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Entries tagged as ‘strategic planning’

BIV Boardroom Strategy: A selection of the best books on strategic planning

November 5, 2009 · Leave a Comment

Mike

[Total read time: 4 mins]

There is no “right” strategic planning methodology that works for every company or organization. In fact, using a blended approach to create a customized methodology will likely yield the best planning framework for you and your company. The question becomes, “Where do I start?”

There have been five key books on strategy written in the past 10 years that provide perspectives on how to approach strategic planning. Here is a brief synopsis of each book, and why it’s worth reading.

Good to Great (Jim Collins): Collins refers to this book as the book he should have written first. Good to Great describes in detail the steps that good companies have taken to become great. From leadership to confronting the brutal facts, simplifying strategy, adding in discipline, understanding the role of technology and discovering what builds momentum with your business, Good to Great covers the complete strategy canvas at a high level, simplified in a way that will allow you to share your company’s strategic priorities with everyone in the business.

Built to Last (Jim Collins and Jerry Porras): Before Good to Great, Jim Collins collaborated with Jerry Porras to write Built to Last. This book is a study of 18 visionary companies and how they differ from their key competitors. The core philosophies are:
•stop reinventing the wheel and instead develop and document the core procedures that can withstand changes in personnel;
•stay focused on your core values while trying new things; and
•focus on the long-term goal – the BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) – a 10- to 30-year goal of the organization that is so large and so far in the future that it bears that moniker.

Blue Ocean Strategy (W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne): Written by two professors from INSEAD, Blue Ocean Strategy seeks to understand how companies like Cirque du Soleil, Apple and Blockbuster have changed the foundations of their business models and how they approach the market to move from the Red Ocean, bloody from the fight for market share, to the Blue Ocean, where the companies stand alone to compete for clients who don’t fit the traditional mould of their “old industry.” Their strategy canvas approach is designed to narrow down the key factors that you and your competitors use as the defining points of service in your industry. Then, by eliminating, creating or changing these key factors, a new industry is formed that appeals to a customer segment not being served by the existing industry. The short version of this would be to say that this is the story of the game-changers in their industries and how they did it.

Mastering the Rockefeller Habits (Verne Harnish): Harnish’s first book is based on the one-page strategic plan that John D. Rockefeller had each of his key executives complete at United Steel. The book details how to create a plan that summarizes your 30-year, three- to five-year, one-year and quarterly goals, along with supporting SWOT analysis, financial information (budget and actual) and accountabilities. The real magic is that all of this can fit onto one 8 1/2 x 11 page.

Execution (Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan): Execution speaks to one of the core reasons that most strategic plans fail – a lack of accountability and execution.
Many people think execution is the tactical side of business, best left to those people below the senior team in the organizational hierarchy. Bossidy and Charan argue that execution should be part of an organization’s cultural fabric, starting in the CEO’s office. The book describes a series of behaviours and techniques common within businesses that demonstrate a high level of execution of their plans.

Each of these books has a summary online that does a great job of breaking down the key points and practical applications. What the summaries won’t provide are the examples of real companies whose products and services you recognize and can relate to. Reading some or all of these books will help you relate the decisions made by other successful companies to the strategic challenges your organization is facing today.

PDF of Column BIV Boardroom Strategy – Nov 3-9, 2009

Categories: Business in Vancouver: Boardroom Strategy · strategy
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Boardroom Strategy: Strategic planning for business and life.

October 9, 2009 · 1 Comment

BIV Boardroom Strategy – Oct 6-12, 2009Mike

[Total read time: 4 mins]

In the last two decades, efforts to meet the challenge of reducing the complexity of strategic planning brought about two new approaches: The Balanced Scorecard by Kaplan and Norton in 1992 and Mastering the Rockefeller Habits by Verne Harnish in 2002.

Both approaches simplify complex plans into templates that are consistent in format but different in content depending on the organization and individual position. Both have been used successfully in thousands of organizations.

Encouraged by the success of the template models used in the Balanced Scorecard and the Rockefeller Habits models, we started to research the intersection between personal and professional goals and how self-interest and motivation could be aligned with the long-term vision of an organization. We took the findings of our research and created the ViRTUS One Page Focus Plan. Its distinction lies in the alignment of personal values and passions with business and career objectives.

If you’re having problems executing your strategic plan, a one-page plan might be just what you need. If you want to create your own focus plan, here are the areas it needs to cover.

Core values: What are your business core values – the values that are evident throughout your business in interactions internally and externally? What are your personal top five core values?

Objectives for the year: Get clear on your top five financial and three non-financial objectives for the year – decide on the objective, one action you can do this quarter to get you closer to reaching it, who will do it and by when.

Helps and hindrances: Think about the people, circumstances, habits and behaviours that provide you leverage toward your goals or get in the way of achieving them. What are you already doing, and what can you start or stop doing now to clear potential potholes and bring you closer to reaching your objectives?

