledge of management may still be lacking…I need to understand how the company works.
And I don’t just mean factual knowledge, but a clear recognition that there is no single “most important area” in a company, for example. Or that even people in the accounting department contribute to the company’s success.
If I were to start over again today, I would expect someone to come up to me and say,
- marketing, then
- Subsequent quality control (if necessary)
- Management/company development and then for the first time
- Management and Corporate Finance. ”
(Of course, I handled administration and accounting first. 🤦♂️)
My recommended sources for each area are:
topic | sauce |
---|---|
marketing | YouTube (especially Adam Erhart and garyvee) |
quality management | Webinar or small book (“Guide for Dummies”) |
leadership and management | “Management, Performing, Living” by F. Malik |
Management and Corporate Finance | A small book (“Guide for Dummies”) |
I think I’ve probably read this book four or five times. It cracks down on what managers actually have to do to be effective (in any organization). There’s no better book to read when you’re sitting in the manager’s chair.
Create strategic test scenarios
Now that you understand the basics of corporate strategy, you can or should deal with reality. Assume that you are in a situation where you have an opportunity to strategize. Maybe you own your own company, maybe you’re in a management position, etc.
Try the first strategy.
Here is one of my favorite quotes to motivate you.
And what is the most important thing? Write it down!
There are no right or wrong answers here. This is my first attempt. You’ll be as successful as you were the first time you tried riding a bike or swimming. Accept it and get to work.
Get feedback and evaluate
The difficult part of writing is making decisions. You can’t leave all avenues open. You need to be clear about where you want your strategy to take you. (It will automatically lead you somewhere…)
The next part is going to be exciting. I need some form of feedback on whether my thinking was in the right direction. Of course, it’s best if you have your own company and can do everything right away. However, it can take many months to see results.
The second best method, in my opinion, is to let the strategic concept rest. Don’t touch it for two weeks and keep yourself busy with something else.
If you go back and read the page again, there’s bound to be a part where you can proudly say, “Yes, this is what I thought, and that’s exactly what I thought!” And maybe there’s a corner you want to hide from the world because your toenails curl up when you read a book.
Of course, there are other good ways to get feedback.
- Ask business partners and colleagues for feedback
- Start voting in the expert group
- Ask a friend to check the logical consistency of your argument
- Look for examples that may already exist in similar companies.
Expand your strategy knowledge
The first learning round is over. You are, in a sense, an “amateur strategist.” But the question was how to become that person. good Strategist. In other words, “Keep going!”
You’ve probably discovered that there are areas or subtopics you’d like to delve into. You may be interested in learning more about market analysis and practical implementation. Deepen these areas. Look for textbooks, websites, and watch videos about it.
If you don’t know what to do with your energy, here are some suggestions.
The theme that most interested me was “Creating and Leveraging Competitive Advantage.” I can definitely recommend it.
Closely related to this is deciding what strategy to use. In a small article, we took a closer look at when differentiation strategies work best. Examine the conditions that support or oppose differentiation.
make adjustments
After re-feeding your mind with new strategic nourishment, it’s worth returning to the original concept. It changes the way you see things. If it’s still worthwhile (depending on the example), make adjustments. That’s also a matter of strategy. There is no one strategy that is always correct in all aspects.
At least as effective is tackling new strategic problems.
You can already see that there is “circular logic” here. And that’s part of being a good strategist.
Deepen your knowledge of individual aspects of business management
It’s probably been over 3 months so far. (Don’t panic; six months or a year is fine.) Depending on how serious you are about the content of your strategy and plan, it may make sense to continue working on your knowledge base.
Remember above? “Continuous learning” was the word I used….
It is not possible to suggest any sensible individual actions at this time, as what steps are appropriate depends heavily on examples and prior knowledge.
But there is one thing I can seriously and generally recommend to you. If you have not only studied business administration, it is worth more serious training in the business field. And be careful. This is not about building depth in a single subject or area, but rather building breadth in understanding how everything is related.
design a new strategy
Depending on your personal situation, you may still be implementing your original strategy, or it may have disappeared into your desk drawer. If it’s still there, mentally leave it alone. It is important to ask yourself the following questions:
Would you develop a similar strategy again using the knowledge and experience you now have?
I would confidently answer “no”. is your answer. If so, the next question immediately arises.
How can we shape this strategy today?
And then you sit down and think everything over again…
This approach may seem cumbersome and not very effective. However, it will give you feedback in your mind about what you can do better. And that creates a learning effect.
Thinking back to my own learning curve, it took me about a year to get to this point. But I had a lot of background knowledge about business. On the other hand, I wasn’t always working on my strategy, it was more “part-time” (in terms of time, not seriousness).
Along with the introduction
The best way to learn and grow is to see corporate strategy in action. Experience first-hand:
- It is very difficult to generate realistic ideas about what needs to be done, when and how. in advance.
- These ideas are probably ten times more difficult to implement.
- You need to adjust your ideas because some assumptions are wrong, there are better alternatives, or you just didn’t think of some things.
The final point is where the difference between strategy and tactics comes into play. There is a more detailed article below the link where you can find out exactly where the differences are. Many strategy novices often take the tactical aspects and rephrase them to be “a little more strategic.” Of course, this doesn’t mean you can achieve your goals as planned.
I cannot make it clear enough how important this step in implementation is. It will make a huge difference in your development as a good strategist. I don’t think there is any other step that can improve your strategic skills like this.
take on a new challenge
Once you have put your strategy into action (successfully or not), there will come a time when you are “done.” This doesn’t mean there’s nothing else to do in your project.
What this means is that no further input from you will improve it. your strategic skills. It is still possible to improve your strategy, but as a strategist you have reached a learning plateau.
If you want to continue growing, this is the moment you have to face new challenges. You need to take your skillset and apply it to a completely new project.
By doing so, you will be able to recognize common connections and principles and become better. You can incorporate your own experience into your activity plans, and your assumptions are more likely to be realistic. On the other hand (and this is the valuable part of this step), you will be making new mistakes and incorrect assumptions. Situations will arise that you have never thought of before. And in that practice, new challenges will arise that will help you grow.