Does this sound familiar? You participate in a leadership retreat that is designed to develop a strategic plan.  The lead team establishes a Mission, a lofty sounding Vision, and even does a SWOT analysis to identify threats and opportunities.  Everything is placed in a three ring binder and doesn’t see the light of day for another year.

You’re not alone.

In this article, I’ll describe methods for putting strategic initiatives into action, share insights into using a strategic plan to enhance organizational effectiveness, and define how high performance organizations engage in breakthrough thinking.

My observation is that in high performance organizations all stakeholders understand the organization’s core values, long-term objectives, and their individual role in helping to achieve those objectives.  Most importantly, the core values are significantly more than mere “wallpaper” – nice banners placed around the company. Employees know what is expected of them to carry out the organization’s objectives in a manner that supports core values.  So do suppliers, customers, and shareholders.

Before I share some thoughts about implementing a strategic plan, I think I should first address what I believe strategic planning is and is not.  It is not simply goal setting. You can set as many goals as you want. The key question is this: what is implementable?  Strategic planning is not a one-time event. World events change – and change rapidly. A sound plan in March 2005 may have some elements that are not do-able in October 2005. Even though components of a strategic plan may take place within a short time frame, strategic planning must look out beyond the horizon and make calculated assessments regarding what your organization can realistically do to achieve and maintain a competitive advantage.

In short, strategic planning is:

• A dynamic, proactive process

• A roadmap

• Long term

• Growing the business

In order to successfully move a strategic plan from paper to purposeful action, I’ve found that objectives, such as “promote new business, acquisitions, and partnerships” must be assigned between three and five concrete, measurable goals. I do not, by the way, believe in having numerous objectives and even more numerous goals. Two or three critical issues that can position a company for success – or failure – should be surfaced and serve as focal points or key result areas.

Goals must each have carefully developed tactics for achievement. It’s great to say “our goal is to develop three new markets on the East Coast by June, 2006.”  Even more important, though, is to establish how those new markets will be established.

Key questions are:

• Who has ownership?

• What are potential barriers?

• How can we minimize or eliminate those barriers?

• How will Human Resources partner with Sales and Marketing to ensure this goal is met?

• What will provide a significant benefit to our customers?

• What will change the basis of competition or create a new standard?

There are four pitfalls I’ve noted over the years that cause a failure to implement objectives:

• No alignment

• Missing pieces

• No integration

• No champions

By alignment, I mean that each department or division’s objectives and goals support the organization’s Mission, Vision, and objectives. If an objective of the organization’s leadership is to open a division in South America, Human Resources needs to develop tactics to explore the labor market and protective labor laws in that region.

Tactics may be sound except for missing elements, such as available staff to carry out a planned initiative. Tactical discussions include an exploration of resources such as time, equipment, and people .  .  .  as well as methods for filling gaps where resources don’t exist. I encourage the use of process checkpoints when developing tactics. These periodic checkpoints give all players an opportunity to explore whether success criteria are being met for the goals. If not, this is the time to take definitive steps to get back on track.

Is it conceivable that the Sales Department could end up selling products that aren’t even out of the design or production phase? Yes – I’ve seen it happen. If there is no communication across the organization to ensure integration of departmental strategic plans, different areas within the organization will be working at cross-purposes. This is my best argument for sharing departmental strategic plans to ensure that they support both the organization’s objectives and do not sabotage other departments’ objectives.

The best-laid plans will go awry or get completely stalled if people in key leadership roles aren’t paying attention or aren’t accessible. If tactics require the input of focus groups, for example, sometimes the CEO or Plant Manager is the only person with the ability to make those people available at the right time. Every effective process needs champions, and strategic planning is no exception.


If you’d like to know more about how to implement your strategic plan, don’t hesitate to email me at Linda@gravett.com.