The BIG Problem With Strategic Planning

Strategic planning is, without doubt, one of the most critical activities that an organisation can undertake.

In fact, many would argue that it is THE most critical.  Think about it.

It is strategy that defines and navigates the organisation’s future direction.

It is strategy that is the key driver for structured development and growth.

It is strategy that identifies, informs and directs the innovation process.

In fact, strategy is considered so important by corporate boards that it’s typically the first role outlined on their CEO’s job description.

The Problem

But strategic planning has a big problem: the process of developing it is boring! 

Or, perhaps more accurately: far too many employees perceive it to be boring!

And, for those who immediately react by saying, “oh well, small problem” — think again.

The direct and indirect implications for an organisation that doesn’t address this problem are, in fact, huge.  Disengaged stakeholders in such a critical process lead to poorly developed strategies.  And that flows through to a plethora of unnecessary organisational hurdles — such as poor execution and a lack of focus, motivation, alignment and efficiency.  At is worst, the outcome is a lethargic organisation that struggles to “think on its feet”.

Our Experience

We run a large number of workshops on strategy development, and the first day of a new project always seems to come with greater challenges than usual.  We can see it on the faces of the attendees before we begin:  “I’m going to be bored out of my brains today…”  (Little do they realise what they are in for!)

And, some of them don’t just think it.  They say it.

At the beginning of one very memorable workshop, one participant said, “this is a total waste of time,” almost spitting on us.  “We do this over and over and I hate it”.  You could feel his anger.  And it wasn’t just him.  The whole group was raging.  Admittedly, they’d come through a litany of extremely poorly executed strategy development processes, which caused them to be highly skeptical of the process.

Tough group!

Needless to say, the first part of that day was spent simply getting their heads in the right space.  In the end, they enjoyed it, and thanked us greatly.  But the mindset was a major hurdle, and they almost destroyed what turned out to be an excellent day with major decisions agreed upon.

MAJOR Opportunity Cost

They’re not the first group — nor will they be the last — who risk a MAJOR opportunity cost.

In strategy workshops, we’ve seen countless organisations re-define themselves and use the occasion as a catalyst to do amazing things.  It’s exhilarating to watch situations when you’ve got all the key decision makers in one room and they agree on something truly revolutionary — and then actually go out and do it.

That’s inspiring!

The tragedy is, however, that this doesn’t happen anywhere near as often as it should.

Key Question

So, why is it that many participants feel that strategy development is a boring and arduous process?

Often, the strategy development process is not ‘valued’ by participants in the way that it should.  It simply doesn’t have the esteem that it deserves.  Employees may well view it as a ‘regular, stock standard process’ that has to be ‘endured’. 

Another possibility is that the process is — for some people — not as relevant as it could be.  The perception is that it has little value for them, personally.

In other words, the process is not sold to them in the way that it should be, nor acted upon in the way that it could be.

Of course, the other possibility could be that it just IS conducted in a way that is boring and arduous!

That’s a different story.

If you’re responsible for strategy development in your organisation, and you’re finding a lack of engagement, then consider this.  Perhaps it’s not ‘what’ you are doing, but ‘how’ you are doing it.  Style is important.

Effective strategy development is, without doubt, a challenging and difficult process.

But perhaps you could spice it up a little along the way.

Make it interesting!

Do something different.

Mix it up.

Make the steps shorter and sharper.

Do something — anything — differently!

The Benefit

In the end, if you’re able to make the process valued, relevant and ‘enjoyable’  then the chances are that you’ll end up with a fantastic outcome.

And that’s great news, because if this is done, success wont be too far behind.

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