What Is Strategic Doing—and Why Does It Matter?

Traditional strategic plans are great for complicated problems—but when you’re dealing with complex, “wicked” challenges, those plans can fall apart fast.

That’s where Strategic Doing comes in. It’s one of the most effective approaches we’ve seen for moving from talk to action when the path forward is unclear and the "stakeholders" are many.

🔎 So what is Strategic Doing?

It’s a framework that helps organizations:
✅ Collaborate across boundaries
✅ Take small, visible steps
✅ Learn and adjust as they go

It’s not about long planning documents.
It’s about building momentum through doing—even in uncertain, shifting environments.

🧩 Where does it work best?

Strategic Doing shines in spaces where:
➡️ No one person or organization is “in charge”
➡️ The challenge is evolving or unclear
➡️ You need to move quickly with what you have

💡 Examples:

- Universities co-designing community initiatives
- Cities forming cross-sector coalitions
- Companies exploring new markets through innovation pilots

🔑 What makes it powerful?

- It starts with assets you already have
- It builds trust and ownership quickly
- It focuses on short-term, measurable action
- And it includes built-in reflection and learning (we call them 30/30s)

In short: it’s strategy built for complexity.

🤝 How we use it at Acerola Strategies

We guide clients—especially in higher ed, public sector, and social impact spaces—through Strategic Doing to help them take meaningful, coordinated action when plans alone won’t cut it.

📩 Ready to shift from planning to doing?

Let’s talk.
💬 info@acerolastrategies.com
🌐 www.acerolastrategies.com