{"id":42410,"date":"2025-10-13T06:45:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-13T04:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/strtgy.design\/articles\/strategic-agility-or-operational-schizophrenia\/"},"modified":"2025-11-03T10:59:05","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T09:59:05","slug":"strategic-agility-or-operational-schizophrenia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/strtgy.design\/en\/strtgy-notes-en\/strategic-agility-or-operational-schizophrenia\/","title":{"rendered":"Strategic agility or operational schizophrenia?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Giusti Garden, Verona – Antonio Civita 2025<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n
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“Bad strategy isn’t the absence of strategy, but an approach to work that contains contradictions, fails to address the challenges at hand, or tries to be all things to all people.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\u2014 Richard Rumelt, author of Good Strategy, Bad Strategy<\/a><\/p>\n\n

\u2014<\/p>\n\n

If we want to accelerate the growth of a company, we must separate two things that are often confused : planning and strategy<\/strong> . <\/p>\n\n

Planning is about learning, not being right. <\/p>\n\n

Strategy, on the other hand, means choosing how to win, where to focus limited energy, and what evidence we will use to correct course, faster than our competitors can. <\/p>\n\n

In this newsletter, I share five practical drivers I use in collaborations with leaders and teams. They’re simple to understand, challenging to apply<\/strong> . <\/p>\n\n

When systematized with MAKE PROGRESS\u00ae, they become the most solid way to move from idea to results without wasting time and motivation<\/strong> .<\/p>\n\n

1) Separate \u201cbusiness as usual\u201d from innovation<\/h2>\n\n

Current management and innovation do not have the same metabolism. <\/p>\n\n

The first thrives on stability, efficiency, and reduced variability. <\/p>\n\n

The second requires exploration, rapid testing, tolerance for error, and short learning cycles. Mixing the two environments produces a paradox: routine stifles novelty, novelty destabilizes routine. I discussed this in Note 221<\/a> . <\/p>\n\n

The result is a tired company, always busy but rarely making progress<\/strong> .<\/p>\n\n

The first step is to separate.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n

In business as usual<\/strong> , standards, roles, operational metrics, and clear cadences are defined. These are what we call Systems at MAKE PROGRESS. Here’s an in-depth look at them, along with 10 KPIs to measure them.<\/a><\/p>\n\n

Innovation<\/strong> requires investments in small but dedicated budgets and timeframes, with explicit timeframes and scale criteria. <\/p>\n\n

Here MAKE PROGRESS\u00ae helps with canvases and rituals that avoid religious wars between those who produce today and those who build tomorrow<\/strong> .<\/p>\n\n

A question for you:<\/strong> in the current way of working, are we just executing or are we learning along the way how our customers and non-customers are evolving?<\/em><\/p>\n\n

2) Don’t confuse schizophrenia with agility<\/h2>\n\n

Agility isn’t about running in all directions. It’s about choosing, learning, and focusing<\/strong> . <\/p>\n\n

I see managers full of open initiatives, few closed ones, and little impact. It’s the “let’s go and see” syndrome confused with non-scientific experimentation. The energy of the launch is often confused with the value created. <\/p>\n\n

Strategic agility starts with clear assumptions: who are we playing for, what problem are we solving, what mechanism makes us difficult to imitate, what signals will measure progress.<\/p>\n\n

In practice, every initiative should be born with three written and shared elements: <\/p>\n\n

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  1. the advantage hypothesis,<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. the success and stop criteria, <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. the testing time window. <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n

    Then you need the courage to say no, to close, to refocus. Agility is a training ground for sacrifice.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n

    With MAKE PROGRESS\u00ae, I’ve started using a “choice log” that makes strategic noes visible. The team discovers that eliminating friction frees up more speed than multiplying projects. <\/p>\n\n

    A question for you:<\/strong> Which ongoing initiatives lack a clear stopping criterion and are wasting energy with no prospect of impact?<\/em><\/p>\n\n

    3) Build the Progress Loop<\/h2>\n\n

    Every strategy flows in a continuous cycle: learning \u2192 inventing \u2192 choosing \u2192 planning \u2192 executing \u2192 learning again\u2026<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n

    We call it the Progress Loop<\/strong> . It’s the minimal form of a strategic operating system. If just one of the loops fails, the company enters survival mode<\/em> , where everything seems vital because opinions drive every decision. <\/p>\n\n

    In practice the loop only works if the rhythms are clear. <\/p>\n\n