Why Your Start-up Needs More Than a Plan.

Start-ups, It’s Time to Write It Down: Why a Clear Strategy Matters (Especially in VUCA Times)

If you’re running a start-up or small business, you’re probably used to wearing all the hats, juggling priorities, and figuring things out on the fly. It’s fast-paced, reactive, and—let’s face it—exhausting. Amid the chaos, it’s easy to put “write the strategy” on the someday list.

But here’s the truth: in today’s volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) environment, not having a clear, written strategy isn’t just risky—it’s a growth blocker.

In a recent mentoring session with a founder, we talked about this exact issue. They knew where they wanted to go, but their strategy lives mostly in their head—updated when they have time (which isn’t often). They aren’t alone.

❓So, what’s the real problem?

Many leaders confuse strategy with planning.

As business thinker Roger Martin puts it:

“Most strategic planning has nothing to do with strategy. It’s a set of activities the company says it’s going to do.”

Hiring more staff. Launching a new product. Improving customer experience. All good things—but without a cohesive logic that ties them to a unique position in the market, they’re just to-do lists, not strategy.

🎯 What real strategy looks like

A strategy is an integrated set of choices about:

• Where you operate (your market, segment, or niche)

• How you win (your unique approach to solving a problem or serving a need)

• What capabilities you need in place to do both

That strategy needs to be:

• Coherent (the choices work together)

• Doable (it can be translated into action)

• Aimed at an outcome (not just a list of actions)

  
  

And in a VUCA world, it must also be adaptive—able to respond to shifting trends, customer behaviours, and competitive threats.

🕺 From Dance Floor to Balcony: Get Perspective

In the mentoring session, we explored the “Dance Floor and Balcony” metaphor. When you're on the dance floor (in the day-to-day), everything is reactive, noisy, full of movement and immediate. It’s difficult to see the bigger picture.

But strategy lives on the balcony—where you can pause, reflect, and intentionally design how your business grows. And in VUCA environments, being able to step back, make clear choices, and test a theory of how you’ll win is what separates sustainable businesses from busy ones.

⚠️ Why strategy is uncomfortable—but necessary

Planning is comfortable. You control what you spend: the office space, the hires, the new CRM. But strategy? That’s about outcomes you don’t control—like whether customers choose you over competitors.

“Strategy will have angst associated with it,” says Roger Martin. “You can’t prove in advance that your strategy will succeed. That doesn’t make you a bad manager—that makes you a courageous leader.”

📄 So yes—write it down

Even if it’s just one page. Get clear on:

• Where you’re operating.

• How you’re planning to win.

• What you need in place to do that.

• What would have to be true for that strategy to succeed.

  
  

And then—test it. Watch the market. Gather feedback. Refine it. Make it a living, breathing part of your business rhythm, not a dusty document buried in a Google Drive folder.

💡 Final Thoughts - Leading with Intention

As a Leadership Coach and Business Mentor, I have seen time and again that founders don’t fail because they lack energy, ideas, or ambition. They stumble because they’re too close to the noise, too reactive, and too busy to step back.

Your business doesn’t need more activity. It needs clarity. It requires strategy. It needs a leader willing to get off the dance floor—at least long enough to chart a better course.

Growth without direction isn’t sustainable. If you’re a start-up founder or small business leader, don’t wait until things break to start writing your strategy.

Make it clear. Make it visible. Make it real.

Start with clarity. Start with courage. Start by writing it down.

💼 How Protean HR Can Help

At Protean HR, we work with founders and leaders who are ready to move beyond the chaos of reactive planning and build people-first strategies that actually drive growth.

Whether you’re:

• Scaling your team and unsure what structure you need

• Building your first real HR function

• Trying to align your culture with your goals

• Or just ready to stop winging it and start leading with clarity

  
  

We help you create clear, actionable strategies—not just for your people, but for your business. And yes, we’ll help you write it down.

👉 Ready to start your strategy journey? Book a free HR Strategy Health Check or get in touch via proteanhr.com.