The idea is that your defined objectives and measurements help employees, managers, and executives link to and align with overall strategic priorities. Everything about strategic planning takes time. )YnPe@U`o 0 #Pi@*W] A)t```y&- $:;,[;~13&1bxe. The point is to show how all these elements fit together and relate to the strategic plan as a whole. It also strengthens communication between employers and employees. The BSC divides up your objectives by perspectivesfinancial, customer, process, and peopleand themes, like innovation, customer management, operational excellence, etc. Define your objectives, measures, and projects. What are they doing? Strategic planning is about finding a short list of the highest-impact projects. Well discuss this further when we talk through the Office of Strategy Management. These sessions usually lead to a short list of five to 10 ideas to research further. After each step, Dwivedi prepares a report to sum up the discussion and key findings. The TOC is focused on how to achieve the change youre looking for, and is popular amongst mission-driven organizations who are describing a change theyre making in the world instead of putting change in their pockets. A Custom Scorecard created to present the performance of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Departments Strategic Plan. You may want a facilitator for the first few meetings, and you may want to script a few open discussions where a goal owner explains why they are behind schedule (red) on their goal, and the business leader offers support, not criticism. The function of the Strategic Plan is to provide a strategy and action items for the Quality Assessment Performance Improvement Plan (QAPIP) at Detroit Wayne Integrated Health Network. They get distracted by a red shiny ball, like a logo or website redesign, or the latest social media platform. And if you have any questions along the way, get in touch with us. It doesnt matter which number is right; both estimates are higher than they should be. but be sure to place a great deal of emphasis on rightsizing this process for your own organization. Ensure the Office of Strategy Management (OSM) is pushing things forward. By continuing, you agree to our use of cookies to optimize and personalize your experience on our site. Four steps to streamline strategic planning Take the Assessment, Why isnt my strategy working? Statistics around the failure rates of corporate strategies varysome put it as high as 9 out of 10 while others say nearly 7 out of 10. 3687 0 obj <>/Filter/FlateDecode/ID[<123C0C3F61240B46A9BE2DF379AA1F15>]/Index[3669 33 3703 1]/Info 3668 0 R/Length 102/Prev 1161100/Root 3670 0 R/Size 3704/Type/XRef/W[1 3 1]>>stream Without this foundation in place, youll either continue on a path to nowhere, or get caught up in a tornado of urgent activities that may not actually benefit your organization in the long term. You dont need to completely rewire your budget, but you do need to create direct linkages between how your resources are allocated and how those efforts support your strategy. Get appropriate background information for your strategic plan. Did you recently do a SWOT analysis and create new vision and mission statements? Feeling the strategic fatigue? Report on strategy progress via the quarterly or monthly review meetings you scheduled early in the process. Many executives, when faced with these stats, are wondering, How do I avoid coming up short in my strategy?. A strategic plan is essential for every business. A SWOT Analysis stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. It covers everything you need to know about strategy planning and execution, from beginning to end, in each of the three critical phases: Based on our experience, we know that following this three-phase approach will significantly increase your odds of getting high-quality results. Its easy to find yourself drilling deeper into data when perhaps only a high-level view of the information is needed. While the reports do not detail everything that has been undertaken to advance the strategic plan, they provide a summary of what has been done and the future directions in which the strategic plan is leading us. Putting your strategic plan into practice (our final step) is the key to making it all work during the strategy implementation plan, and getting these details 80% right in a timely fashion is much more important than getting them 100% right in a year. While you might be able to track your first strategy meeting in Excel or give your first presentation via PowerPoint, youll quickly realize you need some kind of software to track the continuous gathering of data, update your projects, and keep your leadership team on the same page. Where the mission is timeless, your vision is time-bound and more tangible. Youll get a purpose statement, change agenda, and strategy map template with measures and initiatives. How To Write A Vision Statement: 6 Best Practices, Build your strategic plan with our Strategic Plan Template, The Balanced Scorecard: Translating Strategy into Action, Full & Exhaustive Balanced Scorecard Example. At this point, your strategy has been launched: Now you need to know whether or not youre making progress! Strategic planning is how we make it happen. It does this by setting policy priorities, developing action plans for continuous quality improvement on the micro and macro level. Software that connects long-term business strategy, goals/OKRs, and weekly results to help your organization adapt and thrive. Strategic planning is the art of saying no more than the art of saying yes, Dwivedi says. At a minimum, you should be reporting on your entire strategy on a quarterly basis, or breaking down your strategy into pieces and reporting on one of those pieces each month. Over time, the areas that contribute less directly to strategic goals will become clear, and you can work on gradually aligning everything you fund. They may talk a good game and be able to explain an innovative new mission, but they cannot articulate the processes and business models that will make it happen. What is your organization trying to accomplish? Note: Choose only one of these three frameworks, as they have numerous similarities! Dont do it again. 