How to Develop a Winning Strategy: 7 Essentials for a Winning Team

How to Develop a Winning Stratagey: 7 Essentials for Leadership Teams

As a young(ish!) CFO at 34, I found Boardroom conversations on strategy to be sometimes abstract...even elusive. Perhaps it was my training as an accountant, but I found discussions on the topic like a collection of interesting ideas, sometimes structured, sometimes not. Within the fog, there were real gems of insight, but they were sometimes lost in the noise. I quickly realised that ideas are not strategy. They are simply...ideas.

It wasn’t until I went back and completed my Master’s in Business at the IMI that I learned how to strike the right balance: creating space for innovation and creativity, while also bringing discipline and structure to the process. That clarity in execution is what gives strategy its power, and what turns good ideas into actions that drive results.

So what does it take to develop a winning strategy that aligns teams, unlocks value, and positions your business for sustainable growth? From my experience, there are seven essentials every leadership team should focus on:

1. Clear Vision & Purpose

Define the “why” behind your business. Without a clear purpose, strategy becomes aimless. Too many strategies are built on wishful thinking. A winning strategy begins with clarity about your customer value proposition, market position, capabilities, and culture. That means asking tough questions and engaging external perspectives - not just relying on internal narratives.

Tip: Ask yourself, “If our business disappeared tomorrow, what would our customers and people miss the most?” The answer often uncovers your true purpose.

2. Know Your Unfair Advantage

Understand your market, your competitors, and your own capabilities. Strategy without analysis is guesswork. Every successful strategy leverages something distinctive. It might be your pricing strategy, customer relationships, data, operational know-how, brand, or people. Understanding and building on your “unfair advantage” is how you beat the competition, not just keep up.

Tip: Go beyond financials. Look at trends, customer behaviours, and industry disruptors that could reshape your competitive position.

3. Prioritise Ruthlessly

One of the biggest risks in strategy development is trying to do everything. Winning strategies focus energy and resources on a few critical plays, and say no to distractions. One of the greatest frustrations for managers is being asked to deliver a critical project, while simultaneously fielding new initiatives that clearly don’t align with the strategy. It’s the responsibility of leadership to shield them from these distractions and keep the focus on what truly matters.

Ask: What are the three things we must get right in the next 12–24 months to win? Keep coming back to these and kill the distractions.

4. Build Capability Into Your Strategy

The gap between aspiration and execution is where most strategies fail. Winning strategies are grounded in a clear-eyed view of what your organisation can deliver, and what capabilities need to be built or acquired.

Tip: Assess where there are gaps in your organisation's capabilities and invest in them. You may need to bring in new talent to fill a skills gap or create bandwith, or you may need to invest in technology to make the transformation a reality.

5. Engage Your Team Early

Strategy isn’t just for the boardroom. Engaging your wider leadership and management teams early in the process creates alignment, energy, and ownership. This doesn’t mean creating strategy by committee, it means getting buy-in and alignment before execution starts.

Tip: Communication is key. Bring it back to the 'why', create excitement about the strategy, have open and honest conversations with all stakeholders. Ask and answer the difficult questions if others don't.

6. Adaptability & Resilience

Strategy is not a once-off exercise. It’s a living framework that must adapt as markets, technology, and customer needs evolve. The only certainty is uncertainty itself. Allowing adaptability creates resilience, a culture of innovation, and an environment for your teams to thrive and take ownership of projects.

Tip: Build in regular reviews of your strategy and encourage ongoing innovation. Small adjustments now will prevent big shocks later.

7. Translate strategy into action

A great strategy that never gets implemented is just a slide deck. The final, and most overlooked step, is turning strategy into action with clear accountabilities, timeframes, and measures of progress. That’s why at Stratavera, our approach doesn’t stop at planning. We support businesses through value creation roadmaps, transformation initiatives, and execution reviews to ensure momentum is sustained.

Final Thought

If your strategy isn’t clear, focused, and actionable, it’s unlikely to deliver results. The good news? Most leadership teams don’t need a total overhaul - they just need time, space, and the right facilitation to get clear on what matters most. Stratavera’s Clarity service is designed to help leadership teams step back, refocus, and align on what it takes to win.

✅ Interested in building a better strategy? Book a free consultation at Stratavera.ie and let’s talk about how we can help you unlock clarity - and create competitive advantage.