Strategic Planning: Develop & Plan Effective Strategy

Most organizations have these 3 prerequisites in place

1.Sponsor and Leadership

2.Mandate

3.Delegate Group Representivity

Most organizations lack these 4 pieces

1.Focus Question

2.Method*

3.Facilitator and Facilitation Technique

4.Tool*

The Workshop Sponsor MUST have direct corporate oversight of the full ambit of the component of the organization to be evaluated. In the case of a Corporate Strategic Plan the Sponsor MUST be the Chief Executive or, if there is a Chairperson, the Chairperson.

The Sponsor MUST have the authority to take decisions impacting all areas of the organization that may be impacted by the planning process OR must have access to, and a mandate from, the person/s who have access to such other elements.

The Delegate Group should comprise ALL of the Executives or Managers who report to the Sponsor. In the case of a Strategic Plan this should include ALL members of the Executive Committee. In the case of a Departmental Plan this should include all the managers who report to the Departmental Head.

We started the StratSnap© process and got as far as the weighting, the tension was palpable and we moved slowly because of the distrust and tension.

it blew the session out of the water but her cover was exposed and other Delegates then realized how she had been totally sabotaging key operational aspects that she was responsible for.

The Governance, Sponsorship, Objective and overall Strategic Map should be agreed with the relevant Executive or Senior Manager before Delegates are invited to the Workshop.

If an external Facilitator is engaged it is vital to ensure that they are certified to facilitate this tool and method. Alternatively an In-House Facilitator should be appointed in which case they should have significant experience and skill in facilitation or they should rehearse this presentation before facilitating – we can provide coaching where required.

One focus question = one Snapshot. Constantly narrowing focus to the 20% of issues that will deliver 80% of the value

•Start with a concise problem statement

–Required business performance

–REAL problem

NO PROBLEM, NO PROJECT

For a Strategic Plan the Planning Period would typically be three years MINIMUM and possibly five years for a larger organization – this is the period of time that you will look back to evaluate historic performance and look forward to project Forecast and Objective performance.

1.Determine Workshop Sponsor

2.Determine Workshop Objective

3.Determine Focus Questions

–Concise

–Focused

–May not be obvious

–The right questions to get the required answers

–e.g. Critical concerns or critical questions

The Workshop Objective should be set by the Sponsor, in consultation with the Management Team BEFORE the commencement of the workshop.

Prior to the workshop I always conduct a series of one hour one on one interviews with the Executives or Managers who will make up the delegate group. I ask three questions:

What is the essence of your organization and HOW does it THRIVE? Why is it successful? How does it differentiate itself in the Market?

What are your Critical Concerns with regard to the Health of the Organization right now OR with regard to whatever the core focus of the Strategic Planning session may be.

If we look back on this Workshop in a year from now what will be your Critical Success Factors for the engagement? How will I know the engagement was successful.

I determine the Strategic Essence ONLY from the Executive team. With more junior personnel I ask the question to get a feel for alignment.

This may take place as part of the preparation outlined on the previous slide or may take place as a separate process earlier in the engagement in which case I interview each executive one-on-one starting with the CEO

The StratSnap© Critical Issues SnapShot© process is designed to allow rapid and accurate analysis of the strategic environment

The SnapShot© name is a play on a camera, taking snaps of the strategic environment from different angles and with different emphasis.

Throughout this course we will celebrate your progress at 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%. I really want you to succeed but you need to take action and keep going so look forward to these milestones of progress. I will see you there and cheer you on as you keep going from one milestone to the next >>

The Toolset and Method used here were developed over about 12 years and have been used successfully ever since – they are therefore well proven. At the same time, it is suggested that inspection of the Tool and Method will indicate that they are comprehensive and intuitively sound. The Tool is a suite of Excel Spreadsheets that have been fine tuned to the facilitation approach.

To travel 800 miles by car from Chicago
to New York, you will need:

1.A car (own, rented, taxi, Uber)

2.A driver

The average human can manage 7 ± 2 abstract concepts simultaneously (Google “hrair limit”)

The Seven Factors which most effectively summarize the Critical Issues addressed by the detailed list that has just been brainstormed

1.In the spreadsheets the following color coding is used for the Tabs:

–Green – input sheets

–Brown – worksheets

–Orange – printable worksheets

–Blue – output sheets

–Dark Grey – calculation sheets

Sheets are protected and only cells in which input is allowed are NOT locked.If you find yourself wanting to unlock a cell you are probably making a mistake, we advise against this

A focus question is a statement of the subject to be analyzed in a specific SnapShot©. For example “Critical Concerns with regard to current strategic direction”

1.In order to analyze the Strategic Map, each element of the map must be defined as a Focus Question and then a SnapShot© undertaken to develop understanding of that aspect of the Strategic Environment.

Capture the information identified in the preceding slides onto the Session Details Tab in the Tool

Typically put the Sponsor at the top of the list. If there are any logical groupings, such as three people from Finance, group them together

The following group activities will take place one step at a time

Generally I concentrate on the core elements in a session and omit the other elements or complete them later. My view is that I like to harvest as much core information as possible while I have the Delegates gathered together – in other words, I seek to do as many SnapShots© as possible in the time available

It is vital that ALL points are captured so that ALL delegates are heard and acknowledged. This is a critical element of the psychology of the process

If the person facilitating does NOT type fast and accurately or wants to concentrate on facilitation I suggest that you enlist the help of a staff member who types fast and accurately and who can be trusted with sensitive and confidential information

The flow of input from the delegates will ebb and flow. At times there will be a rapid fire of points and at other times there can be complete silence.

1.Check for blind spots

2.The elephant in the room (unmentionables, undiscussables)

Throughout this course we will celebrate your progress at 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%. I really want you to succeed but you need to take action and keep going so look forward to these milestones of progress. I will see you there and cheer you on as you keep going from one milestone to the next >>