Strategy consultants and agencies often have a bad reputation.
Sometimes they deserve it. But sometimes they don’t.
The stereotype (and some stereotypes exist for a reason) is that consultants and agencies recommend strategies that the company cannot implement. The proposed changes could be too complex, disruptive, expensive or lengthy, making them impractical.
Certainly, consultants often suggest a step-by-step approach or a “crawl, walk, run” approach. Even then, management may not fully agree, the team may not be enthusiastic about it, or everything may seem so different that doubts about the value of the strategy creep in.
You may have heard jokes based on this experience. It is said that marketing strategies are measured by the weight of the report (one variation is how loudly it hits a desk when dropped from a certain height). Another reason is that corporate marketing managers have bookshelves full of strategies that have never been implemented.
Why is this happening? Marketing teams often complain that the consultant didn’t understand the reality of their situation (or even the brief). Consultants and agencies claim the client “doesn’t get it” or “wasn’t ready for it.” optimal Strategy.”
And there is the word: optimal.
You see, in these situations both sides are right and both sides are wrong.
The author of this optimal strategy probably didn’t understand the reality or history of the marketing team. And the marketing team likely wasn’t willing or able to execute the optimal strategy as planned.
Here’s the thing: no strategy consultant or agency would develop one suboptimal Strategy to take into account the customer’s current capabilities. After all, no client has ever gone to a consultant or agency and said: “Forget the optimum.” We are not that talented. We need the just good enough plan.”
The mistake is to assume that the optimal strategy is always better than “good enough.”
Sometimes it isn’t.
Does culture really eat strategy for breakfast?
Not long ago, I worked with a 30-person marketing team at a technology company. Most team members have been with the company for years and have developed a specific way of working together.
Two marketing managers recently left the company and two new managers joined.
The new leaders wanted new processes, workflows and measurement approaches to manage all the moving parts of their digital marketing. And they took a top-down approach to implementing these changes.
Narrator: “It didn’t end well.”
When I reviewed her plan, I thought it was beautifully designed. It was right. The strategy was solid. It was optimal.
But the team seemed unable to do it.
Why? Well, there were so many changes and such a different way of working that it just overwhelmed the team.
Some people did not accept the plan. Some agreed but felt unable to make some of the necessary decisions. And some were so busy keeping things running that they couldn’t imagine taking the time to learn a completely new way of working.
It was a perfect example of business guru Peter Drucker’s famous quote: “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.”
Drucker didn’t say those exact words (although he did say something relatively similar). Regardless, this saying is often misunderstood and culture is portrayed as an obstacle to optimal strategy.
Drucker actually wrote (in a 1991 Wall Street Journal column titled “Don’t Change Corporate Culture – Use It!”) that “culture – no matter how defined – is uniquely persistent.” So if you need to change something: “Don’t change the culture.” Change habits.”
He believed that implementing a strategy depends on ensuring that the people involved change their habits to adapt to it. And as he wrote: “Behavioral change only works if it can be based on the existing ‘culture’.”
Story Map for your better plan
It is important to develop the optimal strategic plan. Different people have ideas about what “optimal” looks like. But finding the right plan – regardless of limitations, current skills or culture – is the best place to start.
But what comes next is what matters most.
When you review the plan, determine what would work best. You may need to slow it down or remove elements to make it achievable.
You must take the time and effort to understand how you can improve the “optimal” plan by reducing, changing, or adapting it to your current situation.
In my book, Content Marketing Strategy, I explain the story mapping approach that I have used for years to do this with my clients. The idea is to examine each optimal strategy and then figure out what makes it more realistic – and ultimately better – by reducing the optimization.
Here’s how it works in a nutshell.
- Let yourself feel the uncertainty. It’s usually not the uncertainty about the success of the “big, hairy, audacious goal” that causes fear – it’s the emotions that overwhelm people. Let yourself feel it. List all the things that scare you and could go wrong. Then list the ones that work well or might bring joy. Then acknowledge that the future is uncertain. You can’t control how you feel, but you can control how you react.
- Plan everything. First, describe what success would look like. Then ask yourself, “What must be true for this success to be realized?” Write it all down. It may still be overwhelming, but you’ll be surprised at how calming this step can be.
- Prepare for different outcomes and contexts. Look at your list of what needs to be true and ask yourself what might be getting in the way of that. List everything. Then ask, “What are the big things?” In other words, what things, if left unaddressed, would destroy the foundation of the entire project?
Now that you have defined priorities (and non-priorities), you can use them to make the plan more realistic, achievable, or credible for the teams involved.
When I ran this process for my technology enterprise client, they compromised on some top-down new processes. Was it necessary to have a new one? fixed process for this thing that wasn’t really broken? It seemed optimal on paper, but the disruption might outweigh the benefit.
By de-optimizing the strategy, the team improved it. And it works well today.
People are not machines
Viewing the company as a machine that needs to be optimized is a metaphorical trap. Organizations are collections of people who perform best when supported.
Today’s marketing teams don’t thrive because they’ve been optimized through mechanical adjustments. They thrive when their success is fueled by relationships and shared goals.
Sometimes you can (and should) disable the optimization.
It’s your story. Say it well
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Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute