Have you seen the Dilbert cartoon where he is asked to create a report consistent with the company’s strategic plan?
There’s one problem: he has NEVER seen the strategic plan. When the boss finally produces “the plan,” it’s anything but a plan – it’s the warranty to a chair!
This cartoon is hilarious. But it’s not too farfetched from how some employees feel about their company’s strategic plan. 😊
Some revealing statistics on Strategy 
According to research in the Harvard Business Review and Gallup research:
- Very little time is spent on strategy: 85% of executive leadership teams spend less than one hour per month discussing strategy; 50 percent spend no time at all.
- Lack of awareness: On average, 95% of a company’s employees are unaware of (or don’t understand) its strategy.
- Unclear organizational purpose: Less than half of U.S. employees (41%) strongly agree that they know what their organization stands for.
- Broken decision-making: Very few managers (just 14%) strongly agree they are satisfied with the speed of decision-making at their organization.
- Insufficient direction: Only 22% of employees feel that leaders have a clear direction for the organization.
You hired great people, so empower them to lead
Many company presidents and their leaders feel alone, carrying the “load” of the company. They think they are supposed to have all the answers. Strategic planning is the perfect catalyst for new information and team-based decision making. We love what our client Jake Axel (also our featured Healthy Leader) said about his favorite part of strategic planning “Watching the team solve problems without me.” What a brilliant insight!
What makes a strategic planning process successful?
Successful strategic processes start with:
- Understanding what is important to the key stakeholders
- Challenging internal and external assumptions
- Engaging the leadership, management team, team members, customers, board and sometimes the entire community.
I’ve created a strategic process: Strategy in Motion™
Strategy in Motion was built for growth oriented mid-sized companies who are early on the strategic planning journey. This may be the first time the leadership has invested in a formal team-based strategic planning process.
Many processes stop at the Plan. Strategy in Motion™ pushes companies through to implementation and strategic management by including key activities and tools keep the process moving forward.
An overview of my Strategy In Motion process can be downloaded here. My book, Strategy in Motion: A Proven Playbook for Companies Who Win, will be available on Amazon in a few months. We also have a virtual training, Stretch Strategic Bootcamp, where you can learn about these SIM tools in a self-paced, easy-to-follow format. Use the discount code SIM to save $50 now.
As many of you know, I am passionate about supporting leaders and their companies through planning their futures and achieving growth. I can’t wait to share this with you!