Excitant > Talks, Seminars and videos > ACCA: Strategic vs Operational Management

Strategic Management vs Operational Management

ACCA London, 28th April 2010

Summary of talk

Having a strategy, communicating that strategy, and implementing that strategy are regarded as fundamental to the success of any organisation.  Yet in many circumstances the discussion of what is “strategic”, and what is not, can cause problems.  For instance:

• What one person sees as strategy, another may see as tactical or operational.
• What two people mean by “strategic” can be quite different.

So, the purpose of this session is to help you:

• Understand the difference between strategy and operational/tactical management,
• Avoid common mistakes that people make when discussing strategy,
• Learn some practical tools that will help you think and talk about strategy vs operational management more confidently.

You can watch a short summary of the presentation on this video.

 

 

This download summarises the main points of the talk on two pages. Strategic Management vs operational Management. The approach has four principles.

1. Strategy as connection to the landscape
2. Strategy as working on the system, not in it
3. Strategy as a persistent pattern of behaviour
4. Strategy as a learning process .

You can watch the whole presentation in parts here

Part 1: Introduction, How a Board looks at strategy. The four persistent principles of strategy.

Question: Should you be chasing Deer or Rabbits?

Part 2: Strategy is about understanding the landscale: the context of your organisation

Includes a question you can ask, at any networkling meeting, to understand your landscape far better

Part 3: Strategy is about working on the organisation, not in it. How strategy is different to planning

Explores the tension between a changing landscape and the need for stability in an organisation

Part 4: Strategy is about persistent behaviour over time:

Explores how strategy as a persistent behaviour, and how that can be different from what is espoused.

Part 5: Strategy is about learning: Learning from your environment and from your strategy

Again explores the tension between persistent behaviour and the need to learn and adapt.

Part 6, Summary and Conclusion. This is the video at the top of the page.

Key quotes

“Strategy formulation can fruitfully be viewed as the interplay between a dynamic environment and bureaucratic momentum,
with leadership mediating between the two.”
Henry Mintzberg, Tracking Strategies, 2007 pp 17 and 24.

“Strategy implementation can fruitfully be viewed as a persistent pattern of behaviour to create and maintain that bureaucratic momentum…
…with leadership responsible for monitoring the environment and learning from the strategy as it is executed.”
Phil Jones, London, 29th April 2010

"The ability to learn faster than your competitors may be our only sustainable competitive advantage."
Arie de Geus (The Living Company)

 

...and finally, remember...

Are you going to chase the deer, or the rabbit?

 

To have phil talk to your team, clients or audience, simply contact Phil