Clear, Aligned, Living Strategic Plans
Clear, Aligned, Living Strategic Plans
Few can dispute the wisdom of Yogi Berra: “If you don’t know where you’re going, you might not get there.”
Yet, many organizations and businesses find it difficult to develop and use strategic plans.
Success lies in developing clear and aligned strategic plans, in embedding their use into everyday work, and in regular revision.
Strategic planning wisdom from Yogi Berra
The “Problems” with some Strategic Planning:
Most boards of directors or municipal councils know they want or need a strategic plan. Yet, largely because of their previous negative experiences and flaccid results, they delegate the development of the plan to an outside consultant.
Then, after they approve the plan, directors or councillors might find they rarely refer to it and, as a result, staff rarely use it to guide daily, weekly or even monthly activities.
And, while some councils or boards ask for staff reports to identify the “strategic direction” or “strategic priority” of their recommendations, staff tell us they often identify the strategic direction that “sounds the best” given the topic.
Finally, since boards or councils rarely reward Staff for advancing the organization’s goals, strategic planning fails to become an important part of the organization’s ethos.
Specific Examples:
Let’s look at some examples of the results of these general trends:
Word-Smithing & Jargon:
During some strategic planning sessions, participants tend to “add words” to be more inclusive or to “word-smith” using the latest jargon. This practice actually reduces understanding, muddles the plan, and makes it difficult for people to even remember the vision or mission.
Here’s the vision for NASA: “Exploring secrets of the universe for the benefit of all.”
Compare it with the vision for a large Canadian city (population: 344,000): “A city of choice that promotes diversity, innovation and opportunity for all citizens, fostering a vibrant community life that is inclusive, progressive, environmentally responsible and sustainable.”
One of seven goal statements for that same city is to “ignite economic prosperity and advance [the City] as an entrepreneurial City.” Their plan doesn’t explain the meaning of “ignite” or “prosperity.”
Their strategic plan also calls for “strategic initiatives to bolster the local economy and future investment.” This sounds impressive, but how does a strategy calling for more strategy make sense?
And, what does “Promote [the City’s] economy as transformative, ambitious and purpose driven” mean? Imagine explaining that to a 14-year old or an 84-year old.
Jargon and word-smithing in the strategic plan of a large Canadian city.
Strategic Priorities and Lists:
Large consulting firms who ostensibly help boards and councils develop strategic plans often clump tactics or initiatives into “Strategic Priorities” or “Strategic Themes.” Under each priority they list a number of thematic projects or studies.
Our clients tell us that plans with “strategic priorities” basically just organize a series of “wish lists” under a general theme. They tell us these “priorities” are disconnected with their overall goals. Many times these lists end up including “pet projects” or a series of “studies” or “master plans.”
Wish lists in the strategic plan of a small Canadian town.
For example, under their “Strategic Priority” of “Enhancing Capacity & Future Readiness,” a small Canadian town (population 18,000), calls for a “Recreation & Culture Master Plan.” Here’s another example of a strategic plan calling for another plan. A good question from the public might be “When will all this planning lead to action?”
We would ask “Why?” If you ask “Why might you want to develop a Recreation & Culture Master Plan?” you’ll find it’s not so you can “Enhance Capacity & Future Readiness.”
Rather, you might want such a “master plan” so that eventually you can provide exceptional recreational and cultural programs to families. But, you’d still have many actions before you get closer to exceptional recreation and cultural experiences.
Stays on the Shelf:
Maybe that’s why so many of our clients say their previous plans stayed “on the shelf.” Their plans included vague language that could mean anything and “strategic themes” that included a hodge-podge of disjointed actions.
Others tell us that because of unclear language, their previous plans meant one thing to one person and something entirely different to another.
Staff tell us that instead of annually reviewing their strategic plan, they lump new initiatives under one of the existing “strategic themes.” They also admit they didn’t complete a number of the initiatives in their plan, because they “no longer applied.”
Directors or Councillors tell us that despite all the years of work on those long lists of disjointed actions, they don’t feel they got any closer to achieving their goals.
Strategic plans should not "stay on the shelf"
In an aligned strategic plan each initiative leads to a priority, and each priority to a goal. Fulfilling each goal advances the mission and vision.
A Clear, Aligned, Living Strategic Plan:
There is another way: a clear, aligned and living plan.
Aligned Plan:
In an aligned strategic plan each initiative leads to a priority. Each priority leads toward a goal. Each goal helps to advance the organization’s mission and vision. A plan aligned this way becomes a strategic roadmap for the organization.
This alignment naturally allows for clear operational plans and makes it easy for directors or councillors to monitor progress.
When one sees how their actions lead to and advances their vision and mission, most want to keep checking their strategic plan to tackle the next initiative so they can get closer to achieving their goals.
Clear Plan:
A clear strategic plan includes clearly defined goals and uses clear language.
If your board or council wants to be a “leader” in something, include the area or sector in which they want to lead. In which County or Region? Which Province or State? Which sector?
Or if you want to “Empower the local business community to grow…” explain what you mean by “empower” and “grow.” Does “empower” mean subsidies from the City, social media likes, or hiring more staff to speed up approvals of zoning changes. Does “grow” mean increasing the number of people working or the number of businesses? And, by how much?
Finally, a clear plan uses language that the average person understands. Be sure to remove jargon or technical terms and say what you mean. How would you explain “Continuous Technological Enhancement – Corporate Services” to your grandmother? Use that phrasing instead of such obscure language.
Notice the clear goal with clear language in US President Kennedy’s speech at Rice University in September 1962: “We choose to go to the moon in this decade…”
President Kennedy's clear, easy to understand goal was achieved just seven years later.
Living strategic plans link to employee performance goals.
Living Plan:
A “living plan” is one you go back to time and time again and revise. Just like on a long road trip, refer to the plan often and “recalibrate” according to new conditions, cleared “roadblocks,” or new opportunities. Directors, councillors, or staff monitor, revise and update living plans.
Living plans also incorporate SMART tactics and initiatives – they are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic (with the resources available), and Time bound.
Finally, achieving a “living plan” means using cross-functional teams to undertake and solve each of the initiatives and priorities. Including staff from multiple parts of the organization helps guarantee innovative approaches and increases the likelihood of success.
In fact, we’ve helped one highly innovative workplace tie each employee’s compensation into their success in fulfilling parts of the strategic plan. Now that’s a living plan!
How Might We Help You?
We involve board members and/or councillors in the development of an organization’s or municipality’s new strategic plan.
After providing analysis and input from partners and the broader community, we help directors / councillors and senior staff to identify their top aspirational goals. We then facilitate a session using the “Why? What’s Stopping?” analysis to “map” these goals and develop a clear, aligned, living Strategic Plan!
Want to see how it might work for you and your team? Just contact us by emailing us at info@augustynenterprises.ca or book your free video call today.
A clear, aligned, living stragetic plan will help you soar!