A Strategic Plan serves as a road map to provide direction and focus as well as to align the organizational team from board of directors and senior management to front-line leadership and employees.
A good plan establishes the specific results that are to be achieved. It includes shared core strategies as a way to achieve the intended results and establishes a course of action for realizing them. A strategic plan helps the various departments/work units within an organization to align their work activities with the shared Core Strategies and strategic goals.
Many organizations develop plans but fail to realize the benefits of their plans. They focus only on planning and do not have an implementation and change management process. A yearly Strategic Management System and Cycle integrates both planning and implementation. It provides a comprehensive system to lead, manage, and change one’s total organization in a conscious, well-planned, integrated fashion based on its strategies and a proven process that works to develop and achieve one’s Ideal Future Vision.
However, most leaders and CEOs kept wondering why strategic planning, all too often, falls short of the mark. My advice to them has always been: identify your organization’s strategic planning shortcomings and then take appropriate actions to correct each before the entire process becomes a waste of time and resources. So, let us look at some shortcomings that urgently need to be corrected for strategic planning to yield desired results.
INEFFECTIVE PRE-PLANNING
In all areas of life, success is best planned for in advance. This is especially true for strategic planning. One common mistake is a failure to educate and organize the leadership team properly prior to planning. It typically results in an unstructured approach, reducing the effectiveness of the planning process and, ultimately, the plan. Action-oriented firms often make this mistake, only to pay for it later.
Solution: Your organization needs to lay the foundation for success
The goals of the pre-planning phase include educating the senior management team in order to develop a common understanding and terms regarding planning and change; determining the key issues to be addressed; organizing a successful planning process or series of sessions; tailoring the planning for the best implementation of the plan; and assessing organizational and leadership readiness for planning as well as implementation. In addition, a plan is put in place to address issues arising from the environmental assessment to support successful planning and implementation.
PASSIVE TOP MANAGEMENT COMMITMENT
More than half of Strategic Plans fail because commitment from the top is half-hearted or sporadic, when leaders do not actively participate in the planning process, delegating it to others. Without CEO and senior leadership, the plan lacks support to take it forward and it dies an early death.
Solution: Planning and Change are the primary job of every organization leaders
If you desire a strategic planning and change process that is successful, you will need a firm consensus and active commitment from your top management. Senior leaders must play an active, visible role—not only in initiating the Strategic Plan, but also in following through.
VIOLATING THE “PEOPLE SUPPORT WHAT THEY HELP CREATE” PRINCIPLE
Another problem arises when leaders do not engage key stakeholders, resulting in a plan where there is limited ownership and no real understanding of it. Inadequate involvement of employees and other key stakeholders create a closed and secretive environment, causing resistance to change and results failure to engage stakeholders has serious implications for the actualization of the plan.
Solution: Engage key Stakeholders to create Ownership for the Plan and Results
Because people are the ones who will implement plans, their commitment to the plan is essential. During the pre-planning step, leaders need to determine who will participate in the planning process and how to engage other key stakeholders throughout the planning and implementation process. Knowing that people support that which they help to create, it is essential to determine how you will engage your stakeholders in the Plan-to-Plan phase, throughout the creation of the plan, and its implementation.
By ‘Uju Onwuzulike
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