Breaking Out Of The Box

Human behavior and organizational behavior have at least two major points in common. Both gravitate towards traveling in the same well-worn paths, favoring the feeling of safety that repetition brings over the feelings of anxiety and fear that often accompany change. A second point of commonality is that both humans and organizations can be steered in the wrong direction by subscribing too heavily into “groupthink” (described by psychologist Irving Janis as, “a mode of thinking that people engage in when they are deeply involved in a cohesive in-group, when the members' strivings for unanimity override their motivation to realistically appraise alternative courses of action.”).  Both behaviors can lead to flawed logic and / or incorrect underlying assumptions becoming institutionalized into our way of thinking.

Whether it is a result of groupthink or the result of resisting fresh thinking and new approaches, business strategies do suffer as a consequence of wrong-headed thinking.

10 Operational Planning Steps That 85% of Corporations Wish They Knew

Considering that 85% of corporate strategic plans fail to deliver on their intended results (according to KPMG), it’s no wonder that operational planning has come to the forefront of the minds of CEOs across the globe. Data suggests that most organizations would certainly benefit from adopting a more formalized approach to strategic planning and that many companies have routinely failed to successfully and fully implement their strategic goals due to poor operational planning. What can be done to correct the problem?

Corporate Strategy and the Elephant in the Room

What Holds Companies Back From Developing Great Strategies?

Recession weary executives have a new challenge to face.  Times have changed and businesses must re-evaluate their pre-recession strategies.  The elephant in the room is in full view, but organizational leaders do not like to talk about it or even think about it.  Yes, the elephant in the room, that no one likes to address, is outdated strategy and the need for new and improved strategic thinking.  Making change to the way we have operated in the past in difficult.  A starting point for change is to correct the self-inflicted organizational dysfunction that occurs during strategy development.  Half-baked strategic decision making based on wishful thinking and antiquated assumptions must stop now.  Corporate strategies will never be perfect or foolproof, but they can be systematically improved through process changes and “testing” strategies ahead of committing to them and gambling our reputations, jobs and the very life of the business. To see our economic recovery continue, we need to see smart strategies from our business leaders and the brilliant teams of people working for them.

The 2011 Strategic Planning Checklist: Evaluate Your Strategic Planning Process and Strategy Effectiveness

One of our most popular articles last year dealt with a simple checklist for evaluating strategic planning process effectiveness.  Having ushered in the new year and a fresh decade, we decided it would be a worthwhile exercise to revisit the list and analysis done last year and submit an updated, more fitting set of evaluation criteria for 2011.  There are new criteria added in this year’s evaluation, and many that have carried over from last year but have enhanced analysis.

To get into the spirit of introspection, let’s start with the following questions:

• Have you given much consideration to the possibility that your strategic and operational plans may be far less effective than they could be? 
• How would you begin to measure the effectiveness of your current strategic planning process?
• Is the process effective and repeatable in consistently defining meaningful goals that get achieved as expected when the plan is followed?

Strategy and the planning associated with creating and implementing it is all about the results, but how do you evaluate your process for strategic planning and know if it is on track or as optimized as it might be?  This article should help you to objectively evaluate your planning process and identify potential issues and risks that may exist in your organization's current planning world.  As you read this article, answer along as we ask the questions to help you honestly evaluate your current business planning process.

The Critical Step of Current-state Analysis & Review in Strategic Planning

What is the definition of success and how can you get there if you don’t know where you are starting from?  Obviously it makes sense that you need to know your point of origin to determine the optimal route to your desired destination.  If that is the case in our day-to-day lives, then why do so many forget to apply that simple concept in business – and in this case – in our business planning?  This article focuses on a major step of critical importance in your planning process – a review and analysis of your organization’s current-state.  

How Long Should It Take To Complete A Strategic Plan?

Some time back, Method Frameworks published a tongue-in-cheek article entitled “Your Strategic Plan in Seven Days” (order now and get a free 2-minute egg timer!).  The truth is, it is possible to accomplish the creation of the enterprise strategic plan in a relatively short time...provided the foundations are already in place.  The keystone to remember is that the organization must have a mature and effective planning process that is already working and can serve as the plan’s foundation in order to be able to refresh both strategy and execution tactics relatively quickly while still accomplishing the creation of comprehensive and usable plan artifacts.  If that foundation isn’t there, it is time to build it.



Just compiling goals and timelines into a spreadsheet that gets sent along with a meaningless report in a binder doesn’t cut it.  That becomes worthless data to all involved in the organization and will not accomplish the results strategic planning should accomplish.  No, the “magic binder” won’t perform miracles.

The Golden Thread: Linking Strategy to Execution

Recently during a conversation with an executive I heard a term used to describe strategy execution that I’d never heard before, but it made an impression on me.  He was discussing a challenge he faced within his own environment - the challenge of strategy execution.  His statement was, “We need the golden thread that links our strategy to execution initiatives.”

I liked the image this conjured up in my mind.  What he was describing was the middle layer of planning, referred to as “operational planning”.  Operational planning is the “golden thread” linking strategy to execution and is way too undervalued in my opinion.  Because operational planning all to often is not done well, or is overlooked altogether - this article describes ways to inject operational planning into the strategic planning process and string the “golden thread” through all of the execution loop-holes.

The Role of the Internal versus the External Strategist

Can an external strategist be an asset to an established corporate strategic planning team?  There is clearly no substitute for the value provided by the internal strategist and the homegrown planning processes that fit the organization like an old well-worn baseball glove.  But can this value be enhanced by an outsider’s involvement? 

Strategy Misalignment: The Symptoms, Dangers and Treatment

Strategic misalignment is insidious.  It creeps into organizations silently, tenaciously takes root and over time begins to undermine successful organizations.  There are tell-tale symptoms to watch out for and many dangerous implications when it goes untreated. 

This article reviews the symptoms to watch for; evaluates the damage that occurs over time if left unchecked and reveals methods to correct the ailment and reverse the damage that occurred.

Mapping Out Strategy Execution: Part 2 of “Why We Fail at Strategy Implementation“

In the first segment of this article, we explored some common causes of plan execution failure. The issues addressed in that article are all avoidable if execution is planned and managed properly.  Much of the success or failure of strategy implementation is determined during the planning process. The issues not dealt with during the planning process can be systematically handled during tactical execution.  This article delves into a six step road map for strategy execution and provides techniques to mitigate problems in execution and avoid common implementation issues with our strategic plans.