The most important thing to know about your strategic plan.
The most important thing to know about your strategic plan.
One of the more insightful sessions we had was with Ian Smith of Portfolio Partnership and the author of The Smith Report, a must read for growth companies. In our session we discussed the need for companies to create strategic plans and more importantly to implement them. During our discussion, Ian rightly pointed out that success in strategic plan implementation was largely dependent on knowing what the status of various action items are within the strategic plan.
In effect, if a manager doesn't have an easy way to see what is happening with the strategic plan then it becomes very difficult for them to actually guide people through the strategic plan implementation.
During the product development process we had already decided that having measures like percentage completed for an action item was too subjective because one person's 50% complete might be another person's 70% complete so we had scaled it back to the idea of 'started' and 'not started' however, Ian pointed out that this didn't really give someone a 'call to action'.
Since we were all about calls to action Ian suggested that knowing things like whether an action item was 'on schedule' or 'behind schedule' are the real bits of knowledge that a driver of strategy wants to know because that then signals them to take action.
If a manager wants to ensure that they are on top of the strategic plan implementation process and that they have the right resources in the right place then they need to know which action items are behind schedule so that they can go and help those people who are responsible for those action items, giving the the extra assistance that they need to get back on track.
Given that feedback, we changed our various status options for action items and plan elements to in our product to:
This gave us a much more useful and informative dashboard view of the various strategic initiatives that were taking place. This really helped us refine the product and it was agreed by others in future sessions to be a really important way to think about the strategic plan implementation process.
Summary, if you are implementing a strategic plan you will live and breath by the actions of that plan and in order to increase your level of success then your strategic planning dashboard had better be telling you what is going on and in particular what parts of that plan are behind schedule so that you can marshall up the resources and get those actions back on track.
The most important thing to know about your strategic plan - To learn more about this author, visit Ed Loessi's Website.
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As part of the product development process for RapidInfluence we had numerous sessions with individuals both inside and outside of our target market. The purpose of these discussions were to work through the premises of our Strategic Planning Manifesto and to preview the first version of our product.
One of the more insightful sessions we had was with Ian Smith of Portfolio Partnership and the author of The Smith Report, a must read for growth companies. In our session we discussed the need for companies to create strategic plans and more importantly to implement them. During our discussion, Ian rightly pointed out that success in strategic plan implementation was largely dependent on knowing what the status of various action items are within the strategic plan.
In effect, if a manager doesn't have an easy way to see what is happening with the strategic plan then it becomes very difficult for them to actually guide people through the strategic plan implementation.
During the product development process we had already decided that having measures like percentage completed for an action item was too subjective because one person's 50% complete might be another person's 70% complete so we had scaled it back to the idea of 'started' and 'not started' however, Ian pointed out that this didn't really give someone a 'call to action'.
Since we were all about calls to action Ian suggested that knowing things like whether an action item was 'on schedule' or 'behind schedule' are the real bits of knowledge that a driver of strategy wants to know because that then signals them to take action.
If a manager wants to ensure that they are on top of the strategic plan implementation process and that they have the right resources in the right place then they need to know which action items are behind schedule so that they can go and help those people who are responsible for those action items, giving the the extra assistance that they need to get back on track.
Given that feedback, we changed our various status options for action items and plan elements to in our product to:
- Not started
- Behind schedule
- On schedule
- Ahead of schedule
This gave us a much more useful and informative dashboard view of the various strategic initiatives that were taking place. This really helped us refine the product and it was agreed by others in future sessions to be a really important way to think about the strategic plan implementation process.
Summary, if you are implementing a strategic plan you will live and breath by the actions of that plan and in order to increase your level of success then your strategic planning dashboard had better be telling you what is going on and in particular what parts of that plan are behind schedule so that you can marshall up the resources and get those actions back on track.
The most important thing to know about your strategic plan - To learn more about this author, visit Ed Loessi's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
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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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