6.2 THE STRATEGIST IN YOU: Communicating Your Organization's Strategy Concisely

(SHORT NOTES FROM STRATEGY TOOLS:

Executing Strategies at http://www.mindtools.com)

www.dinokengscenarios.co.za

The Pyramid of Purpose

Effective strategic planning is essential to the success of any business.  God strategy will fail if people don't understand it.  Business needs both effective strategic planning and good communication of strategy.  A graphical description of your strategy can often communicate your strategy more effectively than a weighty document.

One popular technique for communicating strategy graphically is called "the Pyramid of Purpose".  One way of describing strategy is by answering the hierarchy questions.

 

The starting point for your Pyramid of Purpose is to explain the "why", which will draw on values, mission statement and vision statement for the organization.  The next steps of building your pyramid must define the "what", then the "how" and finally the "who".

The Pyramid of Purpose is a graphical depiction of an organization's strategic plan.  It puts the various elements of a good strategic plan into a pyramid form.  It is easy to see the "big picture" and relationships between different elements of the plan in a form that is easy to understand: The purpose shown at the apex cascades from one level of strategy to the next.