Written by: Yoshinori Kawamura, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
All companies, no matter how big or small, now have to think like publishers in ways they previously didn’t. Not only has media, products and consumer behaviour changed, but also the business model has evolved drastically over the last two decades and continues to change.
Many business owners are aware of this, but many businesses still fail. The following business case illustrates the strategy gap between employees.
When I worked at Adidas Headquarters, I was assigned to design the user experience of a new Adidas global service. The project had already been in development for a year when I joined the team, but there was still no prototype or even a visual design output. Everyone on the team was still working on finalizing a service concept. Eventually the team couldn’t bring the service to the market and the project was completely killed by overspending.
I saw the team developing a very clear “strategy,” but their strategy was merely tactics: action ideas such as persona & user insight, sales campaign ideas, content details and so on. There was no single clarified a roadmap to detail the required human resources and team structure. The team kept driving (working) on an unclear roadmap. Many employees have likely had a similar experience.
When we are asked to present a product idea, we often start by describing how we implement rather than how we move forward. This is in part because we do business from the inside out. We are supposed to start by clarifying how we make business with what product idea. We don’t start making a business plan without an idea that makes money. But when you execute, you need to know your goal(s), resources(s) and when different actions must be taken, in addition to having a handle on various management issues. Strategy is a plan to accomplish something. If you are prepared from beginning to end and focus on your plan, that’s having a strategy. It isn’t just a simple implementation of an idea; it’s a comprehensive plan with a very clear goal.
In the Adidas case, the service concept and idea were very clear. I knew what I needed to design and what we needed to develop. However, I didn’t know when the service was supposed to launch and when various milestones needed to be met – this was incredibly frustrating. Also, there was a huge knowledge gap between the teams. I was then only team member who came from the vendor side who understood detailed executions. This knowledge gap just kept growing bigger and bigger as the project progressed.
Why was the strategy left out? I have seen many similar cases around the world through my clients, no matter what industry or market, eventually the same tragedy plays out. The project runs out of cash, the team evaporates and the business fails. There is a myriad of individual reasons for failure, but the fault can usually be traced back to management and leadership gaps. I often see clients try to see the entire picture at once, but it’s too complex. Conversely, sometimes clients only examine and employ tactics without taking in the big picture. The business owner and management team shouldn’t be alone in knowing how to achieve a business goal; the whole team and entire company must understand the path to success.
Human communication is undergoing a fundamental change. Gaps between generational knowledge and communication styles are everywhere in the world. These gaps make formulating strategy difficult. However, we’ll probably never need to develop a perfect strategy at once. It’s more likely that we will develop strategy for each small step along the way so we can succeed in the coming months or weeks. Knowing which step we’re trying to accomplish will help us prioritize our business action plan.
Yoshinori Kawamura, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Jean-Paul and Yoshi are partners and business coaches of Business Roadmaps, a practical strategic framework method and coaching service that helps entrepreneurs to develop a strategy in 5 steps, on 5 sheets of paper.
Jean-Paul is passionate to support SME entrepreneurs to achieve continuity, success and entrepreneurial freedom that made him found this practical business implementation service. So far for more than 15 years Jean-Paul has effectively supported over 1,000 entrepreneurs and high potentials in their development to become leaders of their companies.
Yoshi has worked in the product and communication design field for over 15 years, crossing 3 continents. Yoshi is motivated to transplant his unique experience over guiding business implementation in terms of branding, product and communication.
