Gesundes StrategieverständnisGesundheit - 3/6
- 9. June 2016
- Posted by: Ralf Juhre
- Categories:
The corporate strategy is the sum of all the plans of managers and employees in the company, which are intended to make the long-term survival of the company possible by considering the possible alternative future prospects in the company and the environments relevant to the company.
The target bearers of every strategy are all those involved in the company, not just the management because everyone is affected and interested in the continued existence of the company. Strategy development and implementation is still regarded as a top-down process in large parts of the academic world and, above all, by most management consultancies. Here an almost impenetrable dogma prevails. The justification for this approach is that it is necessary to set targets from above because employees are not competent to develop the strategy. Behind this paradigm of thinking, which has been conveyed for many years, a Tayloristic approach can be seen: A distinction is made between manual and mental work. And practice teaches us better over and over again: In almost every company in which the strategy is understood as a TOP-DOWN process, we have observed for years that it basically dies at the second or at the latest third management level and from then on is no longer implemented in the company. Even the middle management therefore no longer really accepts the strategy, not to mention the employees who carry out the daily work. Even complex measures to communicate strategy are often unsuccessful, it does not penetrate into the workforce, is neither understood, affirmed and internalized nor lived. Who is surprised? A paradigm shift is urgently needed here.
Based on a healthy view of people that takes employees, suppliers, and customers seriously and sees them as successful partners for improvement, it is essential to involve all those involved as much as possible in the strategy definition process. With a few exceptions, however, this hardly ever happens, even though there are very suitable techniques available.
In the sense of holistic corporate health, the strategy is not formulated by top management, but by the entire corporate community, i.e. including the entire autopoietic (self-renewing) system of the company.
If the successful partners are not adequately involved in the process of strategy development and implementation, the organization itself reduces its manifold opportunities for innovation. The majority of employees or stakeholders who are willing and able to identify are thus excluded as potential partners for success. However, since they are and want to be part of the autopoietic system, the innovative strength is reduced to a maximum. In a healthy company or organization, the entire strategy process is a thought process of the entire corporate community and not just of the top management. Where this is lived, there is a completely different implementation quality of the strategy. A healthy strategy always keeps the interests of the owners, employees, suppliers, and customers in balance and is not designed to exploit a partner for one’s own advantage. Where this happens, there is always a systemic balancing movement that manifests itself in the form of resistance and conflict.