I truly believe in the power of a good strategic plan. A good plan provides a common point of reference and tells the members and leaders the why, what, and how of the organization. More importantly, a good plan will help everyone understand their part in the organization’s success.
Any business, organization, or even person will sometimes find themselves having to respond to crisis or disaster. A good strategic plan provides a reference point when that happens. It may be necessary to suspend concentration on the plan’s goals, or at least slow them down, until the crisis is resolved. At that point the plan provides a reset point to prevent the too common post-crises floundering.
So, if strategic plans are such a great idea, how come so many people hate them? Or at least don’t use them? I hear lots of comments from people who’ve had a bad experience and found strategic planning to be ineffective and a waste of time. Unfortunately, upon hearing their story, I often have to agree with them because the planning process and model they used was flawed.
There are several reasons a plan fails. Most commonly, the process is too complex and takes too long to complete. Taking more than a week or so to complete the plan is indeed a waste of time. The planning process must flow smoothly in order to produce the best result and when it’s drawn out over a longer period, that flow stalls and other priorities tend to take center stage.
Adding to the problem are, quite frankly, people like me who want to sell books and programs. We often feel a need to create something new so people will buy from us instead of someone else. The result is often new sounding methods (often old methods repackaged to sound new) that don’t really add anything to the process and actually detracts from the ability to successfully complete a good plan.
Lack of senior leader involvement is another possible symptom of a failed planning process. Keep in mind that the senior leader doesn’t have to be the president or CEO. For strategic planning purposes, the senior leader is the person responsible for the part of the organization doing the planning. Failure is imminent though when that leader is directed by someone above them to accomplish a strategic plan, but they don’t really see the benefit. They go through the motions, get the job done, hang the mission statement on the wall, and then ignore the rest of the plan. The plan will not succeed without the leaders support.
Along those same lines, too often a plan is created, but never communicated to the entire organization. As a result, only a few top level people know what the plan is and they wonder why it isn’t successful.
So what makes a strategic plan succeed? First, leadership must truly support the planning process and believe it will help the organization move ahead. Next, the planning process must be straightforward and not cluttered with a lot of unnecessarily complex elements that will sidetrack the process. Finally, once completed, the plan must be clearly communicated to the entire organization so that everyone knows what it is and how they contribute to its success.
Bob Mason is dedicated to leadership development. He works with companies to solve problems by helping supervisors and managers become more effective leaders leading more productive teams. He is a professional speaker and author of Don’t Worry, You Can Do This: What New Supervisors and Managers Need to Know About Leadership; The Art of Not Motivating: How Leaders Can Succeed by Understanding the True Nature of Motivation; Balancing the Generations: A Leader’s Guide to the Complex, Multi-Generational, 21st Century Workplace; and Planning to Excel: Strategic Planning That Works.
A 30-year career in the U.S. Air Force exposed him to great leaders and leadership opportunities such as command of four squadrons, including the Air Force’s largest munitions squadron. He has studied leadership extensively, but more importantly has been there, working with real people, making hard decisions, and experiencing the results.
Contact Bob at Bob@BobMasonSpeaker.com or 505-453-5266
