A critical flaw in your strategic plan. How will you address it?

Posted on January 30, 2012 by BJ McKay

Most companies gather their leadership team once per year to discuss strategic planning. This is a time-honored event that, in many cases, produces little tangible result. There is often recreation, along with retreat from the day-to-day grind of running the business, but actions and behaviors typically stay the same when those key executives return to the job. There are likely many reasons for this, but one that I encounter most often is that the actual talent within the company – the same talent that will ultimately produce the outcomes drawn up during the strategic planning retreat – were not included and were poorly assessed.

Strategic plans drawn up in a (relative) vacuum can be dangerous vehicles for de-motivating employees and setting them on a path to an unrealistic goal. It is a tragic management mistake to tell high performers in any role that they are consistently behind and on a collision course for failure. This unnecessarily taxes and drains key people and leaves them with a half-tank of gas to finish the race. Often, the strategic plan itself becomes a key lever for lack of energy and lack of motivation leading to poor results.

Has your strategic plan produced these outcomes? Here is how to fix it:

1) Start with real data on the people responsible for the goals within the strategic plan. We use Predictive Index® at ADVISA as a foundational element of our strategic/organizational planning process. By understanding the hard-wiring and makeup of employees, our clients avoid guessing about how to motivate their people and how to foster an environment where their employees can produce.

2) Start with real data on your company’s past performance in the key areas that will be measured as a benchmark for success. Often, leadership can explain away poor results, feign accountability, and say “next year will be nothing like last year.” This is a critical mistake. Facing at the truth – which is often in the numbers – can provide a realistic framework to take “one step at a time” in the near-term. Know that your benchmarks are realistic before codifying the strategic plan for distribution, otherwise you risk a real morale and energy drain by teeing your people up for failure.

3) Use a competent, credible, and trusted third-party consultant to facilitate your strategic planning. At ADVISA, we have been involved in strategic planning for over 20 years, facilitating for many industries. Our team of management consultants is sharp, experienced, and trained in expert facilitation. While we are partial to our own team, there are many credible and talented facilitators in the marketplace. Avoid trying to feign objectivity by running your own strategic planning. This can be reckless. And it is unfair to place key executives – especially those who have bought in to the company – in a position to operate as if they can be clearly objective facilitators. These are people who have key performance metrics that will inevitably cloud their vision. This focus is what makes them special at their jobs, and allows them to be key contributors within the strategic planning session. However, if they are asked to facilitate a strategic plan, this becomes a crutch.

If you are interested in learning how I, and our team at ADVISA, can assist you and your management team in strategic planning please call us at 317.249.2258. If you already have a trusted facilitator, consider sharing this post and looking critically at the people that will make your strategic plan successful.

Credit Union Gets More than the Usual Strategic Planning

Posted on January 10, 2012 by Beth Claflin

Nothing makes us more proud than pleasing our customers. Here’s a recent example from Gerber Federal Credit Union, of Fremont, MI.

After comparing several different options, the Gerber FCU Board of Directors chose ADVISA to lead their most recent strategic planning session. This was their third session during the past 10 years. While they knew that the time commitment and brainwork they devoted to defining dreams, analyzing threats and setting goals were important investments, they were surprised by the ongoing guidance for day-to-day activities the plan provides.

“I have been involved in probably 10-12 strategic planning sessions throughout my 35 years in business,” said Greg Zerlaut, Chairman of the Gerber Federal Credit Union Board of Directors. “This is the first time a strategic planning document has become a focal point that drives operations.”

“The marvelous tool is the Scorecard,” Greg said. “We have five major goals that are broken down into interim progress milestones. This has become the guts and core of our board discussions each month. It has evolved as a living document, as we have edited it several times for emerging issues.”

You can read the complete story by downloading it here.

How well does is your strategic plan drive implementation and achievement of goals? You can learn more about our specialized approach to organizational planning on this webpage, or reach out to us here.

Succession Planning Process Discussion

Posted on March 22, 2011 by Bob Wilson

This Friday at 9:00 am Eastern, I’ll be hosting the 5th PI Friday’s with Bob session – this one on Succession Planning. If you’re interested, you can register by clicking here.

I’ll be discussing the importance of creating a succession planning process for yourself and why that can be important to your own promotion. Additionally, you’ll hear about the link between succession planning and leadership development, the dangers of jumping to PI conclusions when replacing a colleague, and finally a broad brushed approach to creating a succession plan within your own organization arising from your strategic planning efforts.

This ideal approach to succession planning will be wide ranging – talking about matching your succession plan to your strategic planning implementation – looking to assure that desired cultural shifts take place while matching people to the work they will be doing; while creating overall organizational alignment. The discussion will also involve multiple looks into the current requirements of the job – including aspects as Key Performance Requirements, intelligence measures, competencies and others. Finally, I’ll address how one can fill the gaps between where someone is currently operating and where you want them to be.

I look forward to your joining me Friday morning for this discussion. And if you’re not available for an hour this Friday morning, join me on April 29th at 9:00 for the next PI Friday’s discussion which will be about the A drive.

Breaking out of “all or nothing” mode

Posted on December 15, 2009 by Dana Harrison

Several little experiences this week have made me think about the “all or nothing” mode that we can get mentally stuck in.

An HR Director I was talking with was set on making three new hires because he’d lost three employees earlier this year during downsizing. The company doesn’t have the money to do three hires and he was lamenting that they couldn’t do anything. Really? We talked through what the company could do. Are two hires possible? How could work be divided differently with two people? Solutions quickly began to emerge.
This perils of “all or nothing” mode also came up when I read Doug Karr’s posting about The Most Important Skill Salespeople Need to Learn. He demonstrates why rather than try to sell the moon (the “all”), we should listen to what the customer is asking for. In the consulting world, I see this all the time. It’s easy to get caught up visioning the eight problems we could fix rather than the one that the client has asked for help with. I’ve certainly fallen into this trap and then it really is an “all or nothing” because the client gets annoyed, overwhelmed, impatient (all completely understandable) and buys into nothing.
In my own continual quest for successful strategic planning, I get stuck thinking that I can’t move forward until I have absolutely everything figured out and packaged in a pretty box with a bow on top. I’m doing a lot of work right now getting ready for 2010 and am continually challenging myself to let go of the pretty box and a bow: do good planning and then MOVE!

The “all or nothing” rut is one I have to work not to get lost in, so it’s something I think about a lot. Below are some ways I deal with it.

Talk it up – Find a “thinking partner” who will help me thinking through the roadblocks I’ve created.
Get moving – Go for a walk/run/bike ride.
Take a road trip – I might even plan a trip to visit a client who is a couple of hours away when I know I need some real “think time.”
Visual reminders – I can’t live without a white board in my office. Often it has a message such as, “No bow necessary!” or “What CAN I do?” written in red to help me keep perspective.
Listen to someone else’s challenges – Sometimes listening to a colleague talk through an issue will generate creative thought that I can apply in my own world.

Maybe others of you will find this useful when you’re stuck in this mindset whether in your work world (dealing with staff motivation, developing hiring plans, implementing strategic planning, etc.) to your personal world (buying a house, planning a trip, etc.). I’d love to hear your perspective on “all or nothing” as well!

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