At this time of year, many companies look to the future and
put together a Strategic Plan and/or a Business Plan for
the coming year(s). For many, this has become a matter of
looking at the last plan and changing the numbers to match
new goals. If this is your process, you're missing a huge
opportunity to build the strategic thinking and planning
capability of your organization.
Whether you have a team of two, twenty, two hundred or two
thousand plus, the strategic planning process provides
multiple opportunities to develop employees and positively
impact the bottom line. Here are a few suggestions of how
to supercharge your strategic planning process and make it
a vital part of your organization's success.
Create Pre-Planning Teams
Charter a team of three or four people to do advance
research on industry trends, internal and external factors
that will likely affect the future of your company in both
positive and negative ways. Build time early in your
agenda for a presentation from the team. This not only
saves time in your planning session but gives those on the
advance team an opportunity to think and learn from the
research.
Charter a Stakeholder Audit Team. The size of this team
will depend on how many stakeholders you identify. A
stakeholder is a person or entity that has a "stake" in
your success as a company. Stakeholders might include
customers, suppliers, community leaders, etc. The job of
this team is to interview these key individuals to get
their input about what they need from your organization
and/or how you might work more effectively together. This
team will need to summarize and analyze the data they
collect and bring it back to the planning team for use in
the actual planning session.
Be sure to include some of your high potential non-managers
on these teams so they are exposed to the process and have
the opportunity to think at a higher level than their job
usually demands.
Include Bargaining Unit Leaders and HR
If you work with a bargaining unit, include them in the
process. Many items become easier to negotiate when Union
leaders understand the big picture and the challenges the
organization is facing. Also, Union leaders bring the
viewpoint of your employees to the table in a unique way
that can be very helpful in designing the "people"
initiatives you will need to be successful.
Make sure to invite your Human Resources Director/Manager
to the table. Many companies put together a strategic plan
with multiple "people" strategies without the input of the
HR Department. Since most of these strategies will fall to
the HR Department for implementation or at least major
support, it's in everyone's best interest to incorporate
their ideas as well as making sure the strategies are
implemented "as intended."
Use an Outside Facilitator
This can either be from another part of your organization
or an outside consultant. Either way, your focus should be
on the actual strategic thinking and planning. Executives
who try to facilitate their own strategic plans are like
doctors who try to treat themselves. It's not the best use
of your professional expertise. A trained facilitator will
bring out the best in each of those participating in the
process, including the leader!!
Include a Communications Professional in the Process
You will want the document you create to be a tool that is
used throughout the year. A professional can help you
simplify difficult concepts, communicate concisely and
format for utility. Remember, the major purpose of the
document you distribute to employees is to engage them in
the goals of the organization.
Distribute a Copy of the Plan to Each Employee
Make sure your first line Supervisors understand the major
components of your plan and, more importantly, how they
will contribute to reaching the goals of the plan. Then,
have them distribute copies of the plan. Research shows
that employees trust the Supervisor that they know more
than upper management. So, roll out the plan but give your
Supervisors the info they need to explain it.
Keep the Plan Alive Throughout the Year
Include regular updates on progress toward strategic goals
in your organization's communication channels. Bring the
planning team back together once a quarter to review the
plan and track progress. Showcase teams or individuals who
are directly impacting the success of the plan in company
communication vehicles. Most importantly, celebrate
milestones reached along the way.
Use the Plan
If your copy of your company's strategic plan doesn't have
dog-eared pages and coffee stains by mid-year, you're not
getting the most out of the plan. As a leader, those you
interact with should be so used to seeing you with a copy
of your plan that they notice when you don't mention it.
And, since you are their leader, you will begin to notice
that they are bringing up company goals, milestones and
impacts on a more regular basis as well. This is the power
of the plan. It has the potential to engage people at
every level of your organization in striving to meet
company goals.
You may be thinking, this is fine for larger companies but
I'm an Entrepreneur and/or my company consists of only a
few people. How will this work for me? It will actually
work very well if you think about all those who have a
"stake" in your business and engage them in the process.
Ask associates, your Mastermind Group, or key individuals
you respect from the networking organizations you belong to
for their help in building your plan. That way you will
not only build a plan, you will build relationships that
energize your success.
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About Gayla Hodges
Gayla Hodges is the President Change Agents, Inc., a
company that specializes in energizing workforces to
achieve strategic goals. She coaches executives and
managers on leading corporate change, facilitating the
development and implementation of organizational
effectiveness strategies. For more information, visit
http://www.changeagentsinc.com or call 623-362-3876.
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