Why strategies fail (& how to fix them)
70% – 90% of ALL strategies fail. Learn why and what you can do to fix them.
Clear thinking. No fluff. Just strategy that gets implemented.
Why strategies fail
Research suggests that between 70% – 90% of all strategies fail (in both the public and private sector). There are three main reasons why:
- Poor development.
- Poor implementation.
- Very significant and unexpected changes in the operating environment.
This page explores the common strategy mistakes people make when developing and implementing their strategy so you can avoid making them.
Trying to predict how the future will unfold over the lifetime of your strategy is a key part of development as it’s the only way you can identify likely future opportunities you might be able to exploit to help you achieve your vision, as well as the threats you will most likely have to overcome. But it’s not easy so the last section includes one of our ‘short strategy films’ that explains the challenges of predicting the future and suggests some tools and techniques that can help you do it.
Common strategy mistakes during development
The most effective strategies have eight key characteristics in common. They also pass the so-called ‘Five Tests of Strategy’. When you develop your strategy – or adapt it if it is failing – try to ensure that it has these characteristics and that it passes the five tests.
The 8 characteristics of effective strategy
- ·They have clarity of purpose (why a strategy is needed and what its desired endstate is).
- ·They are designed to operate in Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous (VUCA) environments (because the future, which none of us can predict, is likely to be even more turbulent than the present).
- ·They operate at a high level, determining the direction of travel of an organisation or state.
- ·They are designed to address ‘wicked problems’, where neither the problem nor the solution is easily identified.
- ·They account for all stakeholders, changing their behaviours to create favourable conditions.
- ·They are highly innovative, with a central ‘big idea’ or ‘guiding policy’ that ‘magnifies’ their effect and enhances their resilience.
- ·They provide a ‘theory of success’ (or ‘theory of victory’) that explains how the desired endstate is to be achieved, rather than just a general approach.
- ·They are highly adaptable (so the strategy can be modified as the situation changes, which it will, or when it becomes apparent that assumptions underpinning the strategy’s development were flawed).
The Five Tests of Strategy of Strategy
- Is the strategy suitable? (Is it likely to achieve the strategic objectives, and hence the vision? Does it apply our strengths to exploit opportunities and protect or address our weaknesses? Is it appropriate to the circumstances?)
- Is the strategy feasible? (Can it be done?)
- Is the strategy acceptable? (Politically, economically, socially, technologically, legally and environmentally?)
- Is the strategy sustainable? (Do we have the resources to sustain it? Is our organisation structured to support it/aligned behind it? Do we have the will to see it through, particularly if things don’t go well to start with?)
- Is the strategy adaptable? (Does the strategy have a central ‘big idea’ to provide resilience and act as a touchstone when things don’t go as planned? Is the strategy’s success based on causal relationships that we don’t really understand? Are aspects of the strategy time or condition dependent? Can we adapt it if the risks we have identified manifest or the situation changes unexpectedly and how easily can this be done?)