Strategy method
Playing to Win
Your leadership team makes the five connected choices that define a strategy, compares real options against each other, and tests what would have to be true before committing.
- Time
- 1–2 dayswith preparation beforehand
- Group
- A leadership teamthe people who own the decisions
- You need
- Evidence and a wallplus time to weigh the options
- You leave with
- Clear choicesa draft strategy and a plan to test it
What is Playing to Win?
Playing to Win is a strategy framework from A.G. Lafley and Roger L. Martin. It treats strategy as an integrated set of choices that positions an organization to win, worked through as five connected questions.
We facilitate a leadership team through those questions together. Most of the time goes into comparing real possibilities and talking through their tradeoffs, not filling in five boxes.
Strategy is choice
The framework
Five connected choices
Each answer narrows the next. The aspiration shapes where the team plays, the field shapes how it can win, and so on down the board. When a later choice doesn’t hold up, the team goes back up and changes an earlier one.
- 1
What is our winning aspiration?
The purpose of the organization, and what winning would look like.
In the roomThe team agrees what winning means before it debates how to get there.
- 2
Where will we play?
The playing field: which customers, regions, products, and channels.
In the roomThe team develops several real options, including where it will not play.
- 3
How will we win?
The way the organization will win on the field it chose.
In the roomFor each option, the group explores how it could win and what would set it apart.
- 4
What capabilities must be in place?
The activities the organization has to be great at to win that way.
In the roomLeaders compare the capabilities each choice needs with the ones they have now.
- 5
What management systems are required?
The structures, measures, and routines that keep the choices alive.
In the roomThe team sets owners, measures, and next steps so the strategy leaves the room.
Choosing the field
Where to play, and where not to
The team looks at its options along each dimension of the field and decides which zones to claim. Ruling zones out is part of the work: a strategy that tries to play everywhere isn’t a choice.
- Chosen
- Considered
- Ruled out
Then, how to win on that field
The book describes two basic ways to win: lower cost than competitors, or an offer customers value enough to choose it over the rest. Trying to do both at once usually means doing neither well.
The question that settles debates
What would have to be true?
Leadership teams can argue about the right answer for hours. Roger Martin’s question changes the conversation: instead of defending a favorite, the team lists what would have to be true for each option to win.
The conditions least likely to hold become the barriers. For each one, the team designs a test it would accept as proof, and runs the shakiest first. When the evidence comes back, the choice is much easier to make together.
Option B: what would have to be true?
- The industryIs this part of the market attractive enough to be worth winning?
- CustomersWill these customers value what we would offer them?
- Our positionCan we deliver it as well as, or better than, anyone else?Least likely: test this first
- CompetitorsHow are competitors likely to respond?
The game plan
How a two-day session runs
The first day opens up possibilities. The second day narrows them to a choice the team can stand behind.
Before kickoff
Preparation
We frame the choice with the sponsor
Together we name the decision the strategy has to answer and gather the evidence the team will need in the room.
First half · Day 1
Explore the choices
The team agrees what winning means
Leaders put a winning aspiration in their own words.
The team reviews the current evidence
What customers, competitors, and the numbers say today.
The team develops options for where to play
Several real possibilities, each one a different field.
Groups explore how they could win in each
Each option gets its own case for winning.
Second half · Day 2
Make the choices
The team asks what would have to be true
Assumptions behind each option are named and challenged.
The team selects the strongest combination
Where to play and how to win, chosen together.
Leaders name the capabilities it needs
What the organization has to be great at to make it work.
Leaders set owners, measures, and next steps
Who does what, how progress will show, and what happens next.
After the final whistle
Test what is still uncertain
The team runs its tests
New markets or business lines may need research before anyone commits significant resources. The tests the team designed tell it what to check first.
One example from our work
Pivot or preserve?
A financial services company in the energy industry saw its core invoicing product under attack from established competitors and startups. Its leaders faced a choice that could decide the company’s future: keep charging for invoices, or make them free and earn money from added services.
Over three days, FUSE co-founder Erkan Kadir guided the full executive team through framing that choice, generating possibilities, naming what would have to be true for each, and designing tests.
The team kept charging for invoices and focused its added services on one industry. Revenue grew steadily over the next two years while the company protected its market share.
Read the case studyIs it the right tool?
When to use it
Call this play when
- You want growth the current business can’t deliver on its own
- You’re weighing new regions, customers, or lines of business
- A single big decision could change the company’s direction
- A new leader is setting direction with their team
- The last strategy has run its course
Run a different play when
- The strategy is set and you need measurable goals for teams. OKRs fit better.
- This year’s choices are made and you only need to track progress against them
Questions we often hear
- How long does it take?
- One to two days. A single day can work through one or two of the choices. Making all five, with time to compare options and test assumptions, takes two days.
- Will we leave with a finished strategy?
- You leave with clear choices, a coherent draft strategy, and a plan to test the assumptions that are still uncertain. New markets or business lines may need more research before you commit significant resources.
- Do we need to read the book first?
- No. We bring the framework and the questions. Leaders who want to go deeper can read it before or after.
- How is this different from OKRs?
- Playing to Win decides where the organization will compete and how it will win. OKRs turn those choices into measurable goals for teams. The strategy comes first.
- Can other tools be part of the session?
- Yes. Ecosystem Mapping can help the team see the whole field before choosing where to play, and opportunity briefs can sharpen individual options.
- Where does the framework come from?
- From the book Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Worksby A.G. Lafley, former CEO of Procter & Gamble, and Roger L. Martin, former dean of the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management.
Facing a big strategic choice?
Tell us what your leadership team needs to decide. We’ll design a session that gets you to clear choices.
Book a discovery call