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Leadership - Strategic Planning
Article |
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Why Strategic
Planning Usually Fails
By
Ravi Tangri
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Logically, rationally, most
strategic plans make sense. And
yet, most of them fail to
achieve their desired
objectives. If you review the
literature about significant
strategic change, more than 70%
of mergers, quality initiatives
and reengineering initiatives
fail. More often than not,
strategic planning is a process
you go through to produce a
document that sits on a shelf
and gathers dust. Then you
forget about it and get on with
business as usual.
There are two main reasons for
the failure of strategic
planning and change initiatives:
1) The plans focus on financial
and strategic criteria and fail
to take into account the human
element - those who have to make
the change work.
2) The perception that the
strategy outlined is the only
way to attain the desired
objectives.
The Human Factor
Simply put, people don't
necessarily mind change - they
just don't like being changed.
Most plans are dictated down to
the ranks, whether it's a small
entrepreneurial firm or a large
bureaucratic organization. And
while you can force someone to
deliver satisfactory
performance, the only way for
them to deliver consistently
outstanding results is for them
to be committed to what they are
doing.
In the rare instance, handing
down objectives to individuals
can build intense passion and
commitment if you have a
passionate, charismatic leader
who can engage and fire up their
people on an ongoing basis.
Unfortunately, that type of
individual is far too rare, and
plans and objectives are simply
dropped on people's laps, and
they're expected to deliver.
What's more, over the past
couple of decades of doing ‘more
with less' we're asking more and
more of people and burning them
out with fewer and fewer
resources. The only way for
people to provide the
outstanding levels of
performance we are demanding of
them is for them to be
passionate about what they are
doing, and few leaders invest
the time required to connect
individual with corporate goals
to do this. Most people are
taking on the work out of fear
of being cast off in the next
round of layoffs if they don't
deliver. Unfortunately, as they
take on more and more, they
deliver less and less as they
burn out.
Many people say they don't have
the time to engage everyone in
the organization - that things
are so critical they have to act
now! It's interesting that they
have time to deal with all the
problems when they fail to reach
their desired objectives, but no
time to do it right the first
time. And then new plans are
laid out and a never-ending
cycle begins as those plans
fail, and so on.
There is always time to do it
right. When we help our clients
design and implement effective
change, part of the secret to
our success is not just our
Genesis process, but the fact
that we engage all key
stakeholders in the process and
involve the entire organization
at critical points in the
process, including customers and
suppliers. Even when working
with large organizations of
hundreds or thousands of
individuals, we have involved
the entire organization at key
points to ensure buy-in. The
detailed design work can only be
done by a small team, but the
entire organization needs to be
involved strategically. That
way, when it comes to
implementation, there is little
to no resistance. They have
already had their input and are
committed to the new direction.
There is always time, even if
you are in crisis. You either
make the time up front to do it
right, or you make lots of time
afterwards to clean up the mess.
Focus on the Goal
Often, with strategic planning,
the focus is on the strategy and
not the goal. When things change
(technology, competition,
regulations, etc.), as they
inevitably do, and make the
strategy obsolete, the plan is
often dropped entirely.
In contrast, successful
organizations stay focused on
the goal, and develop new plans
to reach the desired objectives,
adapting to the changing
environment. In essence, the
plan is not the value of the
strategic planning process.
Rather the important elements
are the planning itself and the
objectives. The actual plan that
you develop is a ‘first-cut' at
how to reach your goals, based
on the best information you have
at the time. As you get more
information, and as your
environment responds and
changes, you will need to change
your strategy.
The plan itself is not what's
important. What's important is
the goal, and the process of
coming up with a way to get
there from where you are. In
order to reach your goals (which
may also need to be modified as
you go), you need to constantly
go through a form of the
strategic planning process over
and over again to refine your
strategy. Staying stuck in the
original strategy may take you
in a direction that is no longer
valid. You have to know when to
let go of the original strategy
and come up with a new way to
reach your goal.
This is where these two reasons
for the failure of strategic
planning come together. If
you're handing your plans and
demands for performance down to
people, without their buy-in,
they won't have the motivation
or the resources to continually
adapt to what's happening. If,
on the other hand, you engage
them and involve them in the
process, building their
motivation and their
problem-solving skills, they
will be far more likely to
refine their part of the
strategy as you move to reach
your objectives.
In the end, successful strategic
planning comes down to your
people and your focus. Do you
tell them your plan, or do you
engage them in creating and
maintaining the focus you need?
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Article Source :
http://www.bestmanagementarticles.com
http://leadership.bestmanagementarticles.com
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About the Author :
Ravi Tangri is the CEO of
Chrysalis Strategies Inc. (www.Co-CreatingFutures.com).
He and his partner answer your
most pressing questions on
leading change in a free monthly
teleseminar at
www.AskRaviAndKathy.com.
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