Why is it that when someone mentions the need for a new strategic plan, everyone in the team inwardly groans?

 

Perhaps it’s because many strategic, corporate and business plans are overly long, complex and uninspiring.

 

 

Keep it brief, focussed and inspiring

 

We firmly believe that any plan designed to motivate and direct an organisation needs to be relevant, short and inspiring. This is true whether the plan is done quickly with minimum consultation, or after a long collaborative process.

 

By its nature, planning during an intense period or crisis must be quick and will involve little if any wide consultation. But the plan must still speak to the target audience (usually the board, staff and stakeholders) by being clear and concise, with defined process and targets.

 

If there is the luxury of a long time frame to develop a new plan, that should not automatically result in a long and complex plan.  Long consultation periods risk loss of engagement of stakeholders, and loss of relevance to them.

 

Sometimes such plans try to be all things to all people, to ensure that every role in the organisation gets a mentioned.  While this may result in a sense of inclusiveness, it often also results in loss of coherent and tight direction, readability and relevance.

 

 

Envision success and how to get there

 

Our approach to strategy and planning is to:

 

• Work with the owners of the plan to see what success might look like

• Build a set of potential outcomes to set out “where we want to be”

• Test these draft outcomes with stakeholders  

 

Then the process focusses on “how to get there”:

 

• Identify the programs, actions or strategies necessary to get where we want to be

• Make these plans specific and measurable

 

Frank Howarth’s planning experience has come from several decades leading teams and whole organisation through planning processes of varying scale.