3 Reasons Why Every Department Needs Its Own Strategy

Departments need to be able to define their own approach to achieving the company’s collective goals.

January 26, 2024

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Many leaders would argue that there should be only one strategy for a company, and that strategy provides all the guidance and direction necessary for departments to create implementation plans. However, most high-level strategies have hundreds of ways they can be translated into action. In this article, the author outlines three reasons why individual departments should create supporting strategies to develop their own vision for success.

In theory, strategy is designed by executive leadership and implementation is conducted by management. But in practice, things aren’t as clear cut. It’s well known the purpose of strategy is to outline what a company is trying to achieve, and its success is predicated on how effectively that’s translated into action. But because individual departments are the stewards of implementation, there is always the danger that strategy is mistranslated, and hence where blame falls when there’s failure to deliver.

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Andrea Belk Olson is a differentiation strategist, speaker, author, and customer-centricity expert. She is the CEO of Pragmadik, a behavioral science driven change agency, and has served as an outside consultant for EY and McKinsey. She is the author of 3 books, a 4-time ADDY® award winner, and contributing author for Entrepreneur Magazine, Rotman Management Magazine, Chief Executive Magazine, and Customer Experience Magazine.