Teams convene for strategic planning to reshape and align their focus, so why do so many rely on a managing process for a planning effort?
While operational management typically uses linear problem-solving approaches, effective strategic planning demands a disruptive approach—a more expansive, creative, and non-linear way of igniting strategic thinking.
This deliberate disruption is built into the Strategic Planning Process, which breaks from conventional linear planning approaches.
The planning model is specifically designed to create the mental space needed for transformative thinking rather than incremental improvements.
Let's explore how this disruptive process unfolds through three distinct phases:
Rather than seeking solutions, the strategic planning process begins by expanding the planning group’s perspective through comprehensive analysis. This phase intentionally broadens thinking by examining:
Instead of making incremental projections, the second step in strategic planning is to create intentional tension by making a dramatic leap into the future (3 -5 or possibly 10 years ahead). This intentional disruption forces participants to:
Only after creating tension between current reality and future vision does the process focus on bridging this gap. This final phase maintains the disruptive mindset by:
This non-linear approach intentionally creates productive discomfort between your current reality and future aspirations. When properly facilitated, this strategic planning process helps organizations:
- Break entrenched thinking patterns
- Generate breakthrough solutions
- Build enthusiasm for transformative change
- Create momentum for significant evolution
- Stay ahead of market disruption rather than reacting to it
This approach is like writing a revolutionary story rather than an incremental improvement plan. Your strategic assessment confronts current limitations; your vision depicts a transformed future state, and your strategic direction charts the bold journey of organizational transformation required to get there.
In 2007, at the height of Netflix's DVD-by-mail success, CEO Reed Hastings and his leadership team made an intentionally disruptive strategic decision that challenged their entire existing business model. While their DVD rental service was thriving with nearly 7 million subscribers, they deliberately disrupted their own successful business by pivoting toward streaming media.
This strategic planning process exemplified disruptive thinking in several ways:
Strategic Assessment: Instead of focusing on optimizing its successful DVD delivery system, Netflix looked beyond current operations to see fundamental shifts in how people were beginning to consume media digitally.
Vision Development: Rather than making incremental improvements to DVD delivery, they envisioned a completely different future where entertainment would be instantly accessible online. This vision required them to imagine utterly new technology infrastructure and business models.
Strategic Direction: Netflix didn't wait for their DVD business to decline before acting. They proactively began investing heavily in streaming technology and content licensing, even though it meant disrupting their profitable core business. They even separated their DVD and streaming services, risking short-term customer dissatisfaction for long-term strategic positioning.
This disruptive strategic thinking resulted in Netflix’s transformation from a DVD rental company to a global streaming giant and content producer, growing from 7 million to over 230 million subscribers worldwide.
Their willingness to disrupt their successful business model exemplifies how a disruptive strategic planning process can lead to transformative results.
An effective strategic planning process isn't about creating a comfortable plan - it's about deliberately disrupting conventional thinking to enable transformative success. When properly structured and facilitated, this disruptive approach provides the foundation for developing truly epic strategies that can revolutionize your organization's future.
Download our free guide or contact us for a discovery call to see how we can help transform your planning into an epic strategy using these three proven phases of the strategic planning process.