The Strategy Manual: A step-by-step guide to the transformational change of anything

by Mike Baxter

Overview

Strategy holds the promise of success. It steers you through the choppy waters of day-to-day business towards your desired goals. Strategy is about change; it opens up fresh possibilities and sets new horizons.  For many of us, however, the path to developing and managing transformational change can seem far from straightforward.

 

Do you struggle with strategy? Are you unsure how to do it well? Have you concerns that the strategy you wrote may not be as good as it might have been? Do you fear it might not have the uptake and impact you hoped for?

 

You have good reason! Research suggests that half of all strategies fail to achieve their stated objectives. Strategy development falls prey to many known cognitive biases that steer us away from purely rational conclusions.

 

The Strategy Manual sets out to be a practical handbook for anyone interested in the creation, management or governance of strategy. It aims to demystify strategy and provide a step-by-step guide on how to do it well. It features many innovative models, frameworks and templates to help you make sense of the challenges of strategy and how to overcome them systematically and rigorously.

 

Mike Baxter is founder and Director of Goal Atlas Ltd, and has a background as a scientist, psychologist and designer. He is a renowned strategy expert, having spent over 20 years delivering independent front-line consultancy to some of the world's leading companies. The Strategy Manual draws on his many years of experience, expertise and thought leadership to deliver clear, visual models and frameworks to help you understand strategy and turn principles into practice. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781838276010
Publisher:	Goal Atlas
Publication date:	09/26/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	444
File size:	40 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Mike Baxter has been awarded a PhD in Science, a personal Professorship and Chartered Designer status. He has enjoyed a variety of careers: trawlerman, animal welfare scientist, product designer, higher education college dean, web entrepreneur, author, keynote speaker, business thought-leader and company director. He has been a business consultant since 2001 for some of the world's biggest brands (e.g. Cisco, Google, HSBC, Lilly, Skype, Sony PlayStation) and a long-term advisor to some of London's fastest growing tech start-ups. Mike's company, Goal Atlas Ltd, was established in 2014 to work with leaders and teams to facilitate the systematic, hands-on management of effective strategies (www.goalatlas.com). Mike lives with his family in a houseboat on the River Thames in West London.

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION   

CHAPTER 1 THE FUNDAMENTALS OF STRATEGY

1. What is strategy?
2. What is strategy for?
3. How does strategy work?
4. The benefits of strategy - do you actually need a strategy?
5. Time to get started!
6. Summary and key takeaways

CHAPTER 2 STRATEGY LIFECYCLE

1. The lifecycle stages of strategy
2. The Strategy Lifecycle Model
3. Processes within lifecycle stages
4. Summary and key takeaways

CHAPTER 3 CORE MODELS

1. The House of Strategy Model
2. The Value Model of Strategy
3. Summary and key takeaways

CHAPTER 4 STRATEGY MAPPING

1. The importance of the strategy cascade
2. The logic of interconnected goals
3. The origins of strategy mapping
4. Introducing strategy mapping
5. Five key features of strategy maps
6. Validating strategy to ensure its internal consistency
7. Strategy mapping to make strategy more innovative
8. The boundaries of strategy maps
9. Multiple strategies
10. Building the strategic plan
11. Summary & key takeaways

CHAPTER 5 STRATEGY GOVERNANCE

1. Making sense of governance
2. Building a model of strategy governance
3. Executive governance of strategy
4. Key executive governance decisions
5. The strategy governance charter
6. Working governance of strategy
7. The Hourglass Model of Strategy Governance
8. Working governance: formalisation of authority
9. Working governance: engagement and commitment
10. The practicalities of strategy governance
11. Summary and key takeaways

CHAPTER 6 STRATEGY MEASUREMENT

1. What is a KPI?
2. Types of measurement used for KPIs
3. Leading and lagging indicators
4. The AMP Model of Good KPIs
5. Purposes of strategic KPIs
6. The practicalities of strategy measurement
7. Summary and key takeaways

CHAPTER 7 STRATEGY SCOPING

1. Principles of strategy scoping
2. The benefits of strategy scoping
3. Practicalities of strategy scoping
4. Strategy horizon scoping
5. Strategy development scoping
6. Strategy acceptance scoping
7. Record-keeping: the strategy scoping log
8. Strategy scoping outputs
9. Summary and key takeaways

CHAPTER 8 STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT

1. The Triple-Loop Model of Strategy Development
2. Strategy validation
3. Creative thinking
4. Framing as a method of creative thinking
5. The framing methodology
6. Templates for frame-stretching and frame-setting
7. Informing the strategy development process
8. The Strategy Design Model
9. Strategic decision-making
10. The practicalities of strategy development
11. Case study: Artigence strategy development
12. Summary and key takeaways

CHAPTER 9 STRATEGY ADOPTION

1. The importance of strategy adoption
2. The 'H' Model of Strategy Adoption
3. Understanding engagement and commitment
4. Supporting strategy adoption
5. From strategy map to strategic plan
6. Summary and key takeaways

CHAPTER 10 STRATEGY ADAPTATION

1. The conundrum of strategy adaptation
2. Strategy adaptability = resilience + agility
3. Identifying strategic risk
4. Prioritising strategic risk
5. Adapting to risk
6. Anticipating the future
7. The practicalities of strategy adaptation
8. Summary and key takeaways

CHAPTER 11 STRATEGY REVIEW

1. The summative strategy review
2. Strategy review - how it works
3. Six aspects of strategy to be reviewed
4. Summary and key takeaways

GLOSSARY

Editorial Reviews

Excellent and actionable hand book on Business Strategy

Very impressed with the way the author uses and presents models, frameworks, and templates to help readers define and execute a business strategy. Also appreciated the clear definitions this book offers on often misinterpreted concepts like vision, mission, values, culture etc. Best management book I've read all year. (Clo Willaerts)

Very useful and to the point!

Very useful and practical models that I am able to use straight away with clients in strategy work. Also interesting to get the historical, philosophical backgrounds to many of the concepts. Makes me want to read more and dig deeper. Also, I like the visualisations of the models, this makes it so much easier to communicate them clearly and swiftly to others. Very very useful book and also quite fun to read although it is primarily intended as a manual. (Carl Henrikson)

From the Publisher