6 Key Factors to Successful Strategic Planning

Many of our clients come to Blue Beyond seeking a partner for successful planning. Planning for a culture reboot. Planning to overhaul their recruitment and retention efforts. Planning to implement a new communication strategy. Planning to help them navigate a crisis. Planning a leadership offsite. But, one of our biggest requests centers around strategic planning and aligning leaders, managers, and employees to bring the strategy to life.

Many organizations have a systematic process for strategic planning but look back a year later and wonder, “What happened?” According to research outlined in the Harvard Business Review, 85% of executive leadership teams spend less than one hour per month discussing strategy, and 50% spend no time at all.

 

What Is Effective Strategic Planning?

It turns out that a lot of people aren’t entirely clear what a strategy or strategic plan is — or how to make it impactful. They confuse it with organizational goals, objectives, and motivational taglines and oftentimes end up creating an operational plan (the “when” and “where”) or business plan (“who” and “what”) instead of a strategic one. 

The strategic plan gives you long-term goals and explains “how” your organization will gain a competitive advantage and be the best in your industry. It’s a long-term view. It provides a basis for monitoring progress, and for assessing results and impact. It facilitates new program development and enables your organization to look into the future in an orderly and systematic way. And, most importantly, it’s about grounding your organization in its purpose and values.

With continued global volatility and inflationary pressures building in the marketplace, your organization’s strategic plan should be taking center stage as you move to mitigate potential impacts. Here are our strategic planning best practices to get you started.

 

6 Strategic Planning Best Practices

1. Create a Collaborative, Inclusive Process

While this may seem obvious, this first step of the strategic planning process is often the hardest. Over-consensus can slow down efforts, but collaboration is at the center of a successful strategic planning process. Creating a strategic plan in a silo is a huge mistake. For a strategy to be successful, you need the right mix of people, and it must be cross-functional. This can include your board or leadership, finance, HR, operations, sales, marketing, and other relevant stakeholders.

It’s important to examine any potential biases that may impact the selection of your collaborators. A great question to challenge your unconscious biases is to ask yourself, “Who does this decision impact?” Answering that question helps you invite the right people to the table who can provide real insight into how you’re going to move forward. The more inclusive and collaborative your process, the more support you’ll have across a diverse set of stakeholders. It also helps ensure that your strategic plan accurately reflects your organization’s vision for the future. 

Nobody needs another meeting on their calendar, so schedule your check-ins and working sessions strategically based on what you need to accomplish. Not everybody needs to be at all your meetings. Consider a stakeholder analysis and mapping session to ensure that you have the right representation of voices to move forward on your initiatives.

Next, create a reasonable timeline. If you’ve never done this work before, it could take up to six months. A refresh could take anywhere between four and five weeks. Because strategic planning focuses on the destination and how you’re going to get there, be prepared to spend extra time thinking about who you are and where you want to go as an organization.

 

2. Operate Off Data — Not Assumptions

Everyone makes assumptions and has preconceived notions about their organization. However, starting the planning process without gathering data will set you up to fail. Without data, it’s easy to create your own reality. Data keeps you honest and increases efficiency. Interpreting data can be uncomfortable – it’s hard not to feel like you’ve failed when the feedback and numbers are telling you that something went (or is) wrong. But gathering and disseminating data isn’t just about your weak spots. It also allows you to wash, rinse, and repeat the areas of strength across your organization.

When gathering data, you’ll need to focus on two aspects: internal and external.

• Internal – Is one part of your business growing faster than others? What departments have high rates of turnover? What managers have unhappy or unengaged employees? Who is performing, and where are the gaps? Who and what are overachieving — and how?
• External – Assess the business landscape and what outside factors are playing a role in where your organization is headed. Right now, you may be looking long-term at inflationary pressures and talks of a possible recession. Trade and supply chain issues may also be impactful. 

After collecting the data, it’s time to gather more data in the form of feedback. Talk to people. Host focus groups. Review the data you’ve gathered with leadership, industry experts, and your employees. If you don’t understand the “why” behind the feedback, ask follow-up questions. An employee engagement survey is a valuable tool to take the pulse of your internal workforce. Finally, use current data about existing policies and structures to ensure you’re solving current problems.

 

3. Set an Expectation for Shared Responsibility and Ownership

During the strategic planning process, we often see organizations go as far as appointing a planning committee — but seldom do they give thought to the roles that those in the planning committee will play. Clearly defining expectations for participation is critical to cultivating a planning committee that works well together, is unified toward their common purpose, and delivers on desired outcomes. 

Part of this comes down to choosing the right people for the job. The ideal candidate is a team player who is invigorated by the additional opportunity and excited to take ownership. By empowering the right people with clear responsibilities, you’ll create a team of key contributors who readily share their opinions, make decisions, and champion the process from beginning to end.