Understanding what strategic management is is the first step to ensuring the efficiency of the methodology.
Here are some tips for efficient management:
The subject of strategic management is present in most companies, regardless of their size. However, the understanding of this subject is not always assertive. Many confuse it with the overall management of the company, while others confuse it with the financial sector, which compromises the execution of the strategy itself.
According to Guilherme Barbassa, director of StratecStrategic management is a way of managing the company in order to guarantee the achievement of long-term results, i.e. to achieve the organization's vision. For this to happen, it is necessary to follow a few steps that will guarantee the implementation of the "strategic management" in the organization efficiently and effectively. They are:
- Define a strategy
Research your environment. Analyze the market, your customers, competitors, your product, the climate of the organization you work for, how it is perceived externally, and from there, recognize the strengths and weaknesses of your enterprise. With this information in hand, create (together with other managers and shareholders) your company's mission, vision and values, what the future objectives of the business are and where you want to go. - Give direction to your strategyOnce your organization's strategy has been defined, you need to determine what will be done to achieve the organization's overall objectives. Try to answer the following questions: Who will your target audience be from now on? What will your products or services be? What differentiates your product / service? What is value for your company? Which market segment do you want to work in? What kind of employees do you want to have as allies? Who can be your partner on this journey?
- Monitoring the strategyAfter defining the strategy and how it will be directed, you need to think about how it will be monitored. This is the time to create specific objectives, determine the goals for each sector and the indicators that will measure whether or not the goals are being achieved. It's important to think at this point about how the company will measure whether target X has been met, what kind of actions will determine the success or otherwise of this target and how the indicators will be monitored.
- Align the strategy within your companyAs long as the strategy is only theoretical, it is unlikely to bring tangible benefits to your company. It is necessary to think at a tactical level and put together an action plan to achieve each objective. Alignment in this case must be made between all the company's leaders and managers, right down to the operational level, so that everyone has a clear perception that each action means a contribution to achieving the overall goal.
- Put the strategy into practiceAfter defining the action plan and dividing the goals into operational actions, it's time to put the actions and projects into practice and monitor their execution on a day-to-day basis. Stratec's software, for example, receives the data included in the system by each manager on a regular basis, manages deadlines and the achievement of targets automatically, creates graphs and maps to make it easier to monitor the information, and also triggers alerts if any action falls short of what was planned. In this way, the manager has the opportunity to make decisions, change the course of action and achieve the proposed objectives.
- Review the strategy and plan again if necessaryFrom time to time, it is healthy for the company to review whether its planning is still in line with the organization's objectives. There are various situations that can interfere with the company's vision and its overall goals, such as a sudden change in the market, a change in the company's corporate structure, a crisis, etc. For this reason, it is recommended to regularly review the strategy and, during this period, if necessary, it is worth including targets, indicators or removing some of them. After all, the organization's strategy is a mutable element, which has a life of its own and which accompanies the company's culture and history.
Research your environment. Analyze the market, your customers, competitors, your product, the climate of the organization you work for, how it is perceived externally, and from there, recognize the strengths and weaknesses of your enterprise. With this information in hand, create (together with other managers and shareholders) your company's mission, vision and values, what the future objectives of the business are and where you want to go.
Once your organization's strategy has been defined, you need to determine what will be done to achieve the organization's overall objectives. Try to answer the following questions: Who will your target audience be from now on? What will your products or services be? What differentiates your product / service? What is value for your company? Which market segment do you want to work in? What kind of employees do you want to have as allies? Who can be your partner on this journey?Get to know organizational decision models and identify the ideal standard for your work environment.
