Strategically Speaking

Several organizations that I am involved with are currently, have just recently or really need to spend time developing a strategic plan.

I have been involved with dozens of these efforts over the years.  Without fail, every single one of those efforts, at some point, devolves into a debate about terminology.

Do goals flow out of missions and action steps out of goals?  Does a vision flow out of a mission or vice versa?.  Do action steps need to be SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely) or should that be goals?  What is the difference between a vision and a mission and a goal?  Which is most important?  Which should be developed first?  Why did the chicken cross the road?

Without a good moderator, the debate can go on for hours.  I am convinced that it is this conversation that drives most people away from strategic planning.  Which is a shame because there are two very good things that can usually flow out of strategic planning.

The first is that, if everyone sticks with it, you come up with a plan. A strategic plan provides some guidance as to what the members of the organization should focus on over the next year or two.  It provides some direction as to organizational priorities and plans. It broadcasts to staff and other stakeholders the organizational priorities of the leaders of the organization.

The second good thing to flow out of the strategic planning process is that the organization's leaders sit down and talk.  It is, in my opinion, the more important advantage.

Too often, the leaders in an organization don't bother to get together and really talk about the direction things are going and the direction they'd LIKE them to going.  Too often the leaders of an organization don't take the time out from putting out daily fires to look ahead and think about what the future should look like.  If nothing else, the strategic planning process gets the leaders into the same room talking about the same thing for a short while.

A structured strategic planning process helps to ensure that voices that are often drowned out or ignored get heard.  A planned process helps to ensure that the leaders are focused on positive, forward-looking plans for the organization and not arguing over terminology.  A well run strategic planning process is a positive for the organization, regardless of the resulting plan.

In the long run, strategically speaking, it doesn't matter how you label things in your strategic plan, as long as you are talking about them!