Intention-action statements: Having the right intention but failing to take action is simply hoping something will happen without taking steps toward creating the outcome. The easiest way to shift this is to focus yourself on the habits and behaviours that link directly to the outcomes you’re looking for.

Relationships: Make the choice to improve your connections to the key people in your life who support you toward the success you are looking for as a leader, colleague, spouse, parent, relative and friend. Who are you going to connect with this quarter, what are you going to do and when?

Sharing resources: Researchers in the field of positive psychology have long known that helping others leads to increased happiness. Sharing resources is about finding ways to use the talents that we have to support others without the expectation of monetary gain. With whom will you share your resources? What will you do for them and when?

Gratitude and appreciations: Research into the science of happiness has shown us that expressing gratitude and appreciation contribute to measured higher levels of happiness. What are the things you appreciate and are grateful for in your life?

Return on heartbeats: Heartbeats are the ultimate non-renewal resource, so how we choose to spend them should be a conscious decision. Make the conscious decision to spend time doing things that bring you joy in life. Trips, time with friends, sports, hobbies – all things that make you feel happy, energized, alive and enthusiastic. What will you do?

Celebrations: Most organizations, teams and individuals are guilty of forgetting to celebrate the wins they achieve. Celebrating success is one of the easiest ways to maintain and boost motivation toward goals that seem out of reach. What will you do to celebrate your success?

Conventional wisdom says, “Keep what happens at the boardroom table at work, and keep what happens at the kitchen table at home.” But let’s face it, the lines have been blurred for years. Let’s accept the blending and choose to plan how being successful in our organizations and at home asimultaneously leads to a better outcome for you and your company. •

Mike Desjardins is the driver (CEO) at ViRTUS (www.virtusinc.com), an organizational development consulting firm with expertise in strategic planning and implementation, leadership development, change management and succession planning for medium to large organizations. Column was co-written by Tana Heminsley, a ViRTUS mentor and executive coach specializing in strategic planning, change management, leadership development and executive coaching.

(This article from Business in Vancouver October 6-12, 2009; issue 1041)

Categories: Business in Vancouver: Boardroom Strategy · human resources · strategy
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Business in Vancouver: Why your strategic plan failed and what you can do about it.

September 15, 2009 · 2 Comments

PDF of actual column in Business in Vancouver: Sept 15th-21st, 2009

Mike[total read time: 4 mins]

The conversation normally begins like this, “We’ve tried strategic planning in the past but somehow it allows seems to fall by the way side. No matter what method we try, the same result occurs. What are we missing?”

From it’s military genesis to strategic planning as we know it today, the reason for it is always the same: we need to know where we want to end up, how we’re going to get there, what resources we need, and who can help us make it happen. From small entrepreneurial businesses to large public entities, strategic planning is critical in shaping the future of your business. As I say to new clients who haven’t put a planning methodology in place, “you wouldn’t go on a road trip without a destination and a map or GPS, so why are you running your business without a plan for where it will end up and how you’re going to get there?”

There are five key reasons that most strategic plans fail. The good news is that each and every one of them is avoidable.

1. Lack of accountability. Without direct accountability, more specifically the name of a person who has agreed to complete a series of actions around an initiative, strategic planning leads to great ideas for the future with no one to see them through.

2. Lack of follow-up. In as short as three months changes in the economy, industry, market, or company can render a strategic plan full of holes that no longer link to reality. The result of this is a lot of three-ringed binders being hidden on shelves. The trick to keeping a strategic plan dynamic is to schedule quarterly sessions to review, evaluate, and revise the plan.

3. Lack of execution. Once everyone leaves the strategic planning retreat the day-to-day realities of running the business start flooding into their Blackberries and iPhones. Without agreed upon actions that link each initiative to reasonable timelines, you’re left with a framework with no method to execute on it. It’s tantamount to wishing something would occur but not ever taking any steps towards making it happen. Enter into strategic planning with the following mindset – planning is not about the plan, it is about the execution.  A 10% plan executed with authority is far more valuable than a 100% plan left on the shelf.

4. Lack of buy-in. Without the buy-in of the people who can actually make the strategic plan a reality, the exercise is moot. Create buy-in through involvement in the planning process, and with clear communication about how each person on the team can contribute to the successful execution of the plan.

5. Lack of connection to operations. Without connecting how the strategic plan naturally extends from the existing operations and responsibilities internally, it’s doomed to always be just out of reach of the organization. Most people wake up each day wanting to do a good job at work and looking forward to contributing to the long term sustainability of the business – help them see how key initiatives fit into their day-to-day.

There’s a great quote from General David Petraeus, commander of the Multi-National Security Transition Command Iraq, from the book The Gamble by Thomas Rick which sums up many of these points: “there are three enormous tasks that strategic leaders have to get right” Petraeus said one night in Baghdad, “the first is to get the big ideas right. The second is to communicate the big ideas throughout the organization. The third is to ensure proper execution of the big ideas.”

