The 5 Strategy Questions, or Strategy Choice Cascade, is a powerful tool for decision-making that can help businesses make informed choices about their strategy. It involves a series of questions that guide decision-makers through the process of evaluating options and making choices. Let’s explore what the Strategy Choice Cascade is, how it works, and why it’s important for businesses.

What is the Strategy Choice Cascade?

The Strategy Choice Cascade is a tool for decision-making that involves a series of questions described by Lafley and Martin in their book Playing to Win. The questions are interrelated, meaning the answers to one questions affect the answers to others. It starts with a high-level assessment of the business’s goals and objectives and then guides decision-makers through a process of evaluating options and making choices.

The process is divided into five questions:

1. What is your winning aspiration? Answering this question relies heavily on the mission, vision, and values of the business, and refines the mission and vision over time. Why does the business exist in the first place?
2. Where will you play? The answer involves defining your target markets and customers. Are you aiming for a broad base of customers who speak English? Is the local region your area to dominate? A SWOT analysis can help find areas where you will win against the competition.
3. How will you win? This step uses the strengths of the business to create the value proposition for customers. Will customers experience a lower cost by choosing you? Are your products or services differentiated to command a higher price?
4. What capabilities must be in place? Answering this question will tell you what actual activities the organization needs to perform to win. And which of those activities will the business perform better than competitors to achieve success?
5. What management systems are required? What systems and structures do you need to succeed? A customer relationship management system (either spreadsheet or more advanced) to help your sales reps? A just-in-time inventory model? There are potentially a dozen systems needed to win effectively and efficiently.

How Does the Strategy Choice Cascade Work?

To use the Strategy Choice Cascade, decision-makers should answer the five questions outlined above, over and over. The iterative process starts with a basic understanding of the business’s mission, vision, and values. A more refined version will come as the questions are answered in a consistent way. Having a mission of being a world leader in a particular industry but only focusing on a small region for where to play will leave the organization ineffective and outmatched.

Once some thought has been put into your winning aspiration, spend some time thinking about where to play and how to win. Then maybe refine the winning aspiration a bit more, and jump into some of the capabilities and systems needed to make everything work together. Using this iterative approach will allow more, “What if?” type questions and less misguided research.

After refining the answers, the next steps to enact the strategy will fall into place: implement the systems needed, build the structures to support the activities, and start playing to win. These choices should be implemented and monitored over time to ensure they are achieving the desired outcomes.

Why is the Strategy Choice Cascade Important for Businesses?

The Strategy Choice Cascade is important for businesses because it provides a structured approach to strategy. By answering the questions, decision-makers can ensure that they’re considering a range of options and evaluating them based on a set of criteria.

This structured approach can help businesses to make more informed choices and avoid common decision-making biases. It also ensures that decisions are aligned with the business’s goals and objectives, leading to better outcomes over time.

To summarize, the Strategy Choice Cascade is a powerful tool for decision-making that can help businesses make informed choices about their strategy. By following a structured process, decision-makers can generate a range of options, evaluate them based on a set of criteria, and make a strategic choices that are aligned with the business’s goals and objectives. By using this tool regularly, businesses can improve their decision-making and achieve better outcomes.