How to get Started on a Strategic Plan
About the Authors:
NEIL FLANAGAN and JARVIS FINGER
Management Strategists at Plum Press
World-renowned business strategists and authors of several international best-selling books on management. Neil is a sought-after keynote, conference and motivational speaker and Jarvis is the award-winning founder and editor of Australia's best known magazine for school administrators.
There’s more to strategic planning than arranging for a select few to lock themselves away for a couple of days each year to develop a document they hope will lead their organisation to new levels of profitability. Preliminary deliberations and detailed preparation involving a range of people are required. Among the issues for your consideration during this preparatory phase are the following.
1. Be aware of strategy and what it has to offer.
In the organisational context, strategy is the design of integrated management systems to effectively serve the needs of carefully chosen sets of customers or clients. As you would expect, management strategists differ in their interpretations of strategy and how it applies to individual businesses. Strategy guru Michael Porter says strategy comes down to either doing different things or doing things differently. Gary Hamel uses the 'revolution' metaphor urging that strategy be used to radically reinvent the industry. Adrian Slywotsky coins the phrase 'value migration' as the driving force associated with an entirely new way of doing business. David Maister, on the other hand, advocates a more conservative interpretation of strategy as it applies to professional service firms like lawyers and accountants.
2. Be sure your organisation is ready for it.
Drafting a unique and effective strategic plan takes effort, so be prepared for a busy and eventful time. One of your first considerations will be whether your organisational culture is one that is open to a detailed exploration of business opportunities. Exploring strategy must challenge the comfort zones of all members within your organisation —especially those in key positions.
If those responsible for implementation are resistant to any change, their stay-put attitude will limit what can be achieved. If true commitment is lacking, gaining the necessary support will need to be at the top of your to-do list.
3. Gain the agreement of your key people.
Bottlenecks occur at the top of the bottle, so be prepared. Those with a vested interest in keeping things as they are have become experts at derailing threats to their comfort and security. They realise that their experience counts only if the future is the same as the past. Spend time with your key people to assess their position, win them over and reach a shared view on strategy, what it involves, and what their contributions are expected to be.
4. Involve stakeholders.
Your discussions will focus on:
identifying areas of uniqueness for the organisation
deciding on a strategic position to exploit that uniqueness
considering trade-off areas that do not contribute to that difference
constructing a fit among all parts of the organisational process.
The process must involve as many stakeholders as possible —usually long-serving, highly credible representatives of your employees and perhaps selected clients. You may decide to conduct a series of group meetings designed specifically for that purpose. In this regard, two approaches might be:
Ask the group to identify the 10 to 20 most fundamental beliefs that people in your business or industry share. In the hotel/hospitality industry, for example, one such belief may be that everyone checks out by 10 a.m.—even if they only checked in at 1 a.m. — and everyone pays the same price irrespective of the time they spend up to 24 hours. Have the group challenge those beliefs as a means of identifying new opportunities. New horizons, such as late check-outs and variable rates, are explored as opportunities to help improve services and profitability.
Some find it helpful to conduct a SWOT analysis of the organisation by having participants consider the organisation’s internal Strengths and Weaknesses, and identify Opportunities and Threats external to the organisation. The compiled lists can be used later in a planning workshop to determine issues crucial to the organisation.
Whatever techniques you apply, ensure that you cover all areas of customer need and how these needs are met.
For all sessions, choose somewhere that avoids any feelings of intimidation and is conducive to frank and open discussion.
Remember also that you are not looking to fill paper. Too many good strategies fail because words get in the way. It is all about clarity of focus and "less is more". Key points must be clear, concise and able to be sold, remembered and effectively implemented. Your first draft will be used for more detailed planning and it must be a functional and user friendly document.
Management Memo
To invite new voices into the strategy- making process, to encourage new perspectives, to start new conversations that span organisational boundaries, and then to help synthesise unconventional options into a point of view about business direction— those are the challenges of business owners and managers who believe that strategy can be revolution.
Adapted from Gary Hamel's 'Strategy as Revolution', Harvard Business Review, July-August 1996
5. Report outcomes to key players.
Deliver the documentation from your initial process to key decision makers or have elected representatives meet with management for that purpose. You may need to spend some one-on-one time with key players to understand and work through any reservations and ensure that all are on board. This initial draft documentation will form the basis of the next phase—a workshop to develop the strategic plan. It is here that will hone your mission, strategic vision and priorities.
6. Document and disseminate results.
Share the outcomes of this first stage with everyone who participated. Where possible, this should be done by re-assembling the groups. Indicate to contributors those suggestions you have taken on board and those you have not—and why not. Outline briefly the next steps in the planning process and how their contributions to that initiative will be sought. Make a commitment to report future outcomes in a similar way.
Just about Everything a Manager Needs to Know
By Neil Flanagan and Jarvis Finger
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