What outcomes to expect from Strategic Planning?

A successful strategic planning process produces a long-range plan to guide decision-making for years to come. Therefore, a multi-year plan document is a fundamental outcome (see the Components of a Strategic Plan below).

The plan document is frequently filed away - an archival record of the planning process – and fails to guide decision-making. This document is not the outcome organizations expect from their strategic planning. Organizations crave a long-lasting effect on decisions from their strategic planning.The often-unspoken expectation is a shift in how the organization makes decisions and aligns resources to achieve a shared set of objectives. The planning process must be designed to engage the intellect, values, and beliefs of its leaders so they sustain strategic clarity and confidence in their decisions long after the plan document is finalized. They need a deep understanding they can rely upon to drive high organizational productivity levels over the months and years between strategic planning efforts.

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Over the years, I have distilled three factors to ensure our clients not only have a well-crafted strategic plan but also have developed the strategic thinking they will require to navigate its implementation.

The first is clarity.

• Clarity on where you are today and where you hope to end up. 
• Clarity on the assumptions and beliefs held about what will make your plans successful.
• Clarity on how your plan stages and phases your resources and management focus.

The second is confidence.

• Confidence is gained as the planning team works together to build their plan.
• Confidence results from open discussions and passionate debates about the options and alternatives available to a team as they finalize their discussions into a clear strategic direction.
• Confidence is necessary to make tough decisions to implement a new direction. 

The last factor results from clarity and confidence. It is productivity.

• Productivity increases when decisions are made and they stick.
• Productivity increases when teams hear the same story from all leaders. They can begin to act on plans knowing that their leadership is aligned with a strategic direction and committed to the goals of the strategic plan.
• Productivity results in accelerated implementation and exceeding performance against plan.

In designing a strategic planning process, the essential power unleashed by planning efforts is leaders' clarity and confidence from engaging in strategic thinking. This, in turn, means that actions are aligned to the degree that the plan document becomes less relevant. Strategic thinking is fully developed in the hearts and minds of those leading.

The Components of a Strategic Plan

1. Generate a summary of the status quo: this would include your performance historically, this performance against external benchmarks like others in your competitive set, and the status of the key drivers of the current business model. This summary will “ground” your planning team by creating a common view of where you are today at the start of this planning effort.
2. Summarize the concerns and beliefs about future success. Where the summary of the status quo establishes a quantifiable baseline, exploring and documenting the thoughts on strategic issues or questions to be addressed for future success provides a qualitative narrative that will deepen the planning group’s understanding of their planning challenge.
3. Develop a clear vision of future success, including your desired impact or mission statement. Creating a picture of the ultimate destination aligns the team towards a common purpose and inspires confidence. This clarity of purpose becomes a guiding light for decision-making and strategic execution.
4. Agree upon the core strategies that you will use to achieve your vision. They should be closely aligned with your assets and historical core competencies. They become the pillars supporting your journey towards future success.
5. Outline a strategic direction (path defined by milestones) to describe how you plan to advance from today to the vision. These checkpoints allow you to track progress and make adjustments as needed. This strategic direction provides a roadmap to guide specific plans and actions to ensure you continually progress towards your ideal goal – your vision.
6. A financial forecast that reflects the implications of your strategic plan on your financial performance for the plan's timeframe. Including investments required to support the plan, projected dips in revenues during development cycles, and expected timing of the return or payoff on investments.
7. Draft the next steps to begin implementation. This facilitates a smoother transition because you have answered the question, “Now what?” but can produce quick wins, unleash change momentum, and increase management team confidence.

In summary, the most successful strategic planning efforts meet the explicit expectations of producing a strategic plan document and the implicit expectations of creating a shared strategic thinking framework to guide decision-making for years after.

Download our free Guide to Strategic Planning before starting your next long-range planning cycle.