Bare Bones Strategy - A Triad

Imagine you’re navigating a dense forest, seeking a path to safety. You need a map (diagnosis), a clear route to follow (implementation policy), and a guide to lead you step by step (action plan). At its core, a strategy is just like that – a triad of essential elements that guide you through any complex situation.

A couple comes to Eric’s office. As a therapist it’s his job to sit them down and talk. They express their frustration with the current situation: too little sex, bad financial decisions, distrust, constant bickering, and pesky in-laws. Through the cloud of annoyance, frustration, anger, grief, and resentfulness, Eric identifies a common pattern: the husband spends more time with his friends than his wife because they don’t have common interests in past-time activities. Eric probes the couple with questions to arrive at this problem diagnosis.

The obvious next question is: “What can the couple do to fix this issue?” Here are a number of examples of implementation policies:

Try one new hobby each week until they find something both of them like, then double down. (Explore & Exploit)
Integrate the wife into at least one activity per week that the husband does with his friends. (Social Integration)
Make the wife commit to doing one activity the husband likes for at least one month, once a week, in the hope that she’ll acquire useful skills that make her enjoy the activities more. (Passion through Skill Building)

The couple likes option 3. A good plan, however, is useless without putting it into action. So they administer an action plan:

Agree on an activity (e.g., play snooker together).
Set a recurring meeting that works with both schedules (e.g., Monday 19:00-21:00).
Show up and receive rewards (e.g., have their favorite meal after the snooker game).

There we go. At its bare minimum, a strategy is this: a diagnosis, an implementation policy, and an action plan.