For the fifth time in my still young self-employment as a business coach, I support medium-sized companies in the agricultural sector in developing basic strategies and thus realigning the organization. My basic attitude is that strategies can only be successfully implemented if they have been developed together with employees and, if possible, with business partners. This principle and my systematic approach have led to actual implementation success in the four previous strategy development processes. Why is that? Read here:
It is my job as a corporate coach to ensure that the principle of participation is observed when developing new strategies for the organization. I make sure that not only the ideas and wishes of shareholders and management flow into the strategies. Employees and (if possible) business partners see the company from a different perspective. This is where ideas for change and reorientation are generated. And what is even more effective is that all people who were involved in a strategy development process carry it and promote the new strategies as ambassadors to all employees and business partners during implementation.
Another role of me is to ensure, that not only all spontaneous ideas for the need of a realignment flow into the strategies, but that all necessities are really analysed. To do this, I control the process of strategy development, which takes place in different phases. A strategy working group consisting of representatives of the shareholders, management, employees and close business partners will be formed and I will moderate the process. It is essential to define the vision for the future of the company at the beginning and to formulate strategic goals for the desired changes.
In a following free brainstorming process, the group develops their common idea of the “ideal” business content, -model and organization in the future. A SWOT analysis follows, in which the group thinks into the currently existing circumstances and framework conditions that can encourage or hinder the implementation of the optimal business. From this result, the group derives the challenges for the company on the way to optimal business, from which the strategies and implementation measures are then developed.
It is essential in this process that the strategy group must agree on the three to five most important aspects to be processed in order to keep the complexity manageable. When each of the optimally seven to nine members of the strategy group has a voice for the decisions to be made, results come to light that management previously didn’t think were possible.
In the meantime, I have refined and further developed the process of my strategy development method. Feel free to contact me if you want to know more about it. We arrange a non-binding introductory meeting, in which we can shed light on the feasibility of this process in your company.