The Role of Acceleration in Corporate Strategic Planning
Posted by on February 1, 2010Ah, acceleration. Sure, it makes you think of hitting the open road in a new sports car but in the corporate strategic planning process, acceleration takes on a whole new meaning.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary defines acceleration as “The rate of change of the velocity of a moving body.”
In corporate planning, actions or decisions taken by the organization can lead to positive acceleration (increase in speed) or negative acceleration (a decrease in speed). Knowing how your organization will respond and being able to establish realistic time frames for any strategic initiative is a valuable part of the strategic planning process.
Why is acceleration important to corporate strategic planning?
Think back to a time when your organization planned to launch a new department, technology solution, internal reorganization, or product. The intent was to launch the initiative in three months but it ends up taking nine. Another project you anticipate to take six months is finished in just four.
Measuring historical acceleration provides a way to reduce the uncertainty, remove subjectivity, and bring greater predictability to your planning initiatives so that realistic expectations can be set (and accomplished!).
Historical acceleration is an important value in our proprietary Plan4 process since it is a key indicator of organizational reality and provides a predictive measure for the future. Historical acceleration is the typical rate of change (accomplishment of objectives) for the organization - moving from idea generation through implementation.
How to Calculate Historical Acceleration:
When we bring historical acceleration into the planning process, we take into account both the speed at which the organization accomplishes tasks and the desired direction of the organization. After all, how fast the organization can reach a specified objective is always affected by how far it has to go to get there. Simple metrics can be used to determine average historical acceleration and the resulting numbers can be used to design execution plans that are achievable and predictable. To calculate, use the formula:
Average Historical Acceleration = Organization Change Divided by Time.
One of the highlights of our approach is the fact that it reduces uncertainty. As such, it is clear that calculating an organization’s historical acceleration plays a large role.
Join the Strategic
Planning Xchange group.
To learn more about Plan4 and the role of acceleration, download our free Plan4 corporate strategic planning guide. To discuss your planning needs with a leading corporate strategic planning company, drop a comment or call (877) 317-5264.
Post new comment