Good strategy and planning always guarantees desired outcomes

Most historians look back at the success in the battle at Normandy as the spark that marked the beginning of the end of World War II (1939-1945). The battle itself, which for purposes of discretion was codenamed ‘operation Neptune’, was what war enthusiasts refer to as a ‘blitz’ (originating from the term used to describe the vicious German aerial bombing attacks on Britain in the early years of the war) which lasted three months (June-August 1944). Appreciating that the only way that the German army could be dislodged from their forceful European occupation was to launch an attack with overwhelming force, the Allied forces comprising elite fighters from America, Britain, Canada and others, launched an attack on the French coast of Normandy by landing a fighting force of over 156,000 soldiers on the heavily fortified 50km beach stretch, a venture never before dared in modern warfare!

The invasion which kicked off on June 6, 1944, a day famously referred to as ‘D-Day’ (the ‘D’ ironically standing for nothing), was the largest amphibious military assault in history and required extensive planning which included the Allies conducting a series of large-scale deception campaigns designed at misleading the Germans and concealing the intended invasion target. In documenting the history of WW II and especially in digging into the preparation detail of the D-Day invasion historians agree that without the meticulous planning by the Allies which started in December 1941, over three years before the actual invasion took place, they may never have defeated the Germans, and this is the lesson that I would like to draw from.

Strategy, defined in its simplest form as a clear set of plans defining the actions that a business will take and the goals it seeks, is as important in business as it is in war. Done well, strategy in business will go as far as to define in minute detail the goods and services that the business will engage in, the markets that it intends to play and win in, the competitors in the intended area of trade and the resources it will deploy to register wins against them. Strategy also gives the organisation direction and ensures that resources, including people, are deployed effectively for best and timely outcomes. Furthermore, it allows for measurement of success against set goals, ensures alignment to market trends by pointing out where there is need for product or service innovation and importantly, builds a cushion against business surprises.

For all its great benefits, developing business strategy is not as hard or complex as it would appear. It starts with a good understanding and definition of what one wants to achieve, spelling out specific goals and targets to be attained. In doing this one also defines the market that they are targeting for exploitation and spells out how they intend to do so. The clearest differentiator though, between simply ‘good’ and ‘great’ strategy, is that the latter is defined over a long period of time and has, in-built within its DNA, mechanisms to ensure that although the overall vision never changes, it allows room for quick adaptive changes in response to shifts in the market. Great strategies are also all inclusive in the sense that the key stakeholders are well aware of what their roles are in achieving the big goals.

Because of its organisational and business importance, building strategy is a very crucial leadership role. It amounts to an extremely careless and risky existence for one to embark on any kind of business venture or leadership journey without a good strategy. Such existence is dogged by extreme confusion as no one knows what needs to be done and to what end, stakeholder and leadership indifference as there is no measure of output, total organisational disunity and eventual business or organisational failure. This is certainly not an outcome that any leader worth his or her salt strives toward.

Great planning, or strategy building, or whichever term you wish to apply to the vice therefore cannot be under played. In the case of operation Neptune, perfect strategic planning and execution led to the eventual end of the war. A few months after D-Day the Germans had been kicked out of Europe as a positive consequence of the invasion and 10 months after D-Day, at the end of April 1945, Hitler, the infamous head of the German war campaign, offered the ultimate sacrifice by committing suicide, in so doing paving the way for a German surrender a few days later thus ending the war which had until then lasted the better part of six years.