Organizational Transitions…A Great Time to Execute Strategic Planning!
About a year ago, I wrote a blog titled “Mini” Strategic Planning in which we discussed some of the primary differences between a full-blown strategic planning effort and a much shorter version. The main point was that the shorter version is just as powerful in ensuring your company or organization moves in the right direction. In that blog, I made the comparison of “mini” strategic planning to a computer reboot as opposed to a factory reset. It’s also like an automobile engine tune-up, not a complete engine overhaul. From the original blog, I made ten points related to when “mini” strategic planning may be appropriate and how to implement it.
10 Tips:
If you are confident in your organization’s Mission and Vision statements, and don’t plan to change them, skip that part of the discussion. Focus instead on the main 3-5 areas that need to be discussed.
Use your list of customer/client complaints to drive the most critical priorities/discussion areas.
Similarly, consider using the areas that receive the most internal employee chatter at the water cooler, coffee station, or company cafeteria. These informal conversations can help identify the most critical priorities for discussion.
Use the process to get input from employees or stakeholders on what the organization has accomplished. As an addendum, highlight which accomplishments you are most proud of attaining.
Use the process to get input from employees or stakeholders on areas where the organization did not achieve success. Again, as an addendum, highlight which failures were most disappointing.
Have an open discussion of what an idyllic future of the organization entails (related to the one focus area that you have determined to be the most important).
Review the previous points (2 – 6). Compile a list of what’s working, what’s not working, and where you want to take the organization. Next, focus the conversation on how you want to take it there, and how you will measure success/impact.
Attach a timeframe for when you want to achieve those specific outcomes and measurements.
Identify actions, challenges, and mitigating actions (that correspond to the challenges) that must be executed to reach the outcomes.
Identify who within and/or outside of the organization will be responsible for executing the tasks.
Organizational Timing
Organizational timing is also a critical element in facilitating a “mini” strategic planning session. When an organization is experiencing a change in leadership, it is often a great time to do that “tune-up”. This is especially critical in small or volunteer-led organizations. These groups may not have staff who can dedicate time to a multi-week effort.
Recently, I completed my 3-year term as President of Florida State University’s Black Alumni (FSUBA). This is a national organization and one of the largest incorporated groups under the umbrella of FSU’s Alumni Association. My term as President followed a 3-year stint as Vice President and close to 3 decades of participation in which I held several roles (Board Chair, Regional Rep, etc.). To say I know the organization inside and out is an understatement.
But with my tenure ending, it was time for the incoming President to both define and express her vision for the organization’s future. This was an ideal time to bring together representatives from both the leadership structure and individual contributors to participate in a “mini” strategic planning retreat.
The critical drivers that necessitated a focus on the future included:
Change in administration
An outdated Vision & Mission (we had accomplished many aspects of both)
Integration of new team members
Alignment with larger FSU Alumni Association organizational strategy
Ensure buy-in across a nationwide, distributed network of regional reps
The need for a robust and accessible dashboard for tracking progress: define clear objectives enabling proactive management
The single-day agenda, crafted to hit those critical drivers, looked like this:
Introduce new people and roles
Review past strategic planning efforts/results
Visualize the ideal future of the organization
Review/revise the current Vision & Mission
Ensure existing and new goals are aligned with the larger Alumni Association and University’s goals
Add new programs to the existing organizational initiatives
Determine how we will measure the progress of all initiatives
By timeboxing each of those agenda segments at one hour each, we were able to facilitate the entire process in a single day, while still squeezing in an hour for a working lunch.
As we have said so many times in the past, developing an official, formal strategy for your organization is a requirement for long-term sustainability. This approach aligns actions with strategy and ensures that every goal has a clear definition and path to attainment. With the right and tight agenda, executing a “mini” strategic plan can reduce the weeks/months dedicated to the effort down to one focused day!
X-Factor Solutions would love to explore how we can support your organization in “mini-strategic planning”!
Learn more here!
Image by wal_172619 from Pixabay
Strategic Leadership | Leader Development | Business Strategy & Wargaming
2dI love how actionable this is, Ahli. No matter where we see someone in their hierarchy, there is something they can do to support or lead this process - especially in times of transition. Thank you for all your insight.