What is a Strategy Map

What is a Strategy Map

  

There's a lot of pieces of the puzzle to fit in during the strategic planning process. How do you define the company's best goals? How do you make sure they get linked? A strategic plan is a fail-safe way to help operate in the right order through the goals and strategies of the company.

It is a useful tool for all tactical plans and delivery cycles to put into play.

What's the strategic map?

A strategic plan is a depiction of goals and how they relate to one another. The map is created and used as a key source during regular review meetings. A standard plan arranges goals into four groups or viewpoints. Robert Kaplan and David Norton created these views as part of their plan for the Balanced Scorecard.

The four views for-profit companies include:

1.) Finance

2.) Customer

3.) Processes / Transformation

4.) People/Learning & Growth

The first two views can be defined as "what we get," whereas the latter two are more "what we do." To understand a strategy plan correctly, one should read the "plot" from the bottom up view as what you choose directly affects what you get.

A strategic plan is created from top to bottom. It is vital to know the company's ultimate goal. It is crucial before defining the supporting goals needed to achieve it. There are many things to be made from strategy planning. The most important perhaps is the focus on cross-team functions.

The business plan helps the company to think of how different roles connect and support each other.

How to build a strategy map?

While you may be reading a strategy plan from bottom up, you are creating it from the top downwards.

The map should be created in this order:

1. Finances:

It's a norm to use two fiscal plan metrics: revenue growth and efficiency. For non-profits and communities, your goal is at the top of the strategy chart, not fiscal.

2. Customers:

The client benefit factor should be at the heart of your plan, so it comes straight after the financials. For-profit firms tend to focus on achieving one of three value proposals:

A) Product leadership

B) Customer intimacy

C) Operational excellence

To map your plan easily, one must choose which one of these three is vital — it's illogical to measure them all equally. Making this selection is a major factor in one's plan.

In non-profits and communities, the workers would replace clients. And the three value ideas will be about serving those citizens "needs."

3. Processes / Transformation:

When your financial and customer views are defined, one will focus on HOW (through what methods) to achieve the goals.

A) Improve growth by creativity and new-market growth.

B) Aim to improve service by boosting client ties.

C) Working to succeed in service.

D) Create positive ties with partners.

4. People / Learning & Growth:

Here's the plan base. This view describes the skills and knowledge required to make the processes work quickly. It helps to provide value to customers. These boosts company funds.

The details can change from company to company. What one defines as training and growth relies on goals, as stated.

Why should we create a Strategy Map

Trying to learn what strategy mapping doesn't always mean knowing why it's so vital. And here are strong reasons to generate a map and other ideas for sustained use and precision.

The fact is one can skip creating a strategy map — but shouldn't. The design of the four views forces one to look into what you are trying to achieve and how to get there. Strategy plans to aid in defining key goals and find gaps before setting anything in place and looking to start. Such maps show how crucial is company assets. This includes worker knowledge and client value.

In the future, strategy maps could be used to check tactics to achieve one's goals. In brief, Strategy map helps you to review progress and maintain consistency as you move through the stages of action.

Most critically, strategy maps give workers an idea as to how their work relates to goals at the top level. When workers feel their work adds to the overall goals of the company. It is a vast efficiency driver and a morale booster.

Failure to get every worker to know their own role in the strategy can cause the strategy itself to fail. Progress means a massive increase in worker interest and service effort on the part of all staff. It is regular workers who help or hurt companies despite the policy of the leaders.

Combining Strategy Map and Balanced Scorecard

A Strategy Plan includes no steps but goals. By using a strategic plan as part of the Balanced Scorecard, we can combine the strength of both tools. Strategy plans provide a way to link the goals to the balanced scorecard that offers a path-based plan. And connects the metrics and initiatives to the company's plan. Measures within the scorecard system are matched with the goals set.

An action plan is linked to goals and related expenses. We can put steps alongside the goals that correspond to:

What are the benefits of Strategy plans?

These are the pros of creating plan maps for a company's effective performance:

A) It allows one to review the company's results on a single page and how to increase it.

B) It lets you look closer into the individual parts and how these connect to each other.

C) This lets one identify brief-term goals, which will lead to the creation of long-term plans.

D) Assist one in expressing various goals and roles, allowing them to work.

E) It gives one a clear path to the duties and roles of workers in the company.

F) By strategy panning, one can create ideas that are useful to the company's goals and targets.

Final Thoughts

A clear path is needed for all to know what they're working on and what goals to achieve to improve output. When one identifies strategic goals or targets on a strategy plan and link them through lines.

We will see a lead-and-effect relation between those goals. One can then measure the value of one goal in meeting the other goals. It will help you create a plan of action and develop a whole plan according to the company's goals. One can track and manage the strategy's deployment.

Strategy plans offer useful knowledge in a visual, easy-to-know way that lets all on board. Remember —

*Create from top-down, read from bottom-up.

*Keep it simple-limit goals and ties

*Use a SWOT review to pick critical items for the company.


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