8 Most Common Business Strategy Problems (And How to Solve Them)

Developing and executing a business strategy can be a strenuous and time-staking process. Although the fruits may be worth it, you need to be fully committed to the process to achieve what you want. Even with a good strategy, you are likely to incur several problems. Besides, any business is a risk in itself, and the following problems are likely to be encountered. 

1. Poor Business Goal Setting

Setting undefined goals can lead to poor business outcomes. If your goal is unclear on how to configure the business, it is not going anywhere. To avoid the problem of the poorly set goal, you need to establish where the business is headed and communicate the same to all team members.

Everyone involved should understand the goals and objectives of the company, the priorities set, and individual responsibilities. Implementing best practices in setting goals such as S.M.A.R.T (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely) or OKRS (Objectives and Key Results)  will ensure the organization is headed in the right direction.

2. Limited Resources and Inadequate Capacity

The capability and tenacity of your business are what set it on a level of performance. For a strategy to be classified as great, you need to demonstrate great capacity and undying commitment. 

You should abound resources to bring the strategy to life and achieve the desired goals. In the process, you will incur the cost of hiring consultants, acquiring resources, and providing strategies. To overcome all this, start small and scale over time as you achieve more goals. 

3. Lack of Effective Leadership Skills

When building a business strategy, most organizations groom their managers to steer the project. Without proper planning and training of the staff, the organization ends up with managers and not leaders. However, strategy execution thrives with effective leadership as opposed to task management. 

To clearly address the problem of leadership, hire top-notch highly skilled leaders to implement the strategy from top to bottom. Try to look for people with previous history in leadership. 

4. Non-Committal Engagements

The execution of business strategies is an involved process. You need to have all stakeholders engaged at varying levels. Unfortunately, not everyone will be committed to the strategy or its implementation process. This leads to more harm, especially when only one part of the strategy is fully functioning.

To increase chances of success, buy-in from the management team to ensure every employee within the company is committed to strategic goals. They will all be working towards the same thing and demonstrating a higher level of commitment. 

5. Resistance to Change

Although change is inevitable, the natural human response is resistance. You may introduce a good and progressive business plan, but end up facing rigidity and bias because people favor the way they have always done things previously. 

For the desired goals to be achieved, create a change mindset throughout the organization. Open communication and a clear explanation of the strategy will go a long way bringing everyone on board.

6. Lack of Internal Expertise

The success of any business strategy will depend on how well you understand it and how the team understands market trends. While the idea may be good, it can fall easily if team members lack the internal expertise needed to articulate it. 

To avoid getting into this pitfall, develop an innovative and future-oriented way of imparting your team with knowledge. Also, bring in new and innovative talent on a demand basis.

7.Lack of Efficient Communication Channels

A business strategy can only be successfully implemented if there is clear communication. Any initiative will bounce back if the information does not flow freely throughout the organization. Besides, lack of communication channels creates disjointed and discord teams that spread uncertainty towards a new strategy. 

Keep communication lines open to allow teams to prioritize the strategy. When information is flowing freely, everyone will be talking the same language and working towards the same goal. 

08. Bad landscape understanding

Not understanding who your competitors are, what their capabilities and weaknesses are, can lead to positioning your company in the wrong spot in “red water”- a high competition positioning or where there is a price battle.

In order to avoid this common mistake, make a vast market research. Analyze the landscape & think what can you do better than them (or different). SWOT analysis can be a helpful framework to find this out.