Strategic fatigue is something that can happen to any organization at any time. You know that your organization has fallen into strategic fatigue when:

  • Committees designed to implement specific actions (that haven’t been realized) aren’t meeting as much or not at all.
  • The strategy isn’t referenced or used as a framework by the senior management or Board in key decision-making.
  • Key stakeholders aren’t sure if your organization is still following the same direction.

Keeping your strategy vital is a critical part of keeping your organization vital. Organizations are like organisms. They have cultures, structure, processes, controls and values (among other things) that help the organization grow and adapt. For your strategy to remain vital to your organization it must be integrated into all aspects of your organization and resonate within the organization’s operations.

To ensure that you integrate your strategy into your organization there are several key things you should undertake:

  • Align your organization’s staff structure with your strategy.
  • Align your organization’s governance structure with your strategy.
  • Relate your strategy to your organization’s values, beliefs and norms of behavior.
  • Incorporate strategic measures of success into the organizational and individual performance management and reward systems.
  • Review your strategy periodically and update it as needed.

It is not enough just to develop a strategy and a few committees to work out the action plans. To ensure that your strategy remains vital to your organization you need to ensure that it is sustainable, and this is best accomplished by integrating it into your organization.

Ron Robinson is the president of ABARIS Consulting Inc. He can be reached at (519) 472-9788 or rrobinson@abarisconsulting.com. This article is provided free of charge, for information purposes only and is not intended, represented or to be inferred as providing advice. ABARIS Consulting Inc. makes no warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability for accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information provided in whole or in part within this article.

ABARIS Consulting Inc. is credited as the source on all copies, reproductions and distributions, and CharityVillage.com is credited as the original publisher.