One Key to Strategic Planning is to Confront Your Assumptions

Strategic planning for business is all about strategy specific to planning the desired results for that business. Webster defines strategy as the ability of a general to deceive the enemy. In today’s modern world, that simply means to outthink and outlast the competition.

One of the most consistent behaviors that I observe in my role as an executive business coach when taking clients through a strategic planning process is the failure to identify basic assumptions and even more important to challenge those assumptions. Within the first 2 sessions when working with my clients, I tell the following story. (This source of this story in unknown.)

Have any of you ever heard of the Bill and Hilary story? (Note: The response I am looking for is Which One?) Am I glad you asked is my next response. Then I continue. There is a locked room with only one door with a window wide open. Bill and Hilary are dead on the floor. Near them are a table and chair. Broken glass and water are on the floor near the chair and table. How did Bill and Hilary die?

What continues to amaze me is all the answers such as:

Someone dropped down from the air/heating vent
Someone crawled through the window
Hilary poisoned Bill
Bill poisoned Hilary
Hilary and Bill strangled each other

After I receive the answers, I begin to probe to learn what Bill and Hilary look like. Besides the deer in the headlights look (I should know what they look like), I hear the following:

Bill is wearing a blue, black, suit
Hilary is wearing suit
Bill is dressed in formal attire
Hilary is dressed in an evening gown

Everyone describes them with the basic assumption that Bill and Hilary are human beings. I continued to probe until someone tells me that Hilary is a woman with blond hair or Bill is a tall man. When I ask them where in the information presented (I retell the initial story) does it state that Bill and Hilary are a man and a woman? Then I ask them to remove this assumption and to rethink the question as to how Bill and Hilary died? Very quickly, someone will answer that Bill and Hilary are goldfish.

My final question to this story is What was the purpose of this story? Discussion now focuses on the two key areas:

Assumptions are within us
Assumptions are so ingrained that sometimes we can’t even recognize them
Assumptions must always be challenged
Assumptions can lead to dangerous consequences

After the Bill and Hilary story, I share with my clients a real example of a dangerous assumption. One of my corporate coaching clients owned a health food store. As the group was discussing and sharing their assumptions, this client made the statement that "Everyone needs a health store."

I challenged that assumption by the following statement: My 102 year old grandmother, my 87 year old Uncle and my 80 year old mother never, ever stepped inside a health food store. Then I continued with the statement, I believe your assumption is false and is based upon what you what to believe rather than what is.

The client was somewhat taken aback because this was her basic assumption for starting the business. And I must be honest that she left me as a client because I challenged her core belief. Her business continues to struggle. I believe that her business challenges had as much to do with her assumptions than with her marketing and sales skills.

When you make an unchallenged assumption such as everyone needs my business, you then make marketing and selling decisions based upon that assumption. The consequences can continue to reinforce what you are trying to change.

So as your proceed through your strategic planning process, make sure to challenge those assumptions or you just may end up like Bill and Hilary – two dead goldfish.

P.S. If you are an executive business coach or business owner and wish to share the Bill and Hilary story, please do so. Just let me know if your results are similar to mine.


One Key to Strategic Planning is to Confront Your Assumptions - To learn more about this author, visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website.

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