inside: Carolyn Lamour ... - Floridawise Magazine
inside: Carolyn Lamour ... - Floridawise Magazine
inside: Carolyn Lamour ... - Floridawise Magazine
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AdviceWise<br />
By<br />
Per Lindskog<br />
We like the word transformation<br />
because it indicates that it’s not a oneshot<br />
deal, but rather a journey, which is<br />
very appropriate in this case.<br />
The worst type of Strategic Planning<br />
is the one undertaken annually by many<br />
companies, even large multinationals,<br />
which essentially entails finding last<br />
year’s strategic plan, making a few minor<br />
updates on numbers and goals, and<br />
24 October 2006<br />
This is Not Your Father’s Strategic Planning<br />
Instead, this is about our version of Strategic Planning,<br />
we call it Strategic Transformation.<br />
declaring it the new Strategic Plan. That<br />
plan is unlikely to have any positive<br />
impact on the growth of your business<br />
because it misses the key things that you<br />
want to achieve with a Strategic Plan:<br />
• A clear shared vision and mission.<br />
• A shared purpose.<br />
• Clear strategies with action plans,<br />
time lines and assigned responsibilities.<br />
The vision is like a destination. It<br />
should be a “stretch.” Answer the<br />
questions:<br />
• Where do you want to be in three<br />
or five years?<br />
• What do you want to be<br />
recognized as, or for?<br />
The clear shared vision is achieved<br />
through the visioning process. This needs<br />
to be a forward looking process. (No<br />
need to use “rearview mirrors” and peep<br />
at last year’s strategic plan!) You need to<br />
involve your executive team, and as<br />
many others as practical in your<br />
organization. If you do it well, you’ll<br />
have a shared vision that people in the<br />
organization can be excited about, and<br />
feel that they had input into.<br />
The mission and purpose also need<br />
to be shared and developed by your<br />
teams. Usually the mission becomes<br />
obvious when you have developed the<br />
vision. The mission will be the “road<br />
map” you use when you travel toward<br />
your vision.<br />
The purpose can be a bit trickier to<br />
develop. It is essentially the detailed<br />
answer to questions like:<br />
• Why are we here?<br />
• What is our reason for being?<br />
• What do we do for our<br />
customers?<br />
• How do we affect their lives?<br />
When starting to develop your<br />
strategies, you should think of<br />
specifically what you will achieve if you<br />
are successful in going toward (or<br />
implementing) your vision in the chosen<br />
time frame. Some people call them<br />
success indicators, others call them<br />
goals.<br />
When you have established your<br />
success indicators, start working on the<br />
specific strategies you will need in order<br />
to reach them. You need to be very clear<br />
here, and then assign responsibilities for<br />
the strategies. Typically, the<br />
responsibilities should be taken by<br />
members on the executive team, or<br />
senior management team. They become<br />
sponsors. Each will handpick people<br />
from across the organization and form<br />
action teams. The action teams start<br />
working on the strategies and develop<br />
time lines and specific goals and<br />
activities as appropriate.<br />
You will find that this approach<br />
generates an unprecedented degree of<br />
clarity and excitement and energy in the<br />
organization and the likelihood of<br />
success increases dramatically!<br />
— Per Lindskog is an executive coach,<br />
technical and performance consultant and<br />
partner with the Human Capital Group. With<br />
25 years of successful international corporate<br />
and consulting experience, he has mastered<br />
the art of the “human side of business”.<br />
Per’s insight in these areas and his desire to<br />
share this knowledge with others is the key<br />
behind his successful coaching and<br />
consulting practice. He can be reached at<br />
plindskog@HCGnow.com or<br />
P: 888-HCG-9298. ❂<br />
Photo: Rene Mansi / istockphoto