One of the most important elements of a company’s strategy is tradeoffs. However, most companies don’t recognize their importance.
Tradeoffs mean that your company has to have a disciplined process for deciding what to work on and what not to work on. These days, corporate resources just to run the business day-to-day are already thin for many companies. When you initiate change, the strain on resources can become immense. Without focusing your efforts (and making the requisite tradeoffs on what you will not work on), you’ll likely only have a nominal impact on performance, because management’s attention and resources become spread too thin.
A more effective approach is to prioritize your options and only work on the few things that will have the greatest impact on your business, to the exclusion of the less important stuff (for now). Making tradeoffs allows you to focus on the high potential things that will really make a positive impact on your business.
Before you begin your strategy work, do an honest self assessment of how many things you can do at once and do effectively. Allow that assessment to be the basis for which tradeoffs you’ll make, so you can focus your attention on the truly important strategic work that will drive value creation in your business.
