Strategic Growth Strategies: Jazz vs Classical Symphony

I’ve had the privilege of working as a strategic adviser and investor with companies of many different sizes – from those in the early growth stages to Fortune 500 companies.

The basic tenets of growth strategy apply to them all: Establish a compelling vision, define a durable competitive advantage and develop a clear execution plan. But a firm’s strategic and operational philosophy should change during different phases in its business-building process.

There are two predominant modes for a firm to recognise: strategy as jazz and strategy as classical symphony.

Which strategy you require depends on your company’s stage on the scale of growth. Are you in an early proof-of-concept stage or are you ready to scale up to the next level?

Jazz is intimate and improvisational. Jazz musicians can create great things out of disparate inputs because of their raw individual talent and adaptive skills. Like jazz, strategy at the formation and early growth stages happens in real time – the leader plays along with the band. Instead of a perfectly premeditated plan, it’s critical to have a big vision and a directional sense of what the strategy and business model might be.

The one thing certain of early stage business plans is that they’ll look quite different in a year or even a few months.

As a company grows, it needs to shift into a more symphonic mode, with the leader acting as a conductor. In order for the business to scale, plans need to be worked out more fully. This phase requires more rigorous research, more delegation (conductors don’t play instruments and conduct at the same time) and a greater focus on team alignment and metrics.

Entrepreneurs who struggle with more formal structures and with letting go of things they once controlled, often fail to lead at this stage.

Of course, in the real world, the alignment between a company’s size and the type of growth strategy it requires isn’t absolute. Large companies sometimes need to go through stages of transition and innovation, and smaller businesses periodically need to step back in order to structure and plan things. The key is to recognize which strategic theme is most appropriate at any given time. Doing so ensures your company has the leadership skills and strategic plan it needs.

Distributed by The New York Times Syndicate