It starts with a long-term Vision (in one side) and we start from the todays or short term (on the other side), defining the strategy as the way we must follow "what we will do" and also clearly defining "what we will not do" to reach the future vision.
Many successful and productive organizations have strategies at various levels. A Corporate Strategy to guide the big picture of where and how the entire organization must be moved. Business Unit strategies that consider how they are going to compete in their individual markets and individual challenges. Team level strategies to ensure that day to day activities are helping to move the organization in the right direction.
At each level the strategy must be well connected to be adding, the Team Strategies must support the Business Units strategies and these must support and contribute to the Corporate Strategy.
Objectives are defined as measurement elements to verify the strategy implementation and tactic plans are achieving or not the desired results and we are getting closer to the desired condition.
In response to how to bring the strategy into practice there are the tactics, they are the daily activities to reach the desired objective.
On the Strategic thinking we must maintain a high reflection of the future.
- Analyze the macrotrends, and among them keep informed about the business climate, the economy, competitors, technological advances.
- Analyze the Industrial factors (These are the topics and characteristics in which we must remain competitive in our sector)
- Analyze and act in the Strategical factors, as the market position we have and we want to have, the markets we play and we want to play, if we play high volume-low cost, or low volume-high cost.
- Analyze and be informed about the microtrends of the sector
- Formulate ideas and plan different scenarios about the future.
- Analyze the past specially focused in What? and in the different Why? to understand what happened from different variants to have an integral vision of what works and what do not work and its reasons.
- Have right contacts, good sources (Internal and external) well informed, and approachable to analyze, discuss the strategy and minimize the risks, prevent some restrictions.
- Consider all resources, assets, systems, process that the organization has to be modified, relocated, adjusted to get the major advances and results.
Strategic thinking also allows us to adapt to the changing circumstances and temporal factors as barriers, challenges, influences to accept when we require to change, act with decision and quickly to avoid getting worse.
