Strategic work is not only for large companies with many employees. It is at least as important for small and medium-sized companies, where the owner is in the middle of the operations every day.
According to Poul von Wowern, strategy is not about 50-page PowerPoint presentations, lengthy processes or fine words that end up in the desk drawer. It is about something much more practical: creating direction, prioritizing correctly and having more peace of mind.
The phone rings. An employee is missing an answer. A customer is waiting. A task needs to be completed now. This is how everyday life looks for many business owners in Bornholm. Operations take up a lot of time. Therefore, strategic planning often becomes something that you think you should take the time to do later. The problem is that “later” rarely comes.
– Many think: “We’ll have to look into this when we get a little more air.” But if you never stop and look at the company from the outside, you just keep going week after week without really making conscious strategic choices, says Poul von Wowern from Von Wowern Consult.
He works daily with strategy, leadership, and development in companies and experiences that many owner-managers view strategy work as something big, heavy, and resource-intensive. Poul would like to change that perspective.
– Strategy should be understood as a direction that makes sense and can be used in everyday life, he says.
Get dressed with a map and compass
According to Poul, he often encounters companies that fall into one of two categories.
The first group started the company out of a desire to create something or solve a need they could see in the market. Here, daily operations and employees take up almost all of the time, while plans and long-term decisions are rarely considered. You say yes to the customers who come. Expand when things are busy. Adapt when something presses up against you. Problems are solved one at a time. But that also means that the company is highly governed by randomness, and that larger decisions become more difficult to make when you don’t know where you’re headed.
The second group actually thinks about which direction the company should develop in. The problem is that the thoughts stay inside the head and never turn into concrete action.
– Some companies have thought about where they want to go. But if it is not concretized, it will not be translated into actions either, says Poul.
– You wouldn’t probably sail around the world without a map and a compass. So why run a business without knowing where you want to go, how you’ll get there, and what actions are needed to achieve the goal? says Poul.
Strategy should be understood as a direction that makes sense and can be used in everyday life.
Choose a direction and make it concrete
For many companies, strategy quickly becomes an abstract concept. Therefore, the goal is to make the work simple and operational.
Poul recommends that companies start by finding their direction: What do they really want to achieve with the company? What customers do they want to target? What products make sense to focus on? And where do they want to go geographically? Once the direction is clear, they should choose no more than three focus areas.
– This is where you need to decide whether a new website should be prioritized so that you can attract the customers you want. Or whether now is the time to invest in an ISO certification because you can see that some requirements will be introduced further down the line. Choose a maximum of three focus areas. Not four or five. Otherwise, you’ll lose focus and won’t really achieve anything.
After that, the focus areas must be translated into concrete actions: Who does what, when – and how? If a task is so large that it can only be completed in half a year, it is probably too extensive and should be divided into smaller parts. That makes it easier to track progress along the way.
– We humans become motivated when we can feel progress. If it takes too long before we see results, we lose our energy, he explains.
According to Poul, companies often make the same mistakes when they try to work strategically. They jump right into action.
– Many people jump straight into activities and solutions without first having found the direction. But if the direction is not in place, it becomes difficult to prioritize what is actually the right thing to start with.
The strategy should also serve as a guiding principle in everyday life. Whenever new opportunities or tasks arise, one should ask oneself: Does this fit into our direction?
Strategy is about choices
Strategy is about knowing where you’re headed so that you can make the right decisions along the way.
– It’s not just about choosing to – but just as often about choosing from. For a Bornholm-based business owner, it can be the difference between chasing after every opportunity that arises and being able to assess it objectively: Does this really fit the company we’re trying to build?
Strategy is sometimes misunderstood as something rigid. That’s not how Poul sees it. Companies must be able to adapt along the way without changing course, every time the outside world moves. This also applies to major agendas such as Energy Island Bornholm, changing markets, rising costs, or new technologies. They can create challenges and opportunities, but it’s rare that they overturn the foundation.
– You should neither be a speedboat nor an oil tanker when it comes to changing direction. You should be somewhere in the middle. And when new opportunities or challenges arise, the question should be: Does this change our direction – or should we simply adjust our focus areas?
Culture beats strategy
Even the best strategy doesn’t work if it doesn’t suit the company’s culture. This is yet another classic mistake companies can make when choosing a direction.
– You can come up with a strategy that’s good enough, but culture almost always wins.
For example, if a company builds its business on close personal relationships, a digital initiative could risk removing some of the company’s core value, and suddenly customers will defect because they can no longer recognize the company.
– The strategy must also make sense to the employees of the company. It must fit the values and culture. Culture can be shaken, but it can also be shaken completely.
Bornholm companies turn ideas into action
Poul has met quite a few Bornholm-based companies through both events and strategic projects in which Business Center Bornholm has been a project partner. Among other things, in the Baltic Energy Island – Strengthened SMEs project, companies have received help in preparing for upcoming tasks related to Energiø Bornholm.
Here he has witnessed first-hand how Bornholms companies work with strategy and direction.
– Several of the companies I met on the island came straight home from the workshops and changed things immediately. They want to act when things become concrete, Poul says.
This is a photo shared by Jørn Pedersen, senior business consultant and project manager at Business Center Bornholm.
– With over 350 meetings with 200 companies last year, we talk with a lot of companies. And here I can just say that the owners of Bornholm-based companies are much more action-oriented than they might even believe themselves to be. We often see the companies taking action on the things we discuss at the meetings or taking concrete steps after our events, he says.
Find someone who can keep you close to the fire
The very possibility of sparring can be crucial for whether the strategic work is maintained. The most important thing about sparring is having someone to hold the mirror up. Someone who can challenge the direction and help keep the focus on the areas you have chosen to prioritize.
“Having someone to discuss things with is often crucial for creating momentum,” says Poul.
This can be through a business consultant at Business Center Bornholm, a network, or a board/advisory board. AI can also be used as a sparring partner to test ideas and get feedback on their plans. However, it cannot replace the human commitment.
– The disadvantage of an AI sparring partner is that it’s not as good at keeping you accountable. It doesn’t call you up and ask if you did what you said you were going to do, adds Jørn.
The strategy doesn't have to be complicated
According to Poul, many companies are surprised by how simple strategic work actually is. He often experiences this after workshops on strategy and development.
– Many people say afterwards: “Was that really all there was to it?”
Therefore, his message to business owners in Bornholm is simple: Strategy is not a heavy academic task, and it is not just for large companies with many employees and complex processes. It is a practical tool that can provide direction, peace of mind, and better decisions in everyday life.