Strategic planning is a systematic, formally documented process for deciding what an organization wants to achieve in the future and how it will get there. Essentially, it involves defining the organization’s strategy or direction and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy, including its capital and people. For those in your leadership team, when it comes to strategic initiatives, this is ‘working on the business, not in the business.’ Previously, we discussed the benefits of both long-term and short-term strategic planning. We will discuss how long-term and short-term strategic initiatives should be crafted and reviewed throughout the year. There are three types of meetings throughout the year: Yearly, quarterly, and weekly or bi-weekly.
Yearly Meetings
The yearly meeting typically begins with a review of the following things: 1. The organization’s vision. 2. The organization’s 10-year target, 3. The organization’s 5-year change missions. Suppose this is the first time your organization has undergone an annual strategic planning session. In that case, you will have to craft each thing from scratch. This is a vastly time-consuming process that could take 4+ hours for each type of initiative. If this is not your first year doing this, each of the three items is worth a lengthy discussion to determine if they are still viable. It may also be beneficial to perform a SWOT analysis at this point to determine if the market that the organization is in or the organization itself has significantly changed over the past year. If it has, then more complex revisions may be required to each of these three items.
Also, consider other facets of your organization’s culture during the annual session. You may want to introduce a set of core values to your organization or other items such as customer commitments, promises, etc. Here, when it comes to the annual meeting, the point is to ensure you cover lasting tenants of your organization’s overall strategic plan and direction. These are the things that shouldn’t change very frequently, if at all. An additional activity an organization may want to perform during this session is uncovering what Jim Collins calls the organization’s ‘Hedgehog Concept.’ This concept combines three things: 1. What are you best in the world at? 2. What your organization is uniquely passionate about, and 3. What does your company do utilizing those two things to generate revenue? Or put more simply, it completes the following sentence: [Your Company] exists to address [what you are deeply passionate about] through doing [what you are best in the world at] by simply driving [what your economic engine is]. If this intrigues you, I strongly encourage you to check out Jim Collins’s book “Good to Great” to learn more about how your organization can benefit from developing its hedgehog concept.
Quarterly Meetings
Four times a year, there should be a quarterly strategic planning session. The first should occur immediately after your annual planning session and cover your 1-year plan. After the 1-year plan has been uncovered, the remainder of the 1st meeting should be used to break down your 1-year plan into ‘Quarterly Rocks,’ which are the significant milestones that need to be hit throughout the year to reach your 1-year plan and then to-do or action items that need to be done within the next quarter to hit those quarterly milestones. Please read the blog post ‘Benefits of Short-Term Strategic Planning’ to learn more about crafting each of these items.
For the remaining three quarterly planning sessions, they should set out to accomplish three things: 1. Determining whether or not the organization met its quarterly milestone, 2. Redirecting the remaining quarterly milestones if the previous ones were not met or the market has changed, and 3. Determining and assigning action items that are required to complete the upcoming milestones. These allow the organization to make quick changes regarding market factors and the potential for underperforming leadership team members. These are basically your accountability sessions.
Weekly/Bi-Weekly Meetings
Finally, either weekly or bi-weekly strategy meetings are required. A more frequent meeting is required if the organization is growing rapidly or undergoing a vast amount of change. The bi-weekly meeting (or even monthly) may be best for slower-growing or more stable organizations. This is your choice as an organization. A weekly meeting is ideal if you are a young organization in a rapid growth situation. At these meetings, the first occurring 1 (or 2) weeks after the annual session, the primary goal is to first assess whether or not everybody is completing their action items timely, and discuss what roadblocks or changes need to be made and second, reassess, redevelop and reassign the following week’s action items. This weekly progress/change meeting ensures the organization continually moves toward its goals.
The systematic process outlined above ensures that every decision aligns with the overarching vision and that every team member moves in unison toward common goals. Embracing a structured strategic planning process elevates performance and enhances adaptability in facing unforeseen challenges. The annual strategic planning sessions inspire commitment to long-term goals and ideal outcomes. In contrast, the quarterly and weekly sessions enable the organization to be nimble, making changes to our ever-changing business environment when needed.
Whether you adopt the strategic planning methodology above or another thought process, there is one constant; strategic planning is a requirement in today’s ever-changing business environment. Even if your goal is not to grow but to remain consistent, strategic planning allows you to continually adapt to the changing environment around you. Remember, the strength of your strategic plan lies not just in its creation but in its execution and ongoing refinement. Take this step towards transforming your vision into reality and position your organization for enduring success. Don’t hesitate to contact The Ragan Group if you would like assistance crafting and executing your strategic plan.