This page gives an outline, instructions and download link to the Strategy Canvas.

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Good Strategy

Professor Richard Rumelt in his book Good Strategy, Bad Strategy identified two “incredibly important natural sources of strength” for a team or organisation when it comes to good strategy:

“Having a coherent strategy… [which] …creates strength through the coherence of its design”
and
“The creation of new strengths… [through] …insightful reframing of a competitive situation”

Richard Rumelt, Good Strategy, Bad Strategy, 2012.

Bad Strategy

In many teams and organisations, strategy is treated as easy and simple. And many organisations treat it as an accounting exercise, just extending the status quo out into the future (a huge assumption!).

Also, many strategies are developed for projects or initiatives without thinking about the over-arching organisation strategy. While they may be coherent as a stand-alone strategy, they are not coherent or integrated with the organisation strategy. These strategies almost always lead to frustration and failure.

Some strategy development processes simply use the wrong tools and ask the wrong questions. They fail to consider important things that can be critical to success or failure.

And then others are excellent at analysing the environment and identifying the critical thing that makes success possible, but fail to follow through with a plan that can make the desired future a reality.

If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

Benjamin Franklin, 1790

The Strategy Canvas

I designed the Strategy Canvas to help lead the process of developing a coherent strategy for a project, problem, opportunity or organisation. It blends together perspectives from traditional corporate strategy perspectives and military strategy, specifically manoeuvre warfare.

Instructions and hints are included in each of the sections in plain language.

Here are some tips to help you get started with your team:

1. Print out or work through on screen with a team.
2. Remember to follow the Two Principles:
   • Humility – no one person has all the answers, and no one can tell the future.
   • Diversity – the value is in the diversity of perspectives.
3. Build the core team who will work through together.
4. The goal is to develop a Narrative/Offer with a cohesive implementation plan for the next 3 months, 6 months and beyond (or short, medium and long).
5. Start where it says “START HERE”.
6. Don’t rush.
7. Treat everything as an assumption, and test with people outside the team.

Click to download the Strategy Canvas (PDF. 101KB file download from Google Drive)