Every strategy is only as strong as it’s roadmap of strategic initiatives. Including your digital strategy.
I love using the word initiative for those special projects that move the needle forward in your business.
The word has a connotation of something that you are trying out and might be novel.
One definition of initiative is: the power or opportunity to act or take charge before others do. It has a sense of boldly go where no one has gone before.
A great tool to use in the face of uncertainty and risk. To find opportunities and take initiative. To try stuff.
I believe that strategic initiatives benefit a business when they are approached as innovations.
Sure, part of our strategy might be to clean up a mess, so we improve our foundations. But they, well, become committed projects, not initiatives. And likely have clearly defined goals and known outcomes. Well managed projects that are useful to execute, but rarely move the needle.
Initiatives are for the bold things we do. They don’t have to be all or nothing bets. But we do need to monitor the progress and possibly adjust as things unfold.
I believe these strategic initiatives benefit from the principles of design thinking.
Possibly I have a bias because I already think they overlap. Design thinking just, dare I use the term, re-frames the challenge of moving into the unknown a little bit differently.
Design thinking entails cultivating 5 mindsets: curiosity, bias to action, re-framing problems, awareness, and radical collaboration.
Too often strategic planning is something people do periodically. They focus on making plans and then put them away in drawers.
Design thinking, with its use of observable experimentation and bias to action, takes them out of the drawer and turns them into initiatives instead of just plans.
What’s your boldest initiative at the moment?
