When I was a kid I used to love playing games many of which involved a clear strategy. Games such as Backgammon, Othello, Mastermind, Chess, Risk, Jenga and a particularly apt named game called Stratego Original! Hours of fun applying a strategy and seeing whether it would pan out and I would be successful. What were your favourite childhood games? Do you still play them today? What strategies worked best for you?
Strategy is an elaborate word used to simply mean a plan of action designed to achieve a long-term or overall aim. A business strategy involves an agreed adopted approach for the allocation of resources and the aligned collective decision-making to achieve desired goals. If the vision is the WHY of a business and the mission is the WHAT then the strategy is about the HOW. How resources are allotted to achieve the WHY and the WHAT.
Strategy is on my mind this week for a couple of reasons. Next Monday is Week 4 in my Focus on WHY Launch Pod Mastermind where I will be explaining how Strategy is a key component to work on early in the creation of a podcast alongside the Purpose, Audience, Concept and Branding.
This week I spent three days on a Master Coach course exploring the work of Dr Clare Graves; specifically his work on Value Levels and the effects they have on individuals and organisations. Expertly led by Pip Thomas from Edge NLP, we navigated the world of values and looked at how they impact our professional and personal lives. It’s definitely been one of those courses that now you have the knowledge you wonder how you didn’t know about it before and suddenly all your filters are altered.
I highly recommend that you explore the different Values Levels and have provided an interesting link here and see how they resonate with you. Which level do you most identify with and how might it affect your personal or business life strategy?
Knowing your values and having a strategy to guide you towards your desired outcomes makes life a lot easier as decision making and choices become much more clear. There’s a reason why I advocate to 'Have a Purpose. Have a Plan. Focus on WHY!' Remember, a plan is just another word for strategy.
ACTION POINT
If you want to achieve a goal, what are the key steps you need to take to get you there? What's your first step? What strategy works best for you?
Amy