The New Strategic Planning

Most organizations set out their direction in an overall strategic plan. The plan includes some rendition of a cascading goals actions evaluation process that is meant to have the organization achieve the financial or organizational success it desires. Unfortunately, most organizations stop short of engaging the correct planning methodology and the detailed analysis required to really create measurable change.

If a company creates a strategic plan or business plan that is devoid of demographic projections and financial data, then it has probably defaulted to motherhood statements that attempt to portray where it wants to go and maybe includes some objectives, strategies, tactics, program framework and evaluation mechanisms in the process. However, if it does not do the crunching of the numbers and measure where it is before and after the strategic plan unfolds, then how will it know if it has arrived at its goal state? The answer is: it wont!

Too many strategic plans Ive seen over the years have keyed in on high-level directional statements, nebulous goals, and loosely fitted strategies and tactics. The measurements usually consist of industry standardized metrics, which, at the end of the day may or may not be affected by the strategic since the strategies are not specific enough to create the targeted results they proclaim to create.

So, then what is the answer?

The answer lies in the work that occurs either before or at the earliest stages of the strategic planning process. The most important work that can be done is to research, itemize, categorize, and analyze the data provided by your operating environment. It is important to utilize environmental or situational analysis models in order to really understand where you are right now. These models should involve a detailed assessment of the current, historical and projected aspects related to the internal and external operating and planning environments of the company. External factors include: political, regulatory, legal, economic, cultural, environmental, social, demographic, market trends, market uncertainties, technological, biophysical factors, and other industry-specific factors. Internal analysis should utilize past, present and future data related to people, finance, marketing, technology, leadership/management strength, project management capacity, growth capacity, capital investment and capacity, measured internal growth and scalability.

Once you have surveyed these numbers and distilled out the common themes, then and only then should a strategic plan be formed which aligns itself with your organizations strengths and protects itself against its weaknesses.

A visioning process masquerading as a strategic planning process leads nowhere, other than to the creation of glossy documents that all say the same thing. Ive reviewed strategic plans for a service organization in the public sector that were indistinguishable from a private sector manufacturing company. This should not happen.

Executive level management and Boards of Directors need to be aware of the data and figures and how they relate to the organizations overall strategic direction. Instead of creating separate strategic, business, operating, evaluation, stakeholder, communication plans; why not consider rolling them up into one planning binder. Youll save paper, and the organization can use this corporate encyclopedia to chart and navigate its course, instead of having several disparate plans and planning processes that more often than not create duplication, waste, and under-utilization of resources.

www.busbyplans.com

Shane Busby, MBA, is the owner and principal consultant of Busby & Associates Management Consulting. The firm is located in beautiful British Columbia, Canada and offers services to a wide range of cilents in the areas of business, strategic, and change planning.

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