The Right Strategy, Part 2
In The Right Strategy, Part 1, we looked at the situation of the newly hired coach (let's make him a basketball coach) whose charge is to build a team that is a perpetual winner. Assuming that the two most important things a coach can manipulate are the team's talent and the system under which they play, we described four possible strategies: Talent Driven, System Driven, Competitive Talent Driven and Competitive System Driven.
I contend that each of these strategies can be successful. Each has its own pluses and minuses. They differ in how they trade off short-term improvements against how quickly they reach the ultimate goal. They differ in short-term cost versus cost over time, short-term fan satisfaction versus long-term fan satisfaction. These and other considerations can be analyzed. But I believe the main factors that determine which of these is the "best" strategy are which one the coach believes in and which one the ownership is willing to support over the long term. Focus, tenacity, commitment and endurance are the essential success factors.
This means that getting ownership and management on the same page is critical (I have intentionally oversimplified and left out the general manager who sits between ownership and coach to make the example less complicated). Ownership's task is then to find a capable coach whose strategy they will support over the long term. The coach's task is to work for a team whose management will support his strategy.
Some coaches are flexible and can implement different strategies given different ownership priorities. Some cannot. Some owners can back different strategies and handle the trade offs they imply. Some cannot.
There is no absolute right strategy. There is a right ownership-coach fit. The analogy to a board and CEO is if course the point of the example.
There are, however, strategies that are more or less likely to succeed. Stay tuned for more on this.
Copyright © 2007 Philip Bookman
Technorati: Business Strategy, Strategic Planning
I contend that each of these strategies can be successful. Each has its own pluses and minuses. They differ in how they trade off short-term improvements against how quickly they reach the ultimate goal. They differ in short-term cost versus cost over time, short-term fan satisfaction versus long-term fan satisfaction. These and other considerations can be analyzed. But I believe the main factors that determine which of these is the "best" strategy are which one the coach believes in and which one the ownership is willing to support over the long term. Focus, tenacity, commitment and endurance are the essential success factors.
This means that getting ownership and management on the same page is critical (I have intentionally oversimplified and left out the general manager who sits between ownership and coach to make the example less complicated). Ownership's task is then to find a capable coach whose strategy they will support over the long term. The coach's task is to work for a team whose management will support his strategy.
Some coaches are flexible and can implement different strategies given different ownership priorities. Some cannot. Some owners can back different strategies and handle the trade offs they imply. Some cannot.
There is no absolute right strategy. There is a right ownership-coach fit. The analogy to a board and CEO is if course the point of the example.
There are, however, strategies that are more or less likely to succeed. Stay tuned for more on this.
Copyright © 2007 Philip Bookman
Technorati: Business Strategy, Strategic Planning
Labels: Business Strategy, Strategic Planning
posted by Phil Bookman at 11:19 AM
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