inside: Carolyn Lamour ... - Floridawise Magazine

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