Strategic planning
The Changemaking Systems model for addressing
the overall strategies of an organization is illustrated
in the graphic that follows. The graphic has two stages:
1.
Strategic Audit? (Identify the right strategic questions.)
2.
Strategic Framework! (Answer them.)
The organization / business first reviews its
current strategic profile, how it stacks up in the areas
of the business environment, products offered, market needs,
capabilities, and results achieved. Part of this
review is focused on where it has been in each of these
categories, and part of it is to look at the new and emerging
conditions in each of these categories.
Most importantly, the question must be asked
regarding each category: What does this mean, especially
for the future?
Secondly, the organization / business determines
which category should be the driver for the foreseeable
future. This driving force is then the foundation
upon which the remainder of the strategic framework will
be built.
Will the driving force be products (called
the product leader value discipline, best product, or
differentiation strategy)?
Will the driving force be the market (called
the customer intimacy value discipline, best total solution,
or focused strategy)?
Will the driving force be capabilities and operational
costs and efficiencies with those capabilities (called
operational excellence, best total cost, or competing
on the basis of cost)?
After the driving force is selected (which
requires much thought and interaction / debate, for it
is fundamental to all other planning), then the
strategic framework is created on the foundation of the
driving force. The framework consists of outcome
and process objectives for each of the five categories,
starting with the driving force category, but then going
in any sequence that seems to fit.
The strategic planning product can be simple
or elaborate. It must be clear and be capable of
guiding the decisions of the people of the organization. Priorities
should be clear, giving everyone a sense of how their work
could be most strategic.
What needs to follow after the strategic planning
is all the rest of the operational planning, budgeting,
contingency plans, functional plans, unit plans, and critical
issue planning. Success indicators and outcome measures
should be included, and there should be no doubt as to
who is accountable for what. Then there is the compelling
need to both manage to the plan(s) and monitor / modify
the plan as needed.
The exact terminology used, the formatting
of the plan, and the approach to the planning process itself
differ from one organization to the next, depending upon
the needs and situations in which the given organization
finds itself at a given point, in time.
A
few comments on strategy:
Strategy
is all about making choices and doing the right thing,
not just doing things right.
Strategy
is all about putting yourself and your organization
in a good position to succeed.
Hard
work is essential, but it does not guarantee success. We
need to be working hard at the right thing, whether
we are individuals or a huge corporation...or a nation.
There
is little worse than doing the wrong thing better and
better.
This
is why strategic thinking has become one of the keys
to career success in virtually all organizations in
all walks of life. |
