The No. 1 Tactic to Improve your Strategy Development

Dear Strategist,

"The most common source of mistakes in management decisions is the emphasis on finding the right answer rather than the right question"
Peter Drucker, The Practice of Management

The power of questions

We are all aware of the power of asking questions:

• Stimulate critical thinking and challenge assumptions

• Uncover new insights and diverse perspectives

• Foster creativity and innovation

• Increase engagement and commitment

• Focus discussions

Aren't these all qualities that we seek in strategy? This also directly addresses common pain points of strategy development: A staggering 40% of strategy executives, in a recent BCG survey, cite a "lack of disruptive ideas" as a key pain point, while 36% highlight a "lack of focus on key issues".

What's striking in my conversations with strategy leaders is that the "Art of strategic Questioning" is not as widely embraced as one might expect.

Getting started with strategic questioning

Discovering impactful questions is an iterative process.

1. Brainstorm in the strategy team, with board members, business leaders, and function heads.

2. Use these prompts to spark ideas: - "WHY do we do things the way we do?" ...to challenge beliefs and fundamentals (not "why me?")"- WHAT if we...?" ...to generate fresh strategic options"- HOW could we...?" ...to move from idea to action

3. Refine: Effective questions walk the line between being challenging and answerable. Maintain a curious, empathetic mindset, and an appreciative, positive tone to encourage engagement and diversity.

4. Prioritize according to long-term business impact until you agree on 5-10 questions at both group and business unit levels (employing George A. Miller's "Magical number seven, plus or minus two"-rule).

5. Ask leaders to answer the identified strategic questions in the strategy development process

6. Maintain and adapt the standing list of strategic questions during the course of the year

Here's a list of real-life examples of strategic questions from my practice for inspiration.

Practical strategy nugget to take away: Use the #1 tactic to improve your strategy development process - create and maintain a list of 5-10 strategic questions. This will help generate new ideas and improve the focus of your strategy discussion - among other benefits.

What are your experiences with strategic questioning?

Sebastian