There are five questions that should be answered in the Lafley & Martin’s Five Step Strategy Model. If these questions are answered in order, there will be a clear model for the organization’s daily operations.

1. What is Our Winning Aspiration? The answer to this question is the values or mission statement of the company. Said differently, the organization should envision what “winning” the industry would look like. However, one part of this question involves determining what specifically the employees of the organization will do to reach that aspiration. Therefore, it is important to think about what a success would look like for the company in the not-too-distant future, without being too unrealistic.
2. Where Will We Play? The organization must identify the markets that it is going to operate in and the demographics that it is targeting. Depending on the products that the organization produces, identifying this audience might require careful thought.
3. How Will We Win? Consider the strategies that are going to be implemented or the actionable steps that can be taken to ensure that the organization is dominant or moves up in rank in the industry. Answering this question requires careful research about competitors and how the organization’s products can be positioned or marketed to be the most appealing or distinguishable from the rest. The organization might consider lowering prices, improving customer relations or improving the quality of the product. A lot of time and careful thought should be expended at this stage if the organization really wishes to remain ahead of its competitors for the long-term.
4. What Capabilities Must We Have in Place to Win? Think about the qualities of the current workforce as well as the resources that are needed to implement the strategies the organization has decided upon. Ensure that there is alignment between what has been planned and what is realistically possible for the organization to deliver on. Without that balance, the organization will not dominate the industry.
5. What Management Systems are Required to Support Our Choices? The organization must assemble strong leadership teams to ensure that every individual in the organization is well informed of the organization’s aspirations. In this way, every person will be working toward the same goals, which will help to increase the likelihood that these targets will be met.

Strategy teams that want to develop a high-quality product that can be differentiated from the competition should look to develop a business strategy which is tailored to the specific product in question. The new online Lafley & Martin’s Five Step Strategy Model template from Praxie can be supported by the SWOT analysis to determine what superior qualities the organization has, as well what needs to be improved to attain competitive advantage. Lafley & Martin’s Five Step Strategy Model requires a thorough understanding of the organization as well as the industry it resides in. This is because the model involves answering a series of questions which are designed to break business down into five areas to be successful.  

The questions outlined in the Five Step Strategy Model are as follows: 1) What is our winning aspiration? 2) Where are we going to play? 3) How are we going to win? 4) What capabilities do we need to win? 5) What management systems are needed to track progress and maintain effective systems? Get started with our Lafley & Martin’s Five Step Strategy Model template.  

How to use it: 

1. List your winning aspiration. 
2. Enter where you will play and how you will win. 
3. Describe the capabilities needed, and the management systems required to succeed. 
4. Create an action plan focused on creating and implementing Five Step Strategy. 

Unlike most traditional Lafley & Martin Five Step Strategy Model techniques, Praxie’s online tools allow any team or organization to instantly begin working with our web templates and input forms. Our digital platform goes far beyond other software tools by including progress dashboards, data integration from existing documents or other SaaS software, elegant intuitive designs, and full access on any desktop or mobile device.