The art of strategy - Use creativity in your planning
I find creativity in planning. There is art in strategy.
How dare someone using the constraints of data, spreadsheet formulas, and timelines suggest those are the same as art and creativity? Numbers are rigid, and we learn in early math education that an answer is either right or it’s wrong. With art, if you “mess up” you’ve really just unintentionally created something else. You can erase, you can start over. You can play and experiment with your creation until YOU decide it’s “right.”
And what if I told you that developing a strategy and a plan is the same thing?
There are elements of structure that artists, musicians, dancers, writers, and designers will follow to end up with the result that they want. A photographer doesn’t just wave their camera around and shoot, hoping that they capture something good. There is a strategy to art. And there is art in strategy. I minored in photography almost 20 years ago. (Before digital cameras!) When I photograph something it’s because I want to translate what I’m seeing to someone else. I want the visual to tell a story. I want it to evoke feelings. That’s what makes well-known photographers … well, …known. There have been plenty of times I will see an image I took and at first glance, it doesn’t look like much. It’s too busy, there’s not a clear subject, or the subject is floating around and doesn’t have positioning that makes a visual statement. And sometimes, I notice this image can be turned into something it didn’t begin as. I rearrange it. I crop it, I change the lighting, I change the angle and the perspective. Suddenly, there’s art from something that was “wrong.” I can have a vision for what I want the end result to be and I use tools and knowledge to create it.
Choreography is planning a dance, drafting is planning a story, and choosing your colors and medium is a plan for your painting. A director executes the plan for a show to come to life.
What’s right and what’s wrong in planning for your business? You get to decide. I mean, if you’re not able to pay your bills I might say you’re doing it wrong, but just like art, you can start over or rearrange what you have. Your business is created from a vision. It’s art!
And when you like how things came out you can build off of what worked to create more. If you’re seeing success in your business, such as making the revenue that you want, and seeing repeat customers happy with what you’re delivering, you’re still allowed to change what’s “right” for your business. You can develop the vision to be enjoyed by more people. Move the target, rearrange, and crop. In business, that might look like a fresh idea and what you’ll do to implement that idea.
A strategic plan for your business is how you’re going to make the vision of your company come to life. You decide what the numbers are, you change things up if they’re not developing the way you want. You direct (or hire directors) to steer the rest of your team toward creating the vision. The most successful businesses and leaders know that you can change how something looks. You can try one thing and if it’s not working you crop it and rearrange it to be something else.
Expansive business leaders foster innovation, evoke emotions in their audience, and are willing to experiment for different outcomes.