An Introduction to Strategic Planning

This is just one of those huge but often overlooked, under developed areas of business. It is something in my opinion so easy to articulate, so trivial to define and yet so often horribly done by those who seem to control the direction.

I recently had a conversation with a potential business opportunity, after the initial greeting and basic background introductions, of which there was a lot of cross-over and industry knowledge, it was time to get into the business of asking what are sometimes the tough questions - what is it you want to do, what are you objectives and more importantly what are the strategic/tactical obstacles. When I say tough, they are often weakly defined and much of what is there, is in people's head - they forget that while they may have the greatest ideas, excellent opportunities, they don't get written down in clear, concise language which is easily understood by everyone from the C levels down to the front-line. That disconnect is the downfall, it becomes the telephone game all over again.

For example, I often see "To be the market leader in X product or Y service" - but then a failure to define what is meant by market leadership - is it by customer volume?, product/service features?, market share?, service & support? All too often that scope gets put down to "All of the above". The problem with that is age old - resources. To be clear, many organizations do get it right and do have the resources to do all of the above (say for instance, Google) - but we aren't all the big G.

So what do you do if you aren't the big G? it means choices, planning and the ability to adapt to, at least in technology, rapidly changing landscapes. The most important thing - LISTEN, to your customers, to your staff (that means all of them, from the janitor up to the CEO). To many times I've seen someone on the front-line nail an issue right on the head, express it and get shot down or worse, ignored completely.

At least in technology, it is there to bring about, build, increment, support and exceed the strategic business goals/objectives. All to often I see the reverse, a focus on the business supporting the technology to meet it's objectives. That may seem a bit counter-intuitive, give it some thought.

Information Technology should be a profit center, arguably one could say that all departments should be profit centers. That just isn't the case in many organizations these days, consequently, those departments tend to suffer negatively through various means, not the least as being seen as something that costs the company money rather than generates revenue.

Next up on this list is honest evaluation and honest communication, today's organizations have taken on this double speak, too afraid of hurting peoples feelings or losing resources because they feel they have failed. Dead wood is dead wood and unless you are running a firewood supply warehouse, it isn't doing a lot for you other than costing time & money. I'm not saying you have to be mean or without feeling, I am saying if you can't directly communicate problems or deficiencies in an honest manner, you are doing a disservice to yourself and your organization.

So lets jump back into the actual topic here, Strategic Planning;

1. Know what you want to do, what is it that is core to your business and what is it that will be core?

2. Write these down and assign timeframes, are these for the year? the quarter?

3. Evaluate, are the objectives/goals reasonable? are they achievable? do you have the required resources?

4. In what order do these objectives/goals need to happen? can they overlap? do they inter-relate?

5. For each objective, goal, elaborate, have your team elaborate, what do you need to accomplish these? time? resources? what tactical / team level things need to happen?

6. Re-evaluate based upon the input you have received, remember, the greatest resource you have are your people, from the bottom to the top - that means you senior management, don't just talk to your managers, go talk to those front-liners - openly, honestly and LISTEN.

7. The contigency. Know what happens *if* X happens or *Y* does not succeed, incorporate this into the plan.

8. Know thine enemy, both internally and externally. Incorporate this, if an attitude or a performance issue must be addressed, acknowledge it honestly and openly and how it will be dealt with. Externally, always be three steps ahead of your competitor (easier said than done though).

9. Plan. Everything above has given you the knowledge to do the right thing, to not only understand where you are but where you want to be. I can't stress enough that having people understand project management will do no end of good for your organization. That includes the front-line, give them a two day course, whatever you can manage - the more they know how things are going to happen, the more comfortable they will be with change and the better they will work.

10. Formalize. From the top-level to the bottom,when people can read a well defined plan, that acknowledges not only the objectives/goals but acknowledges there part in it, they are more likely to buy into it.

11. Publicize it or at least the relevant salient portions - put the spirit back into your organization that motivates your groups to perform at 95%, %100 of the time and puts the everlasting fear of whatever omnipotent diety you believe in into your competition (and don't be afraid of a little subterfuge there).

12. Recognize success openly, by group and by individual. That recognition has to be meaningful to the organization, the group and the individual. If HR wants to only give out some wankstain piece of paper or a pin, put them up against the wall and have them shot, same goes for the hot cocoa sampler. Actions speak louder than words but at the end of the day, money talks.

13. Acknowledge and learn from failure. This is the place for a piece of paper or a pin (both of them pink), in business, failure is not an option - it is a result and that result can be traced in both directions. That may seem callous or even iron fisted, well, nice guys finish last if they finish at all.

I would say that sums it up in a nutshell, some may disagree, some may argue for a more touchy feely approach to business that suits the Gen XYZ that is coming up into the ranks. You are a business, not a babysitter (unless of course your business is babysitting) and a strong work ethic isn't going to kill them.