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Living Strategy: Guiding Your Association through the Rugged Landscape Ahead
As we all well know, the world has changed dramatically since the times when traditional strategic planning first became the foundation on which organizations of all types, including associations, were based. The landscape on which associations operated was then relatively predictable, stable, and homogenous. Now it is filled with uncertainty, rapid change, and increasingly diverse players and dynamics. These players not only think and act differently than they used to; they keep changing their minds about what they want and expect from the world around them. So for example, a wide range of choices in just about every area is no longer considered an association benefit; it’s considered a minimal requirement. Yet given this dizzying environment in which associations find themselves, why do so many keep doing strategic planning as if it were still 1960? What associations need is strategy and a process for creating it that flexes, adapts, and evolves to still make sense in this complex environment. In other words, they need a “living strategy.” What Is Living Strategy? Living strategy recognizes that associations and their environments are much more like living organisms within a complex ecological system than they are like mechanisms within a human-designed and -controlled system. After all, they are made up of people within a world of many other people. What could be more natural, more unpredictable, and more “alive” than people, with all our frailties, moods, and dreams? Therefore, living strategy, as we practice it, is based on the sciences and tools related to living systems, particularly those that can be applied to organizations as living systems. These include complexity science, life science, social science, community development, dialogue, storytelling, and organic approaches to knowledge and learning. In short, living strategy is the dynamic story of the shared aspirations, strategic direction, and strategic outcomes of the association and the community it supports, and it is emerging and continuously evolving from the collective knowledge of the community and from ongoing dialogue among all members of the community around the most important issues they face together. The table on page 10 offers some distinctions between traditional strategic planning and living strategy. The more complex and interesting of these living strategy concepts are further described after the table and then illustrated through a story of how living strategy is being “lived” within the American Society for Quality. 
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More Articles From Winter 2004 Issue
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Winter 2004
