The purpose of strategy is to relate the values and assets of the organisation most effectively to its environment in order to achieve its purpose. EPIC Strategy is an instrumental framework for developing practical strategies that relate the people and organisational values to their emerging environment.
EPIC is an acronym for “Educating”, “Planning”, “Implementing” and “Checking”. The EPIC Strategy process deliberately involves as many iterations as are required to achieve the purpose.
EPIC Strategy employs as many of the traditional tools as are needed. What makes EPIC Strategy uniquely valuable to getting practical results is the way that the tools are used dynamically and engagingly together so that the people who will most directly implement and inevitably have to adapt a strategy are most involved with developing it.
EPIC Strategy recognises that in theory there may be no difference between theory and practice, but in practice there is and most traditional strategies have been produced by senior managers out of business school books to be implemented by others. Today this simply does not work, if it ever did. What the traditional way creates now is inordinate delays and frustrations at an executive level, disengagement and alienation at the operating level and competitive disconnection at a corporate level.
By clearly showing how different elements inter-relate and valuing how discovery enables strategic change change, EPIC Strategy engages all stakeholders in a living, vibrant, practical initiative that delivers sustainable business results with pace, without rushing.
EPIC Strategy begins with Educating, i.e. reflecting about the values of the organisation, its founders, sponsors and people as well as its stakeholders. It continues with learning about the changing environment, competitors and co-operators. This leads to mindful exploration of the possibilities and aims of the organisation leading to a broad vision of a desirable future state and a feeling of shared purpose and mission to achieve it.
Planning follows, which involves the drafting of the key processes and resources required to achieve the aims. EPIC Strategy recognises that many strategies start to fail at this stage as people begin to realise that their true values are not as they felt them in a sterile planning forum and that many of the theories are not actually appropriate. EPIC Strategy allows, even invites reflection and rethinking at this stage, recognising it is much cheaper and easier to change now than later and structuring such important questioning into the strategic process so that it does not frustrate or delay the strategic aims.
Implementation follows. That should be implementation by people who developed the strategy. At the moment of implementation any problems in planning become apparent and it is a vitally important time for learning and refining the strategy. The better the path to implementation has been prepared, the easier and swifter it will be, but it is wise to implement slowly and surely and be willing to pause and reflect on early results and reactions and iif necessary revisit the Planning.
Checking must follow any implementation to learn from the whole and continuing process so that future strategic thinking will be better and more sound. EPIC Strategy integrates different tools to ensure that this Checking happens as part of the strategic process, so that organisational learning takes place.
EPIC Strategy is available as an e-book and as a workshop customised to your organisation. Please phone Jonathan WIlson on +44 7971 018921 or email below for more information. Thank you.