So if planning is about the alignment and execution, start by asking yourself, “What is our system for planning?  How does our system drive behaviour and measurement that tells us early on about execution effectiveness? Is our strategic planning system heavy on communication, reporting, metrics, review and revision so we can’t ignore it, forget about it, or avoid accountability around it?”

Next month we’ll introduce a planning process that will allow you to match personal goals with divisional and organizational goals – all on one page. Stay tuned.

Mike Desjardins is the Driver (CEO) at ViRTUS, an organizational development consulting firm with expertise in strategic planning and implementation, leadership development, change management and succession planning for medium to large organizations.

Jeffrey Kearney is a Mentor at ViRTUS, specializing in strategic planning, leadership development, and CEO Mentoring and Coaching.

Categories: Business in Vancouver: Boardroom Strategy · strategy
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Business in Vancouver: Boardroom Strategy (Aug 4-10th)

August 7, 2009 · 3 Comments

Mike

Boardroom Strategy: Mike Desjardins

Friday, 07 August 2009

Ten tips for leading businesses in turbulent times

There’s no denying these are turbulent times. But there are things that you can do to lead your team and your company to success against the odds.

Here are the top 10 things that you can start doing today to adapt past approaches and lead through to success.

Simplify the strategic message. The easier your strategy is to understand and communicate, the greater the likelihood that it will be executed successfully. The idea is to have people understand what the top three to five goals are for the year. Stephen Covey took this idea one step further in his book The Eighth Habit, in which he describes the concept of a “Wildly Important Goal” – the most important goal for the company this year, which everyone in the company must be able to understand, feel compelled by and repeat. Simplify to make the message easy to spread.

Use a reverse one-, three-, five-year approach. Short-term thinking can drive organizations to make decisions that are not in the best interest of stakeholders long term. This situation is exacerbated in turbulent times. View decisions from three unique perspectives: one, three, five years in the future. Ask your (future) self what decisions you wish you would have made. What do you regret? What advice do you have for yourself?
Drive revenue, reduce costs and monitor cash flow tightly. Drive revenue by getting in front of the market while your competitors are inwardly focused. Reduce costs by looking at each major expenditure in its own light, not based on a sweeping percentage. Educate your top people on how to monitor cash flow. Cash is like oxygen to a business; without it, it’s game over. It astounds me how many executives are able to rise through to the senior ranks without understanding cash flow.

Stand out while everyone else is standing down. One thing that you can count on in turbulent times is a decline in ad sales.

Not only does this mean less clutter and a higher probability of reaching your audience, but when ad sales go down marketing mediums get hungry and drop prices. Lock in long-term contracts now at the lower rates.

“Confront the brutal facts but move forward with healthy optimism anyway.” In Good to Great, Jim Collins writes about being realistic about where you’re at, while at the same time putting together a positive plan to move forward.

Think of it as realistic optimism with three steps:

•be clear about what the situation is today – pretending things are better than they are is ludicrous;

•explain what the changing conditions mean for the organization or for your division; and

•share what the strategy is to move the company forward in the right direction and what each person can do to contribute to the plan’s success.

Operate based on a one-page strategic plan. Distil your strategic plan into one page that encompasses values, goals, relevant financial data, key performance indicators and actions for three to five years, one year and the next quarter.

This is far easier for people to digest than a 50-page diatribe. (For a sample format visit my blog at www.mikedesjardins.com).

Keep your strategic plan dynamic. The most successful companies we work with review, evaluate and revise their strategic plans each quarter.

Adapting your strategic plan to meet changes in the market, industry or company creates a document from which decisions can be made rather than another dusty binder for your shelf.

Be candid and speak authentically. Whether things are good or bad, the rumour mill has a way of spinning them into whatever is easy to pass on. By focusing on the candid facts and how people are being affected by what’s happening, a sense of community and camaraderie can be built around finding a solution.

Cut fast and cut early: Multistage layoffs are far more damaging to corporate culture than one large downsizing. The death of a thousand cuts leaves people constantly realigning priorities each time there’s a layoff and wondering if they’re next. Lead people back to engagement and productivity by listening to what they’re experiencing and helping them regain focus.

Start doing, stop doing, keep doing. When fear sets into an organization it can lead people to the point of inaction or what we call “analysis paralysis.” Have people ask and answer three simple questions: What should I start doing? Stop doing? Keep doing?

If this is a topic that you are interested to know more about, visit this link for a recorded webinar that goes into more detail and examples: www.virtusinc.com/webinars. •

Mike Desjardins is the Driver (CEO) at ViRTUS, an organizational development consulting firm with expertise in strategic planning and implementation, leadership development, change management and succession planning for medium to large organizations.

