KEY STEPS TO PRODUCE A BLUEPRINT / PLAYBOOK FOR STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION 
Gary Skarke (gskarke@tbointl.com)
Linda Wilson (ljsquare@comcast.net)

Blueprint Purpose: Producing a blueprint (a.k.a. playbook or reference guide) for strategy implementation is a powerful and useful communication tool for group mobilization. It is a tangible symbol that represents a multitude of activities, decisions, commitments and expectations that have been analyzed, debated, refined and agreed upon in order to produce the blueprint.

The scope of impact for your strategy implementation will likely determine whether you do some or all of the steps. It is important to understand that producing a well-received, well-used blueprint is just like executing a major project or building a grand estate – the more you prepare, the fewer steps you skip, the better your chances of having your dream house.

Perfection is great in theory but not in practice. We worked with an organization that wanted to get everything perfect before doing anything.  In practice, what we have seen works the best is to quickly learn from every move, refine your tactics, redeploy – then repeat the cycle.  No organization/person will get everything right.  We live in a very complex world with so many variables. The trick is to execute quickly, learn from that execution, and then re-execute.