Published:
06/01/2012 05:17pm
The Do’s and Don’ts of Strategic Planning
The Do's and Don'ts of Strategic Planning
By Rebecca Staton-Reinstein, Ph.D.
Strategic Planning has made a comeback worldwide. Companies, governmental agencies, and nonprofits are all adopting it. Although Strategic Planning has been around for years and the basic tools are well known, many leadership teams still stumble in the planning and execution stages. Basic “do’s and don’ts” will help you lock in success and avoid common pitfalls.
DO follow the (modified) KISS principle: Keep it Simple and Sustained. Less is more. A successful plan is not measured by the pound. Your goal is to create goals and objectives to focus your work for the next few years. Limit the goals and objectives to one page so you can manage on the “top page.” DON’T go into greater detail than necessary or set too many Goals or Objectives. Too many details, goals or objectives lead to confusion, conflicting goals, micromanagement, and failure to execute.
DO follow all the steps as described. Use the planning methodology you choose as it was designed. You chose it because of its reputation. Learn from others’ success. DON’T skip steps or do them partially. If you bought an expensive briefcase, you would not immediately change the handle, put on a different carrying strap or have it dyed another color. Avoid tinkering with the process because you have no data to justify your changes.
DO stay focused on the Mission. The Mission, what the organization wants to do or be, is central for planning and day-to-day execution. Before you accept any goal, objective, strategy or tactic or take action ask, “How will this help fulfill the Mission?” DON’T do things because “we’ve always done it,” or “I think we should do it even though it doesn’t fit our Mission.” Without the Mission driving your decisions, you will miss innovative solutions, drift off course or become reactionary.
DO use a “brain dump” activity to alleviate the urge to begin the Tactical Plan prematurely. You are an excellent tactician and, faced with a problem, you quickly suggest solutions. This is a liability in strategic planning where you and your team have to create high level goals and specific objectives based on the Mission. List every idea the team has. Set these brain-dump ideas aside until you are ready to create the tactical plan. DON’T begin laying out the Tasks before the Mission, Goals, and Objectives are clearly stated. The Mission sets the context for the Goals, which are the context for Objectives - specific, measurable results. Choose tactics to achieve these higher level results from your brain dump at the END of the process.
DO Measure, Measure, Measure! What information do you need to make decisions? Select useful, significant measurements for all goals, objectives, and tactics. Revisit KISS: Keep It Simple and Significant. DON’T avoid measurement because it’s sometimes difficult. Measurement may be difficult, especially when dealing with customer satisfaction, employee morale or service effectiveness. Define a way to measure these intangibles subjectively so you can gauge progress during execution.
DO measure quality results. Quality measures how customers judge your products or services; the best information for strategic decision making and focus on mission and customer. DON’T select only productivity measures, just because they are easier to define. Productivity is important but doesn’t tell you if you are creating a product or service customers want. You can always make junk faster. When you focus on quality, you are more productive because you reduce costly rework.
DO provide support, resources, training, guidance, direction, and coaching to assure everyone’s success. People cannot perform well unless they have everything they need to do the job. The plan is only as good as its execution, which depends on great people management. DON’T dump people into situations without providing what they need to get the job done. Delegation means understanding what people need and providing it. Y