2022, OnStrategy, All Rights Reserved. This pyramid can be visualized in countless different ways, the order of the pyramid isnt whats important. See our most popular templates here. Having a strategic plan brings your main focus points to the forefront, so you dont have to dig into the details of everything your organization is doing. Who are your rivals? `$( a0$(.=* (P+qr7Wh9[h#C Dont reinvent the wheeluse our assortment of strategic planning templates to get your strategy up and running more easily. Its a filter.. Doing so helps ensure resources are allocated correctly, and in a way that aligns with your goals. During your search for strategic planning tools, youve almost certainly come across a Strategy Pyramid (shown below). The current state section is about 15 to 20 pages in length and includes: An appendix may be added at the end with extra information, such as: The next section describes the desired future state of the company. 1911 N Fort Myer Drive, Suite 1100 | Arlington, VA 22209 | 866-568-0590 | [emailprotected]. There are also plenty of organizations that do take steps to fulfill the requirements of strategic planning, yet still fail to see results. If you refresh your strategic plan every year, you might be able to work through this process in. The way to do that is by selecting and developing a strategy management framework that will bring all your priorities together in one cohesive format. This report is then validated with the CEO and key employees and any input integrated before work starts on the next step. Once youve gathered up the quantitative data from the sources above, youll also want to get feedback from a number of different sources: Combined, all of this data will help you get a better grasp on the future of the business. What actions need to be taken to continue making progress? As a result, nothing about their way of doing businessincluding their priorities, projects, or culturechanges. If this is your role (or even if youre just highly involved in the process), this guide will be immensely helpful as you navigate the coordination of the strategy. Create your strategy map or graphic strategic model. shown to improve performance significantly. As for timing, there are three types of strategy review meetings: For each of these, youll want to send out calendar invites in advance and make sure people know these meetings are a top priority. The idea behind TOC is that if you have the right people doing the right activities, theyll affect change on your customers, which will impact your financials, and bring you closer to your vision. (Youre already a step ahead of your competitors simply by taking the time to research the problem!) You can be in the small percentage of businesses that actually achieve the goals in their strategic plans, and were here to tell you how. Months or years later, strategic leaders are left wondering why the company never achieved what was intended. A great example of a this theory of change is the nonprofit RARE. They help you prepare to create the strategic plan. In Chapter 3, we discussed structuring the budget around the key components of your strategy. For example, a local government may have had a goal to develop a green infrastructure plan at the beginning of 2020, but then had to pivot with the onset of COVID-19. On one hand, that definition makes strategy planning sound like a Business 101 conceptdefine your goals and a plan to achieve them. Now lets talk about the major player needed for this process: The strategic planner. A comprehensive plan report to report on the performance of Fairbanks North Star Borough School Districts Strategic Plan. Using a framework such as Balanced Scorecard (BSC), Theory of Change (TOC), or Objectives and Key Results (OKR) is critical to your strategic success. So while this whole process is focused on your overall strategy (i.e. This is also a good time to think about your strategy review meetings, which are a necessity for staying on track over the long haul. Ten years ago, you may have evaluated your strategy annually. The strategic planner will also need the help of a cross-functional team that involves members of the board or leadership, along with representatives from finance, human resources, operations, sales, and any other critical functions. A checklist of 29 things to ask a potential strategy software vendor. LpF^l-B^+&(p/ (ue#J^K) 0LA&\9)$deXJ\e bjVHo]mtwvI*Xlt14V=Wlu]KjuUmq2m-,~n}=aet~sy6jn-ric&.ZV;:@I * BLiP8T'XqG(W@hqra1A"P TL `0' Strategy is focused on the destination and how you are going to get there, and tactics are focused on the specific actions you plan to take along the way. You might review key metrics and the status of initiatives and milestones. But in todays business environment, thats not a feasible option. and requested that you make a strategic plan and then report back to the leadership team when youre donestop right where you are. Its a time-honored strategy execution framework built around the competition in your industry. Initiatives are projects designed to help meet your goals. This may include reiterating your mission and vision to add context around the conversation. Performance management tools like ClearPoint allow organizations to track a variety of metrics related to strategic projects, helping to maintain focus over the long term. Now that youve prepared for your strategy You may have researched risk assessments, core competencies, scenario planning, or industry scans as part of your strategic planning. Well go through all these ingredientsand morein the strategic planning guide that follows. 