Intoxicated with Complexity - What's Wrong With Corporate Strategy

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I was talking recently with a good friend who is a senior manager for a large public company. Many times the discussions turn into strategy discussions and I've notice a recurring theme: Complexity! In fact, my friend consistently says, "My company is intoxicated with complexity!"

We both laughed at how many times we've sat in strategic planning presentations looking over 80+ page strategy documents with executives rambling on about the direction of the company only to leave the meeting more confused. The pretty graphs, arrows and flowery wording are very impressive in form but the clarity was just not there.

Why are strategies so complex and what can be done to change that? My complexity theories include:

1. Existence Justification - Obviously there are a lot of talented people in upper management or they wouldn't have made it as far as they have. A stumbling block can be that management has to come up with some unique and/or complex strategy to justify there existence and to show why they make the "big bucks!" Unfortunately, in some cases it is an "ego" thing as well. Executives like to show how smart they are or how much smarter they are than the regular worker. Instead, they outsmart themselves by delivering complicated and confusing messages that few people can truly understand.

2. For The Sake Of... - This refers to strategies related to growth for the sake of growth or diversification for the sake of diversification. Some strategies are "We want to be a $10 billion in five years!" or "Increase Revenue By 15%." Why? Just because?? In many cases, that is the answer, "Just because." Revenue growth for the sake of revenue growth alone is not a sound strategy. In fact, it is not a strategy at all. It is a financial metric that helps to evaluate the success of a strategy. Others say it's time to "diversify." Many times it is diversification into areas with little or no expertise. This is risky but the word tends to sound really good.

Some questions to ask when reviewing or initiating strategy planning:

o Can the strategy be explained on one page?

o Can it be explained effectively to the lowest level employees?

o Can employees at all levels understand how their performance helps to achieve the strategy?

o Does the strategy conflict with the company's mission, values or ideals?

o Does it include growth or diversification for the sake of ...?

o Does the strategy include straying away from core competencies?

Negative answers to these questions does not necessarily mean they are bad ideas it simply means more work needs to be done to ensure the strategy is clear, easily explainable, achievable and consistent with the best interest of the company.