Strategy Pyramid

27 September 2013

How should a digital leader think about their work?

I’ve found it helpful to break the answer down into various conceptual levels, like this:

Objectives

Strategy

Relationships Services

Communications Engagement Transactions

Design Content Technology

##Objectives and strategy## The highest level of the pyramid describes what the organisation is trying to achieve and how it plans to do so.

Objectives: The aims of the business or organisation
Strategy: How those organisational objectives will be achieved

##Core proposition## The second level describes what the organisation provides and its brand. Together these contribute to a strategy.

Relationships: The brand and the organisation’s relationships with customers, audiences, suppliers, stakeholders and others.
Services: The organisation’s products and services

##Interactive styles## The third level describes the styles of interaction: communicating, engaging and transacting. In different combinations these are used to form relationships and create services.

Communications: What the organisation communicates outwards to others
Engagement: How the organisation listens to, responds to and engages with others
Transactions: How the organisation deals with others

##Digital tools## The fourth level describes the key aspects of any digital solution.

Design: The flow, the constraints, the interface
Content: The words, the images, the the video
Technology: The functionality, the interoperability, the environment

I find thinking like this helpful because it ensures that one considers all the available approaches. A business’s core proposition is not just its products, but also its brand values. An organisation shouldn’t just communicate outwards, but also consider how it listens to others and how easy it is to do business with. A digital solution isn’t just design, the content and technology are just as important.

The trick, I suspect, is to be able to swiftly navigate up and down the levels and traverse across them - to ensure that all aspects have been considered.