While working with organizations on their organizational structure (fit structure to strategy), I felt more than once, that for many organization the line between strategy and mission is blurred.
Oxford defines strategy as “a plan that is intended to achieve a particular purpose.” I grew with the concept that business strategy is a combination of what, who and how. What the business is delivering (product). “Who” is the customer. “How” defines the unique business way of the offering. A good business strategy will be: Providing a management platform for fortune 500 organizations that need to augment gig-economy in their business by automating all business and HR processes and charge per usage. Regretfully what I see more than once is “Dominating the fortune 500 organization with premium service”. This is more of a mission than a strategy.
The problem with the second example is that there isn’t any understanding of how to achieve the strategy. Without this understanding, it is not clear what different part of the organizations need to do to execute the strategy. Strategies that are missing the “how” portion of strategy impact our ability to help organizations adjusting their organization structure to implement their strategies.
When defining strategies make sure the “how” is there. Without it don’t be surprised if you won’t reach your goals.