Most strategy success stories you read about involve a “positive” strategy – adding new elements or approaches to the business. But, as Steve Deist writes in Take the Fantasy Out of Strategy, this approach ignores the fact that most companies have shortcomings that are critical constraints that prevent them from thriving under any scenario, much less a grand overarching change in your organization.

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Rather than focus on adding new elements to your plan, focus on removing key sources of competitive weakness. For example, eliminate communication bottlenecks and de-motivators that may thwart employees’ desire to contribute to the success of your company. Deist writes that seemingly mundane incremental improvements such as streamlining a Web order page or sharing consultative selling techniques may qualify as valuable innovation for your company – a steady stream of these improvements may actually provide you with a competitive advantage in the long run.

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Of course, combining negative strategy with positive approaches is the best way to move ahead, and incentives are necessary to implement both. But a strategy that ignores operational issues or dysfunction will likely fail.

Being honest about these constraints won’t be easy. Deist writes: “This type of analysis can be painful. It requires brutal honesty, perseverance and a ‘no sacred cows’ approach sanctioned from the very top.”