When is a strategy not a strategy, by Lisa Shaddick, Managing Director

In my job, the right word is key. So, believe me when I say, it drives me to distraction when the wrong word is used for something. Most often this is a harmless slip of the tongue or an unfortunate malapropism. But all too often my professional ecosystem, it can have unfortunate and chaotic consequences, specifically when clients use plan and strategy interchangeably. (Almost) anyone in the communications sector will tell you: they are not synonyms.

Hyperbole gone mad

Today, there seems to be a trend that values hyperbole. Corporate speak has distorted normal discussions into an odd language of its own. There is even an Australian comedic duo - Wankernomics - who has made its name from taking the piss out of these ridiculous corporate phrases.

I believe part of the plan / strategy problem may stem from this love of hyperbole. Why have a plan, when you can have a strategy *OOO AHH* Sounds much more senior and important, and surely you have spent a lot more time creating a strategy than a plan, right?

Chicken or the egg?

So, what’s the reality, and which comes first, the strategy or the plan? In my experience, this is the other reason people use these two terms interchangeably – they don’t know the difference between the two.

A strategy is a high-level, over-arching, longer-term statement or goal. Often that goal will be where you want to be, or what you want to be doing in five years. It is sometimes defined as how a company will win or how they will take advantage of their competitiveness.

A plan on the other hand is the detailed set of instructions, or in our beloved hyperbole, a “roadmap”, of how to get there, including projects, teams, accountability and so on. This can be broken into smaller plans.

Added confusion

It doesn’t help that when you Google “define strategy”, it comes up with “A plan to…” so, for people who are not schooled in this, I can understand why they may get confused. And please don’t get me started on that marvellous hybrid, a strategic plan…

Why does it matter?

Does it matter if a client sends me a plan and says it is a strategy? And I have experience of very senior marketing people not knowing what a strategy is - the struggle is real. Ultimately for me, beyond my irritation, probably not. However, for that organisation, it has a bigger issue. Its global marketing activity isn’t underpinned by a strategy; they don’t know where they should be going, so they’re most likely not all pulling in the same direction, because no one has a compass.

I’m off now to take a 30,000-foot view on some low-hanging fruit before I circle back to ideate on a mission-critical deliverable by EOD.