Strategy is about telling stories. Good strategy is about telling the ongoing saga of your brand.

This is part two. In part one we introduced the premise and a framework to hang our strategic direction on. Then we got into Mission & Goals (What). This time we’ll be examining the Value Network (Who) and Strategy (How)

Value Network

Who are the primary character in our story? Is there a main protagonist we’ll tell the story (Vision) through? Is there an antagonist?

This last one is tricky. Most strategic visions are rosy pictures of the perfect world our strategy leads us into. Without conflict stories don’t exist. Even Seinfeld, a show about nothing, had conflict. The same is true here. If there is no conflict, noting in the way of success, then there is no need to develop a strategy.

Conflict can come from many places. In the corporate world there’s almost always an aspect that comes from people. Resistance to change from within. Reluctance from customers. Event external pressures from competitors. These antagonist may or may not be referenced in your strategic vision. Recognizing them will help you develop better strategies. We’ll talk more about conflict with strategy. For now lets get back to the Value Network.

Your Value Network is made up of the most impactful roles on success. Notice I said role and not people or jobs. As you start to build your Value Network focus on the roles people play. It’s common for the same person or job title to play multiple roles. By separating the role from the job your strategies will have greater longevity. This will also help to remove potential bias. Tina in sales might be great with social media, but that doesn’t make social media curation a function of sales.

Technically, once you’ve identified the roles and responsibilities of the network, you’re done. Go further. We’re here to talk about the elements of story. Understanding the roles needed is the beginning, not the end. Begin shaping your roles into characters. In business parlance these would be personas. Thinking of personas as characters creates a richer vision. The stronger your vision the easier it is for people to rally around it. But remember, each character has a role to play that moves the story forward. If they don’t, they shouldn’t be there.

Note that I’ve chosen to write this series in a way that indicates a flow. Now throw that notion away. Don’t look at these as a series of steps to be checked off. The truth is you’ll bounce around between Network, Strategy, and Vision. The Mission is the touchstone everything co-develops around. You may even find through the process a need to adjust the Mission. That’s OK, and you should have processes in place to allow that.

I’ll be talking about character and the Value Network in the future. Next we’ll be diving into strategy.

Strategy is about telling stories. Good strategy is about telling the ongoing saga of your brand.

So how does the structure of story relate to strategy? Let’s first review a framework for developing strategic direction I’ve been using. It comes from an article in the Harvard Business Review written by Michael D. Watkins. It breaks it down into four buckets that are all interrelated. Mission & Goals (What), Value Network (Who), Strategy (How), and Vision & Incentives (Why). Let’s tie this to how we craft a story. The Mission is the theme. The Value Network, are your primary characters. The Strategy is your plot/outline. and the Vision is the story itself. All together these create your strategic vision, or story arc. A story arc can be a part of a larger campaign, and so on.

Mission & Goals

What does it mean when I say this relates to a stories Theme? First, a quick explanation of a stories theme. Many people confuse theme with plot. The theme of A Christmas Carol isn’t that a man is visited by three ghosts and becomes a nice guy. Though change is a valid thematic element of the story.

Let’s try again with our theme. “Even the harshest of men is capable of becoming compassionate.” Hurm…Still too thematic. Like a goal should be actionable and measurable, a theme should be specific and evident in a story. This is the touchstone that everything else ties back to. When in doubt, ask the question am I moving my theme forward. Or, does my strategy move me closer to my goal(s)?

One more time. “When shown the entirety of his life, Ebenezer Scrooge recognizes the pain he’s caused and vows to become the man he should have been.” I don’t know if that’s a good theme for A Christmas Carol, but it suits our needs. It’s specific. We can measure if it’s evident in the story. Relating back to our strategic direction, it provides a focal point for network, strategy and vision.

In practice Mission and Goals are generally handed down, but it’s still important to bare this in mind. I’ve talked before about the strategy fountain. Where the objective of a strategy becomes the goal that drives the next level of strategy. We need to craft our strategic objectives through the lens of theme. This will set the next level of strategy up for success.

Next time we’ll get into the Value Network and Strategy