CIO Mind

I recently read a McKinsey article on strategic planning. McKinsey made a survey about strategic planning process and the conclusion are in this article.

I found interesting the declaration of one executive:

Rather than preparing executives to face the strategic uncertainties ahead or serving as the focal point for creative thinking about a company’s vision and direction, the planning process “is like some primitive tribal ritual,” one executive told us. “There is a lot of dancing, waving of feathers, and beating of drums. No one is exactly sure why we do it, but there is an almost mystical hope that something good will come out of it.”

Later in the conclusions, the author says:

A key starting point is the acceptance of the counterintuitive notion that the strategic-planning process should not be designed to make strategy. Henry Mintzberg, a professor of management at McGill University, calls the phrase “strategic planning” an oxymoron. He argues that real strategies are rarely made in paneled conference rooms but are more likely to be cooked up informally and often in real time—in hallway conversations, casual working groups, or quiet moments of reflection on long airplane flights.

In our changing world, where everybody competes against everybody on a global scale, regular planning process are simply too inflexible and does not generate enough initiatives to thrive on the market. Very often, the strategic planning process in successful companies is more facilitating than prescribing.

One has to push his team, by creating an exciting environment. And if they are not the right people for your organization, remember Jim Collins:

first get the right people on the right people on the bus (and the wrong people off the bus) before you figure out where to drive it.