The Quick and Dirty Strategy

There is a time when every organization (and individual) has to pick their strategy for success -- however they measure success. This is a quick and dirty way to decide what your strategy should be. Of course, you need to be very honest about where you are first before you can get to answer the strategy question. I assume you've done that or already know where you are.

There are only four options.

Survive. This is the organization that is just trying to keep its doors open. They want be able to avoid bankruptcy or foreclosure or the IRS or some other calamity that will shutter the organization. This needs emergency action. Drop everything else and reach for any lifeline.

Maintain. This is the organization that is content with where they are. They don't want or need to do anything really different. They may want to polish or clean it up a little, but nothing truly different.

Grow and Expand. This is the organization that has seen a new vision where they can see new growth, maybe by choice, maybe by necessity. They need to move on to the next level and are willing to do the hard work to do this.

Dominate. This is the organization that has already seen success and wants to move to a position where it is the dominant player in an industry, market, segment, product or service. They want to be the top dog and are willing to do the really hard work to get there.

The strange thing is that some organizations can actually be in all four modes at the same time. Take the auto industry. Some companies have so many lines of models that not all of them are doing well. For some their truck line is doing well, but their midlevel cars are not while their cross-over line has seen demand exploding.
The larger and more diversified the company, the more likely they are to have different divisions or markets at different stages, meaning that they have to have multiple strategy approaches.

Of course, this also applies to the individual. We are always at different levels of success in the different areas of our lives.

For many organizations, once they have taken a good hard look at where they are, the choice of which strategy to pursue should be obvious. The problem comes in when organizations (people, really) are not very honest with themselves about where they are, like the car companies before they had to be bailed out.

Take a good, hard look at yourself and make your choice about which strategy you want to choose for your organization and yourself.