1. Those who use the BSC do so to bring their strategy to life, communicate it across their organization, and track their strategy progress and performance. If you have a goal to improve patient satisfaction, a measure might be average patient wait time. The strategic planning frameworks above are all meant, in different ways, to help you organize your objectives, measures, and projects. s m"(0gS@hM Mghb This is a tiring processso be careful to tailor everything in this section to what those in your organization will tolerate. Chapter 1: Prepare For Strategic Planning. This absence of a strategic plan demonstrates why having one is so important. However, try to avoid adding yet another meeting onto everyones plates; instead, there may be a current meeting you can replace or redesign to make time for strategy discussion. You then need to look at the threat of substitutes. Do you already manage with a robust set of KPIs? /[  E You dont want to move forward to the future state if the current state isnt accurate.. But those that develop a disciplined approach to both planning and execution have been shown to improve performance significantly. (If you use strategy software, the strategic plan document will likely be contained there.) Organizations should aim for 2-4 measures per objective. practices, resources, initiatives) youll take to get there. This section describes how your company will bridge the gap between its current state and the desired future state. Use them. your long-term goals and how youll achieve them), well be placing a lot of emphasis on the smaller steps (i.e. In the short termwhich would be your next budgeting cycle or something similarwork to structure the budget around the key components of your strategy. Download it below! The Office of Strategy Management is comprised of a group of people responsible for coordinating strategy implementation. The strategic plan lists objectives and goals for each area your company would like to grow, and lists initiatives the organization will take to meet their goals. Strategic plans typically include four elements. (The idea of perspectives is fully developed in Norton and Kaplans book The Balanced Scorecard: Translating Strategy into Action.) Neither of these scenarios will give you the competitive edge you hoped for. Having a plan doesnt mean your organization will execute on it. The reason the entrepreneur is often running in circles is they dont know what to work on. Its imperative to have a system in place that will measure and monitor your progress toward goals during the execution phase. Heres an example: For an in-depth look at how your organization could use the BSC, check out this Full & Exhaustive Balanced Scorecard Example. Chapter 4: The Benefits Of Strategic Planning (& Challenges You Should Be Aware Of). Timely, valid, and actionable information is especially valuable in situations where organizations need to react quickly, so they can make the best decisions possible for all their stakeholders. Strategic Planning is a process that seeks to set a strategic direction and plan to advance the organizations interests and ensure long-term growth and sustainability. When that shared vision is communicated clearly and consistently, it inspires employees to take ownership over their role in the plan, and they are typically more motivated to do their best work. But dont worrythese abysmal statistics dont mean youre doomed to failure. Why? They arent prepared for the work involved with follow-through, both in terms of the time commitment and the tools necessary to support performance improvement. Objectives are three-to-five year goals of where you want your organization to be. So its critical that these elements are well thought-out and defined. Youve made it this farnow you have to be sure you launch correctly! Over the years, weve helped hundreds of clients beat the odds using the steps outlined in the guide below. If youve never done strategic planning before, Increase Market Share Through Current Customers (Financial), Achieve Order Fulfillment Excellence Through On-Line Process Improvement (Internal), Align Incentives And Rewards With Employee Roles For Increased Employee Satisfaction (Learning & Growth). You should be shouting it from the rooftops to keep it top-of-mind across your organization. 3701 0 obj <>stream Since the launch of NorthWEstern WILL, individuals, departments, units, schools, and the Catalyst Workgroup have concentrated resources and energy to achieve goals outlined in the strategic plan. Quarterly review meetings may include department heads and upper management. Heres how to do that. Step 1: Gather your team, set up meetings, and create a timeline. But even if your budget only extends through the fiscal year, consider how youll align your strategy to projects in the future. A common reason is that the plan itself isnt written properly. Having helped hundreds of organizationsfor-profit, nonprofit, and local governments includednavigate through the strategic planning and implementation process, weve seen firsthand the many challenges that arise along the way. Strategic planning is an organization's process of defining its direction and long-term goals, creating specific plans to achieve them, implementing those plans, and evaluating the results. Now that youve created your strategic vision Chapter 3: Put Your Strategic Plan Into Practice. Instead, your strategy review meetings should be meticulously organized and accompanied by an agenda. Dwivedi gives this advice for what a strategic plan should contain and how it should be written. A full-page color poster overview of the City of Renos 2016-2018 Strategic Plan. Dont worry, though, yours can be one of the success stories.)