Some strategies become major successes, while others stall despite the best intentions. Often, the cause can be found in ignoring the context. In this blog, Casper Hendriks, management consultant, and Lidia Swinkels, one of the founders of Summiteers, explain why context is so important when you want a strategy to succeed.

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The importance of context

In an earlier blog, Dolf already wrote about the importance of the “how” in strategy development. A strategy that only describes the “what” is an ambition statement, but there is little you can actually do with it. If you truly want to achieve something, you cannot do without the “how”. And that “how” is inseparably linked to the context. Sometimes organizations approach us with a plan already in hand but struggle with execution. In other cases, there is no concrete plan yet, and support is needed in defining the point on the horizon. The definition of that point, or the process of charting the path toward it, depends on various factors. Depending on the specific situation and needs, a different approach is required. To determine the optimal approach, you need to fully understand the exact question and the context in which the organization operates.

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Context has many dimensions

Interpreting the context and incorporating it into your approach is no easy task. That is also what Paul referred to in his blog about the importance of a plan for a plan. In a plan for a plan, you get to the bottom of the context. Only once that context is clear can you formulate a tailored plan that delivers the desired result.

Context is a broad concept. Think of specific characteristics of the organization, such as the type of organization, culture, ways of working, change capacity, and history in relation to the question at hand. Sometimes it even extends beyond the boundaries of the organization itself. Many companies have experienced this firsthand: imagine you have just defined a new strategy and suddenly the COVID-19 pandemic appears. At that moment, external factors influence your organization (for example, change capacity, or the sudden need to work online on a large scale) to such an extent that you need to adjust your plans accordingly.

That is how multifaceted context can be. We would like to share three more examples to illustrate the importance of context:

1. Reason and history

A plan often does not stand on its own. Previous initiatives may already have been launched that, for one reason or another, did not lead to the desired result. Understanding why they failed helps you arrive at an approach that does work. For example, if your company has already organized three off-site strategy sessions and tried, unsuccessfully, to implement a plan from there, it is not very useful to go off-site again. There is a good chance that the association alone will trigger certain feelings, and those feelings are probably not positive.

2. Change capacity and competences

Before you start implementing a new plan, it is crucial to evaluate how ready your team or organization is. Change capacity and the capabilities already present determine the realistically achievable speed of implementation. An ambitious plan is great, but if it is added on top of all kinds of ongoing (and also important) initiatives, the people responsible for execution will get stuck. Often, organizations fail to make clear choices, even though an organization’s change capacity is inherently limited. That is why it is important to prioritize well and, where necessary, phase the plan in such a way that it remains executable alongside everything else that is already ongoing.

3. The ‘undercurrent’

There is often a tendency to solve problems through the content axis. For example, by changing the organizational structure or adjusting roles and responsibilities. But if you look closely, the real problem may be the dynamics within the management team or between departments. In that case, you need to focus on that first. Failing to pay attention to this will cause considerable friction throughout the journey, because you have not addressed the core issue.

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Red flags for standardized solutions

Now that you know how diverse context can be, it is clear why we do not believe in standard “blueprints”. In fact, as far as we are concerned, such one-size-fits-all solutions are a major red flag. When a consulting firm claims: “We have already done this five times for similar clients in the same sector. Here is your blueprint; you only need to color it in a little, within the lines,” all alarm bells should go off. The context within your organization determines which interventions are needed.

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Context determines what is needed for a plan to succeed

This requires a tailored approach. Sometimes you can solve a content-related challenge by bringing a number of experts together. But often that is not the only thing needed, and the context may require a change process to truly move forward. This could involve dividing the plan into phases or projects with dedicated owners. This should be accompanied by clear project plans that enable the organization to carry out the execution itself. In another context, where a management team is not aligned, it may first be necessary to have the right conversation with each other before you can even move into execution mode. That requires very different interventions. Strategy execution is about finding solutions that fit the unique challenges and needs of your organization. In a next blog, we will clarify this with a number of practical examples and what we can learn from them.

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Strategy execution is tailor-made

Strategy execution is tailor-made, and a thorough understanding of the context is indispensable. Only once you have made the context explicit can you design a tailored plan that not only takes content, process, and behavior into account, but also resonates with the target audience. At Summiteers, we therefore invest a lot of time and attention in understanding these elements. That is how we make sustainable change possible.

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Need help with strategy and execution?

We are Summiteers. We create movement, make what is complex understandable again, make large challenges manageable, turn a – vague – idea into something concrete, and make difficult ambitions succeed. Could you use help with this? Get in contact with us.

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