How to Find Your Organization’s Strategic Anchor

Business is in a constant state of flux. Leadership changes, brand evolutions, and shifts in strategic focus create a whirlwind if you’re managing your organization’s digital platforms. Throw in divergent stakeholder requests — all seemingly equally important but with no basis to prioritize — and the path forward can feel impossible to chart.

Roadmapping is essential to taming the chaos and a clear anchor will establish your foundation for prioritization and team alignment. Given that every organization inevitably charts some sort of change, there isn’t one definitive anchor to rely on. However, there are several to consider. Brand, business goals, and governance tenets are a few options. Let’s take a closer look.

Brand

Purpose, mission, and vision are considered the trifecta of brand definition. Ideally, all three are well-defined and in sync with one another. In practice, one is often better defined within your organization than the others.

• Purpose — The pinnacle of the brand pyramid. A definitive “why” that all your organization's work should support is ideal but rarely available.
• Mission — The more familiar statement of what your organization does is likely available but might feel a little broad.
• Vision — A strong vision sets a clear direction by combining the aspirational with the actionable. Visions that lean towards the aspirational can be tough to anchor against.

If one of these is well established, then all the work within your organization should support it.

Brand pillars which typically include three to four thematic objectives are often developed to support a purpose or mission. If available, brand pillars can provide a strong anchor to categorize your organization’s initiatives.

Business Goals

Ask anyone about their goals for the year, and they’re bound to tense up. It’s true for organizations of all stripes. Some organizations develop a three-to-five-year strategic plan that defines their forward-looking business goals or communication priorities, while others review their goals annually. If you have a longer window, you’ll likely find a stronger anchor than those with annual goals that might take months to adopt.

• Business Goals — Well-defined business goals translate into KPIs (key performance indicators) which can in turn serve as the guiding anchor for the roadmap you create.
• Communication Priorities — If your organization is mature, it may have established communication priorities. The supporting themes can provide an anchor for your upcoming initiatives.
• Technology Imperatives — Your business goals and communication priorities might feel detached from the day-to-day management of your digital platform. If so, a more tactical framing such as Enhancement, Performance, Security, and Reliability may serve as a better categorization while a P1, P2, and P3 approach can drive your prioritization.

If your organization has adopted business goals or communication priorities, consider how they can set and anchor your work. If not, consider a more tactical framing for your digital roadmaps.

Governance Tenets

People, processes, and technology (PPT) form a three-sided yin and yang. For successful outcomes, the three must work together in harmony. Yet far too often digital initiatives lean into technical solutions with less attention given to the process needed to support the solutions and the people needed to power them.

If your digital platform is starting from scratch or being reevaluated, the PPT framework can serve as an anchor to ensure that all three are given the necessary attention.

But if none of these options resonate, consider the initiatives you need to tackle and the moments they support. These are certain to reveal themes you can use to base roadmap prioritization.

It’s no secret that developing a roadmap is essential to managing a digital platform. Establishing a roadmap anchor will enable clearer prioritization while building better team alignment. Don’t get bogged down in what’s not available. Focus on what anchors you do have to set your roadmap up for success.

Need help figuring out what your organization’s strategic anchor should be? Contact us. Our strategists can help you figure it out and use it to create a roadmap for achieving your business goals.