This article from Business in Vancouver August 4-10, 2009; issue 1032

Categories: Business in Vancouver: Boardroom Strategy · strategy
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Webinar: Leadership Lives in Turbulent Times

June 18, 2009 · Leave a Comment

Link to the recorded presentation:webinar
http://tinyurl.com/mjdrn2

Books I mentioned:
Good to Great by Jim Collins
Eighth Habit by Stephen Covey
Winning by Jack & Suzie Welch

Link to our website:
http://www.virtusinc.com

Categories: leadership · strategy
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What is a Wildly Courageous Decision?

April 14, 2009 · 1 Comment

CourageAt ViRTUS our Wildly Courageous Decision (WCD) is to become the Apple of the consulting world.  I’ve been asked numerous times to go into more detail about the process of defining a WCD.

First off, the Wildly Courageous Decision is actually a blend of two different concepts:  the Wildly Important Goal (WIG) from Stephen Covey’s book the 8th Habit and the Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG) from Jim Collins’ book, Good to Great.

In crafting your WCD there are five different methods that work tend to best:

  1. compared to competition (Avis decided they wanted to be second to Hertz)
  2. compared to an absolute (The Seattle Pike Place Fish Market decided they wanted to be world famous)
  3. compared to an industry (We will become the leading/most admired/fastest/cheapest provider of X in the packaged goods industry)
  4. compared to a company you admire (ViRTUS is becoming the Apple of the consulting world)
  5. compared to a parent company (We will be the fastest growing/most profitable/more admired/leading brand of GE).

Here are the five criteria of a BHAG which also apply to a WCD:

  1. Are set with understanding, not bravado.
  2. Fit squarely in the three circles of your Hedgehog Concept.
  3. Have a long time frame—10 to 30 years.
  4. Are clear, compelling and easy to grasp.
  5. Directly reflect your core values and core purpose.

It took us a number of tries before we came up with a WCD that the entire team could rally around.  The first two just weren’t inspiring us to move in the long term direction we wanted.    As an entrepreneur I really had to ask myself this question as the final test of our WCD: “Am I willing to spend the next 10 to 30 years of my life to achieve this Wildly Courageous Decision?”

Categories: strategy
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Entrepreneurial Strategic Planning Framework

February 27, 2009 · 3 Comments

The most effective framework for strategic planning for a small to medium sized entrepreneurial company that I’ve come across is laid out in the book, The Rockefeller Habits, by Verne Harnish.

If you’ve been looking to find a straightforward way to engage your team in a planning process that is designed with the entrepreneur in mind then this is the format for you.

The One Page Strategic Plan outlined in the Rockefeller Habits blends SWOT Analysis, with Core Values, Core Purpose, BHAG, 3-5 year plan, 1 year plan, quarterly actions, historical financials with budget, brand promise, and your elevator pitch, and yes, all of that fits on one page!

If you’re interested in learning more about how the plan works buy the book or write a comment on this post or click Next Steps at the top of this page – I’d be happy to help you.  We use a customized version of this framework with our growth-focused entrepreneurial clients.

Categories: strategy
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The economy and strategic planning.

November 4, 2008 · Leave a Comment

The CEO of one of the companies we work with asked me this question over email yesterday: “Should a short term economic condition (or is it) affect strategic direction?”  I decided to share my answer since I know this question is on the minds of many CEOs, entrepreneurs, and executives right now.

Here are my thoughts:

• The Darwinian approach fits: it’s not survival of the fittest but more survival of the organism or in this case the organization that is more able to adapt to a changing environment.  In a strategic sense this means reviewing the strategic plan to determine whether or not the change in the economy or economic outlook is greater or less of a force when compared to when the strategic plan was completed.

• Since the economy is a threat in more SWOT analysis’s right now the uncertainty and variability that comes along with this threat underscores the need to review the organizational strategy on a quarterly basis to ensure that any adverse effects of the economy against the strategy plan can be taken into account.  It’s through this process of review, evaluating, and revising, that strategic plans become dynamic and remain relevant to things like changes in the economy.  The opposite approach most often leads to the strategic plan being shelved while executives shift into reactionary mode.  I think Jim Collins said it best in Good to Great when he described the Stockdale Paradox, “confront the brutal facts but maintain an unwavering faith in the endgame, and a commitment to prevail as a great company despite the brutal facts.”

• An unexplored threat that gains mindshare with executives can lead to distraction from the key initiatives that are moving the organization forward towards its long term goals.  By examining the threat it can be treated with the appropriate amount of appreciative inquiry instead of potentially allowing it to become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

• The practical answer to this is to spend an hour in your next monthly executive meeting to discuss the facts and the concern the executives have about the economy to see if anything percolates through and requires adjusting the strategy. In this way the issue can be tabled, discussed, and then executives can focus on their key priorities.

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