The Idea Behind Your Strategic Plan
Here are some questions to test the validity of your
plan. Many plans fail because the idea behind the plan isn’t questioned.
Questions include:
- Why should customers buy the product or service?
- Will interest last? Is it forever or a fad?
- Will competition force us out?
- Can the product or service be profitable?
- Can we make money from it?
- Will the enterprise grow based on it?
- Do we really want to do this?
Prepare the Plan for Change
Many planning efforts fail because little
thought was given to problems that might occur. There are always problem,
and it is sensible during strategic planning to anticipate what they may
be and how they should be tackled, rather than do so half-way during implementation
of the plan.
Go so far as to have a reasonable alternative
course of action. Plan B should take you to the same goal as Plan A but
perhaps by a slightly different manner.
Leading When a Plan Isn’t Expected
to Succeed
Yes, you can wind up with a plan with poor
probability of success—or be given a project to lead with little
chance to work. Even under those circumstances, meet with your group as
soon as you can. Let them know that you are aware that the situation is
grim but that if they give you their support, even temporarily, you can
at least attempt to find a workable course of action, even if it is shutdown
of the project.
Compare yourself to a doctor attending
a dying patient. On the one hand, you want to do everything possible to
save the patient; on the other hand, you want to know when it is time
to cease heroic intervention in favor of making the patient’s last
moments as comfortable as possible.
Failures of Missions
Missions fail due to poor planning. And
the biggest planning mistake executives make is being blind to the demands
that successful implementation requires. What can you do to prevent this?
Stay in touch with your employees and the realities of the marketplace.
Of course, you will involve your management team in strategic planning
BUT too often you may not be listening to their feedback during these
planning sessions. Assign one of your team members, too, to stay alert
to the actions of competitive firms. What actions are they taking? What
do they perceive about the market that you may not?
Failures of Execution
If a plan doesn’t work, and you don’t
want a repetition, here are some questions to ask yourself:
- Was the work properly organized?
- Was the plan beyond the skill and scope of the people doing it?
- Was the external environment as expected? Was there a change in the
external environment that should have been anticipated but wasn’t?
- Were there internal political issues that stalled the plan?
- Did those responsible for making the plan work have the resources
they needed to make it work?
Strategic Planning Checklist
Courtesy of “Managerial Shortcuts”
by Lisa Davis is this list of tips on strategic planning:
- Shine a spotlight on ever area of the business to et a clear picture
of where you are now.
- Ask customers if the business meets their needs now, and if they think
the business can meet their needs in the future.
- Ask staff how they feel the business rates in comparison to competitors.
- Ask members of the management team where they think the business is
heading and what, if anything, they would choose to change.
- Clarify what the business is about and create a clear and dynamic
mission statement.
- Distribute the mission statement throughout the company so that everyone
knows what the business is aiming to achieve.
- Distribute the mission statement throughout the company so that everyone
knows what the business is aiming to achieve.
- Create a vision that encapsulates the very best of what the business
does, and live the vision every day until it becomes a reality.
- Be prepared to change as the business changes.
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