STRATEGIC ADVICE

A Former Colleague Deloitte and Touche, 2008

Defining the big picture

Two types of mindset are common in business - those who focus on details without seeing the bigger picture, and those who are more interested in a strategic approach than with the details. To understand both is rare.

David Best brings not only knowledge of organisational goals and drivers, but also an appreciation of the long-term goals of an organisation and its stakeholders. To manage the here and now whilst not losing sight of the longer term vision is an absolute necessity in the development and implementation of strategies for success.

As a trusted board-level adviser, he has helped some of the world’s biggest companies define the bigger picture, and the roadmap to reach their goals. The way to do this is to focus on the desired outcome, the processes needed to achieve this and how the resources of people, technology organisation should be arranged.

The big picture of strategy needs four elements to be successfully developed:
  Vision
  Clarity of purpose
  Knowledge and acceptance of constraints - and how to mitigate them.
  Knowledge and ability of resources and how to develop and deploy them.

The implementation of Strategy must be underpinned by:
  The right people for the job and the development and maintenance of the right relationships
  Lack of cliché or jargon -and clear communication of goals in a manner fit for each level of the organisation and for each group of organisational members
  Extreme simplicity of approach - consistent with the problem being addressed
  Absolute honesty and openness of communication - transparency of governance and goal
  Genuine team work and as far as humanly possible the elimination of hidden or political agendas.