It’s a new Fiscal Year, already! Although Fiscal Year 2014 (FY2014) went by very quickly, we accomplished and learnt many valuable lessons that have helped craft our strategy for FY2015. In August, I gathered our troops (managers and directors) and headed out into the beautiful South African bush for an intense, and fun, two days of strategic thinking to prepare ourselves for FY2015. Along with our choice of venue Thula Thula, a game reserve in Zululand, South Africa, which is home to the elephants that feature in Lawrence Anthony’s bestseller “The Elephant Whisperer”, we chose Elon Musk to be the inspiration for our strategic thinking getaway to align ourselves for success in FY2015.
Perhaps the venue and Lawrence Anthony’s legacy speaks for itself but why Elon Musk? Well…
- He is South African like us.
- He is also a similar age to some of us and went to a school that we played sport against.
- And, of course, he is the talk of Silicon Valley for, amongst other reasons, being the only person or entity that has put a rocket into space other than the USA, Russia and China. That’s inspirational!
To set the tone for an excellent two days of fun, innovative and bold thinking, we started by watching an inspiring video on Elon Musk which was created by one of our team members: then we got working! Our approach to strategy is simple and based on the following principles:
- Strategy is our purpose and vision
- Values are what guides our behaviour
- Tactics are the key themes we choose to invest in and become very good at
- Strategy for us doesn’t happen over two days in a year; it’s a rigorous and purposeful process or conversation that is kept alive throughout the year
This year Thula Thula and Elon Musk gave us a renewed sense of what is really important to our strategy:
1. Relationships
Sage Alchemex has been built on genuine and lasting business relationships. This is a key focus area that has helped us achieve our dreams, and we never want to lose sight of it, ever.
2. Ease of use
We are immensely proud of the innovation, enhanced performance and sophistication of our product, Sage Intelligence, over the last 3 years but all agreed that ease of use is a key theme for focus and investment in FY15.
3. Accountability
With an employee Net Promoter Score of 89% and staff retention of 98% we are comfortable that we are creating a culture where our team members can thrive but we’ve decided that we need more accountability. We believe that A-Team players demand to know how well they are performing and our role as leaders is to provide a framework for accountability. To achieve this we’ve chosen to invest in a leadership programme from Schuitema called Care and Growth and we’re going to ensure that our measures of success are more objective and tangible.
Centre: Getting some work done.
Right: Zulu dancers performing.
We believe in proactively working towards a shared direction and values; an understanding of what is really important to get right, and; holding ourselves accountable for delivering x-factor performance. I have no doubt that FY2015 will be another successful year for us and I am thankful to both Thula Thula and Elon Musk for providing richness to our strategy work.
