‘Tis the season for strategic planning!
I have done strategic planning for most of my professional career.
With abysmal results.
See if this resonates with you:
All of the credible business sources – books, universities, seminars, software suppliers, consultants say, “you gotta have a plan”. Most, if not all, advocate something like this:
- Values
- Mission/Purpose
- Vision
- followed by a 3 Year Rolling Plan with Strategic Goals and Tactical Goals.
You buy in because first of all, it makes logical sense. After all, most businesses have financials, which are compared to some sort of budget. A budget is a sort of a strategic plan and it comes from “somewhere”. Many times it comes from historical performance, which pretty much kills the idea of planning for the future.
You decide that to legitimize the budget and to align the team towards accomplishing worthy and profitable goals to put together a “Strategic Plan”. That usually happens about this time of year and the intention is to marshal energy and resources for next year and the foreseeable future.
No doubt a worthy and credible task. If it is well done, the whole team has input, customers have input and everyone is inspired and excited about the mission and vision of the company. And, as they should be, proud of their accomplishment – The Plan.
After a week or so, The Plan is only brought up in conversation when what is going on in the day-to-day business collides with what is remembered about being addressed in the plan. But, mostly the document sits until the end of the next summer when the leader is convinced that the process must be repeated, but this time the business will be run according to The Plan.
And the circle is unbroken.
*****
Before going on, let’s admit that there are some companies who successfully run by The Plan. In my experience they are a very small number and usually fit one or both of these categories:
They are large, complicated and spread out.
The leadership are “details” kind of people.
Most small to medium entrepreneurial business are run by “big picture, big idea, not-so-good-at-execution” kind of people.
Plans don’t work, because they are not a useful tool for the leader.
I have an iPhone. I really like it. I use it to:
- make phone calls
- receive and send emails
- carry photos around of my wife and kids
- listen to audio books when i ride my bike
- check the weather forecast
- update my “to-do” list
- keep a record of all my contact information
I can go on, but you get the idea. Over 75,000 applications!
It is a useful tool, second only to my Mac. I use those two tools constantly and would struggle mightily if I lost the use of either.
Say that about your The Plan.
Plans don’t work, because they are not a useful tool for the leader.
The leader is into big picture, make-it-happen kinds of stuff and The Plan is all about the execution of details.
So, what to do?
I recommend building a decision-making platform, which is The Point Of Reference, the landmark, the lighthouse to guide all of the organizations activities and allocation of resources. So no matter what path you or another team member takes, everyone who knows the reference point and looks up even occasionally from their work can “see” it and ends up at the right place.
Kenneth Chenault, chief executive of American Express says that the job of a leader is to define reality and give hope for the team. An effective leader will define the Rules of the Game, or the values, the “how” to act to get what the organization wants and will also enVision the future, a verbal picture of the “what” the organization wants. Once these critical tools are in place, the leader’s job is to point the teams towards The Point Of Reference and like a parent teaching a child to ride a bike run behind them shouting encouragement and making sure they don’t get hurt.
Let the team members tell the leader what they are going to do to “make the kingdom come”.
No one wants to be managed, but we all want an inspiring, honest, forward looking, competent leader. A plan is all about management.
People want to contribute their unique experiences, talents, skills and abilities to the accomplishment of something meaningful. Give them something meaningful to accomplish. Clearly define your organization’s The Point Of Reference. Do it over and over at every business opportunity. Work with team members to CONSTANTLY and CONSISTENTLY move towards The Point Of Reference.
It’s not that complicated. We make it way too hard. Really, it’s pretty simple.
And may the circle never be unbroken (unless it needs fixing).
