About strategic planning
Posted by Felix Enescu on September 29th, 2006
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.
November 11th, 2006 at 9:17 pm
You actually need an Integrated Solution for customized strategic planning, analysis and modeling. Customization for your situation is vital since there is no such thing as a general fits all textbook template, approach or model [such as Blue Ocean or Balanced Scoreboard] for strategic planning. And strategic planning involves much more than management discussion!
Take a look at trugroup.com. This is a well developed strategic planning method using activating strategy. Activating Strategy is an idea developed over twenty years of intensive involvement in all aspects of strategic planning and analysis. Our process for strategic planning is engineered to activate strategy - including ensuring the integrity and validity of the plan. Our market research provides the essential foundation for strategic planning, our facilitated strategic planning huddle resolves strategy issues and our marketing delivery supports strategy implementation.
TRU Group Inc - Activating Your StrategicMindset
November 12th, 2006 at 10:14 pm
The best kept secret in the strategic planning game is a system that has been around for 40 years, and used by over 2000 organisations of all sizes in all industries worldwide.
A key contrarian feature of the system is that the first step in any strategic plan should be a definition of the purpose of your organisation and categorically not a Vision or Mission statement as recommended by many strategic planning consultants, and nearly all the textbook templates. Almost all strategic planning processes get bogged down in non strategic detail. This system guides the chief executive and their strategic planning team through the jungle of data in search of what are called “strategic elephants” in this approach. The system then shows the team how to develop a set of strategies and action plans. The key strengths of the system are: simplicity - you do not need an MBA to understand it; it is easy to introduce - you can use internal resources; it is inclusive - at set stages you open the process up to key staff; it works - I’ve used the approach for over twenty years, including for the development of IT strategy, and in setting up a high speed network infrastructure authority. Many organisations fail to produce a strategic plan that delivers real growth and prosperity because, they pass the buck by engaging strategic planning consultants to deliver the plan resulting in lack of ownership, they don’t engage key staff in the planning process, they get bogged down in too much detail (wood from the trees syndrome). Also the plan sits on the shelf; it is not a working document, because there is no realistic linkage among performance measures, the strategies, and individual manager accountabilities.
Executive Consultancy Service