Why you need more than a strategic plan

Most organizations have a strategic plan, but a large percentage of strategic plans are ignored. We call this the SPOTS syndrome – Strategic Plan On Top Shelf.

Plans are created and then ignored because day-to-day work takes over. Soon the plan isn’t even relevant because it has not kept pace with the changes happening around us.

First, you must create a strategic plan. You must have something written & agreed upon, that you can share with others and use as your guide for the year. A good strategic plan helps you achieve clarity of purpose and direction for the organization.

However, you’ve got to do more than just create a document.

Second, you must ensure successful transformation in your organization. You created a strategic plan so that something different would happen in the organization. Therefore, you must set up the processes to ensure that staff understand and execute the plan. Everyone on the team must be pulling together to make the changes occur.

Finally, you have to ensure that your organization is set up to sustain high performance over the long term. You do this by putting systems into place to update your strategic plan regularly, and implementing systems to ensure the plan is being followed and monitored year after year.

The result of:

• Creating a document outlining clear purpose & direction

• Ensuring successful transformation

• Implementing systems to sustain high performance over the year

is sustained relevance & competitive advantage.

And isn’t that important enough to go further than just creating a strategic plan?

I facilitate organizations through the creation of a strategic plan and setting up the systems to ensure successful transformation and sustained high performance. I also coach leaders on implementing the plan and being more strategic.

Want to go further than your competition? Contact me Valerie.MacLeod@HainesCentre.com