Plans are nothing; planning is everything.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
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It’s that time of year. Leadership teams in organizations across the land are beginning to work on their plan for next year. This process has a number of different names/descriptives — Strategic Planning; Yearly Goal Setting – but the process is simple. It sort of follows this trajectory:
• This is where we are now
• This is where we want to be at the end of 2013
• This is what we have to do to get there…
I have recently presented my synopsis of the terrific book, Good Strategy Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why it Matters, to a leadership team of a multi-location organization. They are entering into their strategic planning process, and they wanted to think seriously about their task. This book fit their needs very well.
I think this presentation helped them, and also helped me as I thought about this process. These days, it helps me to think of an organization as divided into two simple groups: The Troops, and the Head Honchos who lead the troops. (Sorry: I don’t know the gender-neutral term for ”Honchos”). The Troops depend on the Head Honchos to provide the direction. The Head Honchos have to learn to listen very well to the Troops as they prepare to set that direction.
As I think through this process, I keep “refining” the questions that I think are critical to and in the process. Here’s my current list.
• What is the outcome we intend?
• What kind of person, and team, can attain that outcome?
• What kind of communication will lead the troops to fulfill that kind of outcome? (to execute the plan!)
• What kind of leadership team creates that kind of targeted outcome, and that kind of communication, to succeed in reaching that desired outcome?
• What kind of leader creates that kind of leadership team?• And… What kind of problem/issue/challenge calls forth this kind of endeavor?
I suspect I am missing a question or two. But it seems to me that the process is this:
The Head Honchos listen to the Troops very well (and, these troops have listened to the customers very well), and then design a plan for the coming months that will challenge the troops and, when executed, will lead the organization into a successful outcome. And then, those head honchos have to communicate that intended outcome very clearly, and provide the resources and encouragement and training and coaching and mentoring to keep the troops on track until the outcome is attained.
Sounds pretty simple, doesn’t it?
First Friday Book Synopsis 