The wicked nature of strategy

Rita Larisma, strategic director of FCB Johannesburg

Like most communications strategists in the Advertising Industry today, I was schooled in traditional strategic techniques that prioritise analytical skills. We analyse information about different marketing aspects to yield a statement of the problem, and then we 'look' for a logical solution.

Flawed approach

Liedtka believes the traditional approach is flawed because strategy is by nature wicked. This means strategic problems cannot be clearly isolated, because they are open to multiple interpretations depending on the weltanschauung of the observer, and generate many potential solutions which can neither be proved nor disproved.

The idea of a wicked nature was first proposed by design theorist Horst Rittel to describe the design process. Liedtka argues that strategy and design share this wicked nature, and puts forward the design process as a better metaphor to understand the strategic process.

At the heart of the similarity between strategy and design lies the idea that both disciplines are concerned with inventing the future, as opposed to the scientific process of discovering truth.

Scientific reasoning uses analytical tools of induction and deduction to discover truth; whereas design uses conjectural thinking and visualisation to generate and test ideas.

Multiple hypotheses

If we extend this thinking into strategy, then we accept the strategic process is one where multiple hypotheses are created through conjecture and explored until a clear vision of a new desirable future emerges.

Finally, because strategy and design have wicked natures, their solutions are invented choices, not discovered truth, and therefore contestable.

Liedtka advocates participation as the best way to get consensus as it gives everyone a chance to collectively shape solutions.

She emphasises the important role values play in the creation and acceptance of a design or strategy, but also recognises the inevitability of competing values. She thinks being transparent about underlying value systems is a useful way to deal with this conflict, but ultimately, great designs or strategies inspire by connecting with the values of the audience as well.

Leveraging the design metaphor

If we accept strategy shares design's wicked nature, we can apply the following insights from the design process to strategy:

Inventive

Strategy, like design, is concerned with visualising what might be and creating a blueprint for realising that future. Strategy is not about discovering the 'one right strategy'.

Synthetic

Liedtka notes "out of the often disparate demands ... a coherent overall design must emerge". Similarly, strategy needs to paint an end-to-end picture, but the trick is knowing that value lies in the way we creatively align the disparate elements and what we prioritise. There is no 'one picture'.

Conjectural

Conjectural thinking is both creative and critical in nature, thinking through a series of "if this ... then that" opportunities. In order to successfully play this game, critical judgment must be suspended in the "what if" stage of strategy, making logical thinking inappropriate.

Opportunistic

Liedtka notes, "In the translation from the abstract to the particular, unforeseen possibilities are likely to emerge." Strategy is too often concerned with the underlying patterns that connect disparate information, that it often overlooks gems of opportunity arising from randomly generated insights.

Dialectical

Liedtka notes that design "lives at the intersection of often conflicting demands" and advocates a "conflict-using rather than conflict-avoiding" approach. Like designers, strategists should embrace the contestable nature of strategic solutions and the challenge to be compelling.

Inquiring and value driven

Finally, like design, strategy should be "open to scrutiny, willing to make its reasoning explicit to a broader audience and cognizant of the values embedded in the conversation."

*Jeanne Liedtka, Strategy as Design, in Rotman Management, Winter 2004