The terms strategy development and strategic planning mean different things to different people. Not surprisingly, there are hundreds of models for developing business and organizational strategies. The basic thrust and purpose of strategy is even conceptualized in different ways. For instance, strategy has been framed as:

A learning process—Strategy is viewed as an emergent path that is created by management as a result of seeing what does and doesn’t work over time and incorporating lessons learned into revised action plans. Examples: Learning Organization (Peter Senge); Emergent Strategy (Henry Mintzberg).

A living system—Human organizations are conceived of as biological systems that grow and evolve in complex, organic ways that resist being treated like machine inputs and outputs. Example: A Simpler Way (Myron Kellner-Rogers & Margaret Wheatley).

A process of building on strengths—Emphasis is placed on the positive and building upon what’s already working well instead of focusing on gap analysis and fixing weaknesses. Examples: Appreciative Inquiry (David Cooperider); Strength Management (Marcus Buckingham).

An alignment process—The entire organization is oriented toward a focused, cohesive strategy that addresses not just the financial aspects of performance, but also the human, technological, and operational ones. Examples: Balanced Scorecard/Strategy-Focused Organization (Robert Kaplan & David Norton); Six-Box (Marvin Weisbord).

Cognition—Strategy formation is regarded as a mental process consistent with various aspects of neuroscience, such as human pattern perception and information processing. Examples: Strategic Cognition (Fran Ackermann & Colin Eden); Causal Cognitive Mapping (Gerard Hodgkinson & Nicola Bown).

Community development—Strategy formation is treated as a collective process involving various groups within the organization, so that the strategy ultimately reflects the existing community and culture. Example: Council Process (Jack Zimmerman & Gigi Coyle).

Competition or rivalry—Strategy development is construed as a rigorously analytical process aimed at improving an organization’s competitive position in an industry. Examples: Competitive Strategy (Michael Porter); SWOT Analysis (Albert Humphrey).

Designed change—Strategy formation is regarded as a process of adapting the organization’s internal strategy, structure, and processes to the external environment in order to achieve the best possible fit. Examples: Integrated Strategic Change (Christopher Worley, David Hitchin, & Walter Ross); Strategic Fit (Cornelis de Kluyver); Gestalt Theory/Field Theory (Max Werthheimer; Kurt Lewin).

Networking (alliance creation)—Strategy is viewed as the art and science of discovering new sources of profitability in networked industries. Example: Delta Project (Arnoldo Hax & Dean Wilde).

Positioning—Strategy is approached as a process of creating, focusing upon, or redefining a market segment or niche in such a way that a company can own or dominate that market. Examples: Blue Ocean Strategy (W. Chan Kim & Renée Marbourgne); Value Disciplines (Michael Treacy & Fred Wiersma); Long Tail (Chris Anderson).

Power or politics—Strategy is conceptualized as a negotiation process between power holders within the organization, or between internal and external stakeholders. Examples: Transformational Change (John Kotter); Managing with Power (Jeffrey Pfeffer).

Process improvement—Strategy creation is framed less as a response to external competition than a process of ongoing internal improvement in the interests of quality, productivity, and performance. Examples: Six Sigma (Bill Smith); Total Quality Management (Genichi Taguchi); Continuous Process Improvement (W. Edwards Deming).

Statistical insight—Competitive strategy is held to be the byproduct of abundant data, which is driven in turn by the application of sophisticated quantitative, statistical analysis and predictive modeling. Example: Competitive Analytics (Thomas Davenport & Jeanne Harris).

Structured analysis—Strategy formulation is viewed as a formal process that follows clear-cut steps based on in-depth research and structured analysis. Examples: Scenario Planning (Herman Kahn; Pierre Wack).

Value creation—Strategy development is seen as a collaborative process whereby value is constantly co-created and co-managed with stakeholders and customers. Examples: Co-Creation (C. K. Prahalad); Customer Equity (Robert Blattberg).

Visioning—Strategy is deemed to be most viable when it’s co-created by stakeholders through a process of envisioning a better future and taking individual responsibility for the initiatives needed to get there. Examples: Future Search (Marvin Weisbord & Sandra Janoff); Search Conference (Fred Emery & Eric Trist).

Which Strategy Approach Should Your Group or Organization Use?

No matter what popular strategy books may claim, no single strategy development approach has proven successful for all organizations that tried it. In fact, hybrid strategy-making approaches are often the most workable. Before mapping out the strategic planning process for a given organization, it’s important to first evaluate several factors including:

• Strategic objectives & timelines
• Organizational culture & life stage
• Organizational structure
• Leadership involvement
• Environmental & competitive factors
• Planning resources
• Planning team composition & roles
• Customary working approach

The whole point of the planning process is to improve the organization’s future performance. This requires some degree of organizational assessment to characterize the current state before choosing or designing the best-fit strategy development approach.