 One of the most common objections to annual strategic planning is that it involves a lot of time and resources and once the plan is done it often sits on the shelf until it is time to do it again the next year. Employees sometime question the value of annual planning since they feel that the business owner will just do what they want to regardless of what is in the plan. Or employees may feel that plans can be thrown out the window as soon as they are written since competitive situations change quickly and these changing environments may cause the plan to become rapidly obsolete.
While it is true that competitive environments change and the ultimate decisions regarding an organizations strategic direction do ultimately belong with senior management and business owners there are still compelling reasons for investing the time to do annual strategic planning. The greatest value of strategic planning often comes from the process of planning rather than the final printed document. Taking time away from daily activities to look objectively at your organizations products, processes, competitive environments and needs gives you a chance to see the forest through the trees. Just like the person who gains weight over time and doesn’t realize it until they see a picture of themselves and wonders ”how did this happen”. Taking a snap shot in time of your organization can help you see things in with a very different objective perspective.
Effective planning involves more than getting off site for a day or two. To be truly effective requires having systems in place to measure the true success drivers of your organization. This means you need to take the time to make sure you know what really drives the success of your organization and what things you can do to affect those critical activities. Successful planning also requires an in-depth understanding of your competition and what trends or technological and legal changes in the marketplace might affect your organizations ability to complete its mission.
The discussion process involved in getting the key players in an organization to agree on what is really important and what threats your competitors present relative to your organizations strengths can serve as a very effective vehicle to help you gain consensus on future plans and activities. Without agreement and buy-in regarding the real challenges your organization faces it is nearly impossible to get everyone working in the same direction to make changes because without agreement on what the issues are everyone will have a different opinion of what solutions should be.
The journey of discussing pros and cons of what is and what is not important and what should be the highest priority is much more important than the “destination” or the final product of a plan. Once the final plan is complete it can be used like a road map to determine your progress on your journey. By checking your progress throughout the year to see if you are still on the right path or not you can measure your progress and make sure everyone is still in agreement on what is and what is not important. This process of periodically checking your progress against your strategic objectives will help insure that your team stays focused on what is truly important and that they are all working toward the same end destination.
About the Author – Scott Francis is President of Topline Development LLC a Strategic Marketing Consulting Group that provides helps companies determine how they can make the most amount of money with the least amount of resources. To learn more about Topline Development LLC visit their web site at www.ToplineDevelopment.com or contact Scott directly at scott@toplinedevelopment.com. |
