Checklist for Setting up a Strategic Plan -- To Win
Checklist for Setting up a Strategic Plan -- To Win
What factors make for a strategic plan that you and your company actually will do? Here are key questions to ask yourself to avoid the most common planning mistakes:
1. Why do I really want a new strategy? Is it because it is that "time of the year?" Is it because my brother or my neighbor or my cousin is doing it? How generic are the reasons are the reasons for strategic planning? For example, if I say "competition," what do I mean, specifically? (Naming the real reasons is the first step to diagnosing strategic issues and moving toward effective strategic planning.)
2. What role do I play in things that go wrong in this organization? (If you believe other people cause 100% of the problems, well, you are their boss – you have a role! What are you doing or not doing that makes things worse? This doesn’t mean you are to blame – it means that you simply share some responsibility. Substantial change in the company cannot occur without substantial change in the leaders, especially in a turnaround situation.)
3. How much do you believe that change is more about embracing the future than letting go of the past? (The more "logical" you consider yourself, the more you will tend to insist this statement is true -- and the more likely even your strategic planning efforts will be strongly resisted.)
4. If your corporate desires involve a heavy-duty upgrade of technology, what will add real dollars to the bottom line? (Unfortunately, jealousy and envy play as much a role in technology decisions as rational analysis. Sometimes, even at the executive level, we just want the toys that the other guy has. Think about it – how do most CEO’s decide what cell phone to buy?)
5. How uncomfortable are you around technology or around IT people? Have you ever responded to that discomfort by giving IT a blank check and saying, "go for it"? (This results in talented but near-sighted technologists making major decisions ungrounded in customer and front-line needs.)
6. How much do you believe that the hardest thing about strategic planning is deciding what to do next? (That’s often the easy part. The real work, the hard work, the work that creates the capacity to change, is knowing what to STOP doing or do LESS. Since change alters power, violates long-held scripts and patterns, and challenges widely-held beliefs, it is the letting go that is the hardest for most people).
7. Do you believe that strategic planning should be done in isolation by top management? For example, have you ever taken the guys off to the lodge or golf resort for a strategy weekend. (This is a junket, not a planning methodology. Pamper yourself and your execs all you want -- but strategic planning requires involvement from some other major stakeholders, especially non-managers and customers, to create plans people will actively support.)
Checklist for Setting up a Strategic Plan To Win - To learn more about this author, visit George Smart's Website.
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Professional speaker George Smart specializes in strategic planning and has seen many engineering firms start this ever-popular ritual, only to see their brilliant plans sitting on a bookshelf or worse, going in the trash. He says, "designing a good strategic plan that will actually happen is better than a great plan where nothing happens."
What factors make for a strategic plan that you and your company actually will do? Here are key questions to ask yourself to avoid the most common planning mistakes:
1. Why do I really want a new strategy? Is it because it is that "time of the year?" Is it because my brother or my neighbor or my cousin is doing it? How generic are the reasons are the reasons for strategic planning? For example, if I say "competition," what do I mean, specifically? (Naming the real reasons is the first step to diagnosing strategic issues and moving toward effective strategic planning.)
2. What role do I play in things that go wrong in this organization? (If you believe other people cause 100% of the problems, well, you are their boss – you have a role! What are you doing or not doing that makes things worse? This doesn’t mean you are to blame – it means that you simply share some responsibility. Substantial change in the company cannot occur without substantial change in the leaders, especially in a turnaround situation.)
3. How much do you believe that change is more about embracing the future than letting go of the past? (The more "logical" you consider yourself, the more you will tend to insist this statement is true -- and the more likely even your strategic planning efforts will be strongly resisted.)
4. If your corporate desires involve a heavy-duty upgrade of technology, what will add real dollars to the bottom line? (Unfortunately, jealousy and envy play as much a role in technology decisions as rational analysis. Sometimes, even at the executive level, we just want the toys that the other guy has. Think about it – how do most CEO’s decide what cell phone to buy?)
5. How uncomfortable are you around technology or around IT people? Have you ever responded to that discomfort by giving IT a blank check and saying, "go for it"? (This results in talented but near-sighted technologists making major decisions ungrounded in customer and front-line needs.)
6. How much do you believe that the hardest thing about strategic planning is deciding what to do next? (That’s often the easy part. The real work, the hard work, the work that creates the capacity to change, is knowing what to STOP doing or do LESS. Since change alters power, violates long-held scripts and patterns, and challenges widely-held beliefs, it is the letting go that is the hardest for most people).
7. Do you believe that strategic planning should be done in isolation by top management? For example, have you ever taken the guys off to the lodge or golf resort for a strategy weekend. (This is a junket, not a planning methodology. Pamper yourself and your execs all you want -- but strategic planning requires involvement from some other major stakeholders, especially non-managers and customers, to create plans people will actively support.)
Checklist for Setting up a Strategic Plan To Win - To learn more about this author, visit George Smart's Website.
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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