Thanks to strategy consultant Jeroen Kraaijenbrink for these insights about company strategy.

Strategies fail, more often than not. To improve on this, it is essential to see the signs your strategy is failing, and see them early. Look for these 13 signs and act.

Whether you have it formalized and written down or not, EVERY company has some sort of strategy. There are always choices, implicit or explicit, for example about which investments to make, which markets to serve and which products to sell—and which ones not.

This means that every strategy can be failing, formal or informal, implicit or explicit, written down or not. Being aware of such failure early on is essential, because it is the first step toward improvement.

To help you with that, I’ve gathered the following 13 signs from the past years of strategy research, teaching and consulting:

1. You have no clear idea about where your company should be in three years.

2. You are the only one who knows or understands your company’s strategy.

3. There is a strategic plan, but it gathers dust and nothing really happens.

4. There is no process for managing strategy generation and execution.

5. The company is engaged in all kinds of activities without a clear focus.

6. You are putting out fires and spending most of your time on operational matters.

7. People are busy with the issues of the day. Urgency beats importance.

8. Employees ask for a clear vision and direction to guide their work.

9. Work takes place in separated silos, lacking communication and collaboration.

10. Opportunities are missed and mistakes are made on a regular basis.

11. Employees are not engaged and motivated enough and are leaving.