Ask probing questions. Does your boss believe the current direction will provide enough return on the effort your group will expend to implement it? Are there plans in place to secure, develop, and preserve resources for carrying it out? Are profit and other targets high enough to keep the group on the right track? Is enough money earmarked for capital investment? For research? Use a variation on the well-known SWOT method. See the box “From SWOT to TOWS.” Probe the history of how strategic direction got defined. Find out who drove the process of defining strategic direction. Was it done in a
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