Good vs Bad Strategy (part VII)

Last week we discussed how Rumelt sees two primary causes of bad strategy: the inability to choose and template style planning. We took a deeper look at the inability to choose and how to recognize and avoid that problem. To review that post, click here.

This week we’ll dive deeper into how template style planning can lead to poor strategy and how to avoid it when planning for your organization.

Strategy

In this form of planning, the “template” generally consists of Vision, Mission, and, sometimes, Values which lead to Strategies.  Do not get me wrong, every great company has some version of Vision, Mission, Values and Strategies.  What I am arguing against is a fill in the blank mentality that leads to little change in the organization.

Template style planning is something I wish I saw only in companies at the start of their strategic planning journey. Unfortunately, it is common at all companies, large and small, young and old. It is very tempting for organizations to turn to a template rather than going through the painful process of determining the strengths and weaknesses of their organization and how they can best compete in their industry.

Let’s look at each segment of the template and how to avoid the traps that most organizations fall in.

Vision – This is the vision for the future of the organization.  This vision can be captured in an endless number of metrics.  Revenues, employees, status in the community or industry can all be used to capture the vision.  Vision is a good thing.  Everyone in your organization must know where you are planning to go before they can decide if they want to go along for the ride!

How to avoid the template trap:

  1. Make the outcome specific and measurable.  If you are not familiar with the SMART goal setting methodology, learn more about it here.
  2. Make it short term.  Visions are often associated with a time way beyond the horizon.  Looking long term is fine.  Just make sure you back the vision down into steps that will be accomplished in the next five years, one year, quarter, month, week (you get the picture). If you can’t tell if you are off track next week, or next month at the latest, you will find it very difficult to meet your long term goals.
  3. Make someone accountable.  Once you’ve broken the vision into steps, make someone accountable for accomplishing each aspect of the vision.

Mission – The mission or purpose of the organization should be its reason for being beyond just making more money.  We all understand that making money is a prerequisite of survival, but it should not be an organization’s sole purpose for existence.  Having a greater purpose gives your people the ability to work for some sort of greater societal good other than increasing the stock price of your company or enriching the owners.  A purpose greater than money is critical to the long term health of your organization.  It is one of the primary factors that Jim Collins found leads to enduring greatness in the companies he studied which outperformed the marketplace 15 to 1.

How to avoid the template trap:

  1. Make it real.  Specific and measurable.  Apply SMART methodology.
  2. Measure it.  How will you know you are fulfilling the purpose of the organization?
  3. Give it teeth.  What do you refuse to do and what must you do to protect the purpose of your organization.  What happens to people who don’t do these things?

Values – Words like Integrity, Excellence and Respect are in almost all core values statements and these are great values to have!  The problem is that most organizations have not defined what these terms mean to them and rarely discuss them.

How to avoid the template trap:

  1. Define, in detail, what each core value of the organization means.  Have your employees submit situations where they had to make choices to defend these values to make it real.
  2. Train.  If you are not training your people on how to follow these values and how they impact their day to day work, your core values will be nothing more than wall art.
  3. Discuss.  As the leader of your organization, you must constantly reinforce the values in your messages to the troops.  Repeat, Repeat, Repeat. If it’s a mist in the pulpit, it’s a fog in the pews.
  4. Promote.  If you see a good example of someone following the values, make an example of them.  Consider incentive programs where your employees can promote each other for sticking to the values.
  5. Give them teeth.  What do you do when one of your most successful employees that you could not dream of doing without violates one of your core values?  That is the real test.

Strategies – We have discussed in detail how to avoid the many traps that strategists fall into.  For a refresher, start with post number 1 of this series.

In the next post, I’ll recap what we’ve learned and give you action steps on how to move forward with a great strategy for your organization.

If you liked this blog, please share it with your friends and join the conversation by leaving a comment or question on our website.  While you are there you can sign up for email updates, or take our growth quiz.

Filed Under: ,

Comments are closed here.