How do you know when you need external help determining your strategic direction?

We see it quite often. Companies are struggling with growth and need to re-evaluate their strategy. Some enlist outside help early and others decide to go it alone. So how do you know when you should hire an external resource to help with your strategy development? Here are few things to consider.Does your strategy look the same from year to year, just the dates are changed? This is a good indication that your strategy or your internal process for developing it, has become stale. This happens more than most are willing to admit. Many times it’s because no one wants to shake things up or challenge the status-quo. Or it can be because people really don’t know what to do differently, so they stick with the “same ol’, same ol’”. Either way, it’s usually a warning sign.

Your competitors have had increasing revenues and your company has not. Ah, something is seriously amiss here. It’s possible you’ve been paying too much attention internally and not focusing on what’s going on in the market around you. This can also mean there isn’t alignment within your organization between your strategy, people and culture.  It can also mean that the objectives are not aligned with your performance measurement systems.

The market has changed around you; your customers are changing their habits…rapidly.  Many organizations will tell you they know their customers and that’s likely true. But when customer buying habits are changing rapidly, there is  most likely some disruption within your market or industry. Disruption can come from many sources and the most critical disturbances usually come from forces outside your market or industry.

So what does all of this have to do with external strategy experts?  Well an external expert can provide a valuable service in many ways. He/she can more easily challenge the status quo, your assumptions, the participants (including the CEO) and lead you through a valuable process to help you discover the necessary changes you must make in order to develop a keen growth strategy for your company. It’s not that you don’t have smart people on board – that has nothing to do with it – it’s the benefit of that outside perspective and the process that can lead your company to a better, stronger growth strategy.  I don’t believe consultants should write a company’s strategy; that should be done by those in the company who are responsible for implementing it. But having that external strategy expert guide the process can make a significant difference between mediocrity and a brilliant plan for your company’s strategic growth.