Structure and Purpose: Planning Essentials

Many organizational leaders cite their instincts and having a “feel for the business” as reasons for their business success. Fair enough. But there comes a time in any growing enterprise when having a plan in your head can bring limited results, frustrating the leader and the senior team.

Structured planning does not mean rigidity and lack of creativity and experimentation. It does mean the process will better enable and encourage this in a way that can elicit prioritized action items with assigned responsibility and trackable, measurable timelines and expected outcomes.

A key agenda item for an effective planning offsite session is allowing time for idea generation, and “The Four D’s”: Discussion, Dialogue, Debate and Decisions. This is yet another reason why having an experienced, skillful facilitator helping to build the agenda and then guide the process can be invaluable.

I’ve heard from many executives who lament the hollowness of their strategic sessions. Great discussions, lots of ideas and no shortage of problems, challenges and obstacles talked about. While these items are unique to the organization, the common thread is that few if any actionable items, milestone dates or progress measurements are put in place. Many cite as evidence the fact that the same problems are brought up at meeting after meeting with little meaningful headway made.

At the same time, items that are crucial to the success of the enterprise and need to be talked out during strategy sessions are deflected or avoided altogether. It can be uncomfortable to address obstacles, flawed processes, outdated and frustrating policies, and “people issues;” yet these are often the most compelling areas of concern. Hitting these head on in strategic session can be the most impactful part of the planning process.

Bringing structure, discipline and process to strategy formulation and planning can move your team and your organization forward in an effective, meaningful way. And results come very quickly.

For more information on ways to get the most out of your planning process, contact me at joe@ajstrategy.com.