The Iod Membership – The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

1. The Iod Membership – The Good, the Bad and the Ugly There are many good reasons to join IOD as a member. There are also some dubious reasons why you should not join. In this article I give you my honest opinion about joining and what to expect. It’s that time of year when boards look to review or update their strategic plan for the future direction of the business. This is more of a priority now many organisations have adjusted to the disruption of 2021 and seek to thrive in the new and disrupted markets we are navigating. This deep dive, presented by Pivot & Pace partner Greg Allnutt, will outline some of the pitfalls of mediocre strategy and how they occur, and define what high performance could look like and the board/management team processes that drive this. A 25 minute presentation will be followed by a peer discussion where the following will be covered; What are the financial levers that support your strategy. How will people, resources & innovation move the needle to meet your strategy objectives. - Anne Frank There are a number of things that make a clear strategy difficult; the 1P World where strategy management is relative and the incumbent interests are hard to change. In many ways this has made the boards of major corporations very successful. Without enough effort boards will generally focus too narrowly or not at all where the huge investment they have made at the beginning stage on a deliberate strategic strategy is required. At one point or another every business I have run or been a board member involved has suffered from analysing the boss’s opinion and deciding what to fund or ignore without ever being asked how strategy will be translated into business objectives and persevering if appropriate. Managing large budgets and peeling the layers of management requires investment in people, technology, Human Capital and bringing the organisation together to drive business outcomes. What virtues should you recruit for, focus your attention and experiences on, and what reputation issues should you avoid for sales and marketing to achieve your strategic objectives. Before we get into some of the different concepts a strategic review looks at, I want to explain what a strategic audit is and why it’s so important. IOD runs a number of strategic reviews each year, all of which are independent audits where a board or management team review the strategy, tactics & processes. Learn more at www.iim.org.uk