Good Business Strategy Starts with Tacos
Let’s talk about tacos. Some are large, some are small, some are basic, some are complex, but no two tacos are exactly the same. There are various ingredient options. Regardless of which you choose, it is all neatly wrapped into the shell that holds it together. The taco shell in the world of business is the strategic plan. Why is presence of a clear, effective strategy so important for business? Simply put, like the taco shell, it brings all the components together in one defined structure. It is clear when it comes together what it is and what its purpose is.
What if the components are not enveloped in a shell? This deconstructed taco becomes nachos. The ingredients are still the same, but are not necessarily bound into one unit. Instead, they are spread out at all different levels. The organization of components is less clear so it becomes more difficult and messier to approach. The nachos of the business world are the companies who do not prioritize strategy and strategic planning. So why does this matter?
A sound business strategy is important for both internal and external purposes. The strategic plan allows a business to remain competitive in fast-paced markets, aids in employee retention and turnover mitigation, and establishes clear goals that relate to the company’s purpose.
If businesses fail to remain competitive within their space, they risk falling behind. As today’s industries continue to rapidly transform, companies need to constantly be evaluating strategies to understand the opportunities, gaps, and threats in the competitive space. Strategic planning involves analyzing historical data and events as well as analyzing current trends in order to plan for the future. If Business A does not evaluate and understand its own story, it cannot understand where it sits in the competitive space with Businesses B and C. This makes it very easy for Businesses B and C to infiltrate the space and outperform Business A, leading to Business A’s ultimate demise.
Business A would not exist in the market at all if not for its employees who run its fundamental operations. Thus, employee retention is essential. Employees are more likely to remain at companies that allow them to feel fulfilled. Employees are more likely to feel fulfilled if they have a clear, straightforward sense of direction and goals to work towards. If company A does not have a clear strategy, its organization might end up looking more like nachos than tacos. The company may find its components disorganized, spread in many different directions. If employees, are working in various directions, with little understanding of a clear goal or purpose, they will likely feel unfulfilled, as the sense of their work’s contribution to the company may be unclear. If company B offers a clear strategy, company A risks its employees leaving for company B.
As employee turnover will naturally occur even at the best companies, presence of a clear strategy can also contribute to the speed at which an employee’s replacement can be on-boarded to effectively carry out the responsibilities of the role, minimizing the learning curve. The employee is immediately able to understand their goals and how they roll up into the company’s greater strategy and purpose. If this does not exist, the employee must spend much additional time simply trying to understand on what criteria to base decisions and the reasoning behind it.
There are vast differences between companies that prioritize strategic planning and those that don’t. The organization, clear competitive advantage, purpose, and goals will allow a company that has a strong strategy to be far more sustainable in the long run compared to a company that does not.
However, it is not enough to simply have a strategy. A strategy is a living, breathing structure that must transform with time. Today’s industries are changing more rapidly than ever. Due to the ubiquity of information and increasingly smart technologies, companies can operate more quickly, efficiently, and effectively. If company A does decide to implement a strategy but never fosters it post-implementation, it still eventually risks losing to company B as if it never had a strategy at all.
As society moves forward socially, economically, and technologically, trends and older technologies become obsolete. Business is directly impacted by societal trends, so to neglect strategy cultivation in line with these trends is to essentially render a company obsolete. Just like a taco’s shell, it will disintegrate over time without the proper support and restructuring. After all, nobody wants the messy, broken taco.
References
https://totalrewardssoftware.com/top-four-warning-signs-employee-turnover/
https://medium.com/r/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.canstockphoto.com%2Fbusiness-competition-5278433.html
https://channels.theinnovationenterprise.com/articles/5-reasons-why-companies-need-a-strategic-plan
Strategy Safari: A Guided Tour Through The Wilds of Strategic Mangament, Bruce Ahlstrand, Henry Mintzberg, and Joseph Lampel, 1998
