 Planning
for Change
An
Outline for Success
By John Lankford
The sober reality is that most companies
lack the mindset, the assets, and/or the appetite to
devote to strategic planning. Since winning the #1 award
as the Associate Business Coach of the Year, I am often
asked, “What do successful businesses have in common?”
The answer starts with a commitment to evaluation.
Changing your results is predicated on
strategic planning, operational planning, and
performance management planning. Strategic planning is
the roadmap to the future. It means revisiting your
vision, mission, and values - in other words, your
“rules of the game.” Strategic planning is about where
you’re headed and what you will accomplish when you
arrive.
The purpose of planning is not to produce
results, but to align your executive team and set the
long-term course. This dialogue is critical to help
these senior leaders adapt, focus, and commit.
A)
Strategic Planning
1.
Analyze results from the past three years
-
Revisit your Vision/Mission Statement.
-
What market changes have occurred in
the last 2-3 years?
-
Unique Selling Proposition - what
differentiates you in the marketplace?
-
Assess your internal systems.
-
Complete a detailed “SWOT” assessment.
2.
Consider alternatives to current problems
-
Awareness: What
part of management thinking has contributed to current
problems?
-
Analysis: What
new thinking must exist to define a new direction?
-
Discuss: What
are alternative scenarios for key variables?
3.
Mapping the new direction
-
What does the market analysis project
for the next 3-5 years?
-
Does your current business model
require revision?
-
How does your company’s USP relate to
the marketplace of the future?
4.
Benchmarking – a new type of leadership
-
Identify the top two or three companies
(not in your industry) that are “best in class” and
visit them to learn from their success.
-
The quality of your benchmarking trip
will be in direct proportion to the amount of time
spent planning the visit.
-
Do you have the right members on your
management team?
B)
Operational Planning
The operational plan is “how” you are
going to implement the strategic plan. Under normal
circumstances, the operational plan should be completed
during the fourth quarter. Determining a matching budget
and key performance indicators are also obligatory
segments of a well-designed plan.
Designing the Operational Plan
1.
Identify the forces working for and
against your new thinking.
2.
Test your thinking against the workings
of effective strategies:
·
Know your competition.
·
Have contingencies.
·
Match competitive situations.
·
Be consistent.
·
Be realistic.
·
Leverage resources.
3.
Build
motivation.
4.
Concentrate full
resources.
5.
Maintain total communication.
6.
Conserve scarce
resources.
7.
Match company values.
8.
Utilize all information and intelligence.
9.
Combine all strategic components.
10.
Identify who is responsible for which
elements of the plan.
11.
Analyze operations, key performance
indicators, budgets, and department/divisional action
plans.
12.
Develop an implementation timeline.
13.
Design and execute a company-wide
communication plan.
C)
Performance Management Planning
Once you’ve purposefully mapped out the
next 3-5 years and have designed an operational plan
that articulates HOW you are going to implement the
strategic plan, teams and individuals must be made to
understand their roles. Most organizations try to use
their performance management system. Unfortunately, in
almost every organization of which I’ve been a part,
this is where the plan falls short. Leaders at all
levels fundamentally dislike their organizational
performance management system for three reasons:
1.
The system is too complicated.
2.
Leaders do not hold leaders accountable
for using the system effectively.
3.
Most leaders are not very effective at
providing consistent and valuable feedback.
But all the planning in the world will go
down the drain if no one can state the top three
priorities they must accomplish every day and
what the company’s top three priorities are for
the year.
And finally, a
reality check. The likelihood a company will
achieve its strategic plan is in its review of the
operational budget to determine whether the required
funds for success are allocated.
Basic keys to success
-
A business coach, to help design and
facilitate offsite planning retreats
-
A commitment, by the CEO, to the
planning process
-
The undisputed participation of management
-
A well designed and implemented
communication plan for the entire organization
-
A performance management system that
holds leaders accountable
-
An effective one page organizational
scorecard
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