The survey was unscientific. Nevertheless, the results were a bit surprising (and valuable) to me. Perhaps they might reflect your situation as well. Maybe you are facing similar challenges in 2010 to improve your strategy effectiveness. You can download the survey here and view the complete set of results here.

The respondents answered five basic questions about strategy facing their organization or work group in the year ahead. The fourteen organizations mostly represented high technology companies ranging in annual revenues from $30M to greater than $10B. However, there were also startups and nonprofits included.

Here were the questions that I asked.

1. What is your relationship to strategy decision makers in your company or work group?
2. What types of strategy do you influence or decide in your company or work group?
3. How would you assess your company’s or work group’s strategy effectiveness?
4. What critical strategy challenges does your company or work group face in 2010?
5. What types of strategy help would help you most?

From the (admittedly) small sample, several interesting responses jump out.

Okay, we are far along in January for many people to confess. How exactly are those New Year’s resolutions going for you? Are you still going to the gym? Are you still laying off the extra slice of cake? Are you still being nice to all those annoying relatives that know exactly how to irritate you?

These are challenges. They affect how we think, act and feel about ourselves.

Business challenges abound, too. Many of us face the new year with the same old problems. We need to introduce or market products better. We need to deploy a beautifully crafted strategy throughout the organization. We need to turn our slumping business around to attract new customers.

We know that we have to do something different in 2010 (how did 2009 go for you?). That is not the debate. The challenge is deciding what to do and moving forward with something that will solve the problems rather than perpetuate them.

That is where strategic thinking comes in.

Long needed solutions often come when the epiphany of a new strategy occurs. Then, instead of trying the old approach, we do something from a new perspective. The beauty of a new perspective is that often that view is freeing. That is, the barriers to movement are removed, the organizational energy returns and a sense of hope becomes evident again.

I am conducting a survey about 2010 Strategy Challenges. The survey has five simple questions. When I am finished, I will analyze and report the survey results on my website and in my Strategically Thinking newsletter.

Would you give me your opinions?

Click here to take the survey. It will require less than five minutes of your time. Thanks!

The archetypical strategy story goes something like this …

“A small gathering of senior leaders is convened at a secluded site. The atmosphere is serious. An important decision is needed. Everyone there knows the competitors. They are attacking. Some of their attacks have been beaten back. As for the others, well, that is why the meeting is so urgent. The leader stands to speak. We must counterattack. Our stockholders and employees depend on our decisions. The organization must be aligned around a common strategy. What is that strategy to be? So many actions, priorities and resources must be congruent with it. It is time to act. Here is what we are going to do.”

When this scenario (or one like it) occurs, some days or weeks later various parts of the organization get their new assignments. Sales must target new customers. Perhaps their incentive programs are adjusted to reflect the new priorities. Marketing must adapt the product line messages to feature new attributes of the augmented product. Engineering must invest in different technologies to support new product features. Meanwhile, competitive intelligence gets new marching orders to track and report on new competitors and markets.

This is top-down strategy development. Sometimes this works spectacularly well.

A CEO faces a decision about whether to make an investment in a new product line that requires significant capital. Does he need any competitive intelligence?

A General Manager must decide the complete range of activities to implement to enter a new market segment. Does she need competitive intelligence?

The Marketing vice president struggles to clarify the winning proposition for the key brand of the company. Does his organization need competitive intelligence?

It is easy to answer “yes” to these scenarios. Each decision-maker faces choices that affect their organizations and, ultimately, influence their chances for success. However, the choices are rarely simple. For example, favoring one approach means that another must be deemphasized leading to disruptions in the organizational roles and responsibilities. Changes often imply new investments, processes and skills. These things cost precious money, time and energy that must be deducted from a finite “bank” within the company. Moreover, other stakeholders assert their importance along vectors independent of competition. For instance, owners, regulatory agencies, communities and others regularly inject their priorities into the mix considered by senior managers.

Since competitive intelligence is only one of the voices in the mix, how can it be effective (and not be unwisely drowned out)?

Here are three ideas to consider.