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What Flags Guide Your Strategy Course?

Writer's picture: Ann Marie KenitzerAnn Marie Kenitzer

Steer Strategy By Setting and Interpreting Signals!


The strategy has been defined, tested against SWOT analysis and scenario planning, investment and talent have been secured, and so now it’s all about executing. Well, not exactly.


Strategy is not a ‘set and forget’ activity to be revisited on annual budget cadence. Strategy is an ongoing set of consequential choices, and requires continuously interpreting signals on how those choices are playing out in reality, and providing insights for ongoing choices. A strategy is founded on assumptions or a hypothesis, put into action within a dynamic environment, and dependent on signals or flags that identify if or where the strategy is veering off course based on real world responses.


Strategy – a series of consequential choices about what to do, and what not to do, that moves you toward a desired future.


Just as gates or flags are used in traversing a slalom race, or a GPS and gauges in driving a car across country, staying attune to signals is critical for steering business strategy. They tell us when it is necessary to pivot, speed up or slow down, or when ‘objects are closer than they appear’, like cash runway or customer churn in navigating the course for strategy and business success.



Model For Steering Strategy


There are three core signals or indicators that I like to use regularly in steering strategy. These are Assumption Dashboards that keep a good tension between perception and reality, Fit Validation Flags that provide outside-in guides, and Pace and Traction Gauges that sense how well actions and outcomes are progressing.





Utilize a Reality Check Dashboard on Assumptions


All strategy is formed out of a set of underlying beliefs or assumptions around aspects like the market and growth potential, what customers desire, how the product or service will solve those needs, how fast customers and the ecosystem will adopt a new product or service, how a technology will provide key differentiation, or how the competition might respond. As strategy is generated based on these assumptions, it’s important to regularly pulse which assumptions are on target, and which might take longer to become reality or are becoming less likely to manifest into reality at all.


In the strategy development stage, it’s important to write down what’s believed to be true. Think of it like a GPS that has a set of reference coordinates related to customers, a map of the ecosystem, technology capability and readiness rates, the market participants and customers, pace and capability of competitor offerings, and stickiness of existing solutions.


Having a dashboard that compares initial assumptions on a periodic basis, such as quarterly or semi-annual, against what is really happening can provide critical signals and a reality check to adjust beliefs, sync the pace of milestones and goals, change direction or pivot the strategy, and realign outcome trajectories like revenue, investments needed, and value delivered.



Establish Outside-In Validation Flags for Market & Customer Fit


Similar to the way a slalom skier aims for the gates to track the course, and senses speed and changes in terrain to know when to make the quick pivots around the gates, good strategy steering intentionally frames markers of what staying on course will look like in 3-6 months. Then uses those pre-set signals out in time to check if they are moving at a pace and direction that will reach those flags.


Validation Flags are intentionally set as external facing guideposts that give insights and feedback from the perspective of the market and customers in navigating a new arena or landscape. Things like customer satisfaction, net promoter score, customer acquisition rates and churn rates provide valuable feedback on how well the product or service fits the usage needs and experience quality of a customer such that they keep purchasing and recommending it to others. Milestone flags for GTM and channel strategies, milestones for MVP traction, moves and or changes in market share of competition, and adoption rates and alignment of partners and ecosystem players all provide critical signals on market fit of the product or service.



Steer Via Gauges to Sense Strategy Pace and Traction


The third core steering signal is utilizing gauges that track the speed and progress of a strategy to ensure actions and outcomes are moving at the right pace relative to the plans and whether adjustments are needed given changes in the market or competitive environment. In the same way a speedometer monitors driving speed, or an odometer tracks number of miles traveled, or even as a fuel gauge indicates resources used or remaining, having a set of strategy gauges is critical to monitor pace and traction of actions, value, and financial outcomes.


A robust financial model can provide an important set of gauges on revenue rates, unit economics trending as planned, or costs and operating profit, as well as cash flow and burn rates. Stage gate processes and milestones for things like GTM, MVP introduction, or usage model fit are gauges that set and monitor the pace and success of moving a product or service into the market. Outcome focused gauges like customer acquisition, revenue growth rates compared to projections, customer value and social impact delivered, or investment tranche allocation are gauges that reflect pace and readiness of growing and scaling a business. And of course, internal gauges like Objectives & Key Results (OKRs) and KPIs are needed to track progress of actions against plans, resource allocations and budget management.



How have you used steering signals to navigate strategy? What other signals do you watch regularly for growing and scaling a new product or business?

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