When Strategy Flails

Fast Company's October 17, 2011, newsletter contains a list of the 20 riskiest business moves of 2011, ranging from strategic reversals by telecoms to the abrupt departure of celebrity CEO's.  What these have in common is that each reflects a flailing about by a struggling organization.  As a strategy, flailing stinks, but it is what we see so many organizations, nonprofit and for-profit alike, do when no much seems to be getting traction.

What goes missing in the flail is any sort of cogent organizing strategic intent that gives both meaning and energy to the new direction.  Flailing is hard to avoid when every surface seems slippery, yet it is almost a sure-fire way to accelerate problems. It seems as if there could be a "flail scale," and the closer a possible strategy comes to flailing, the faster a board ought to kill it.