{"id":33192,"date":"2018-06-13T14:49:20","date_gmt":"2018-06-13T18:49:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/balancedscorecard.org\/staging\/?p=33192"},"modified":"2022-08-23T10:49:16","modified_gmt":"2022-08-23T14:49:16","slug":"why-strategic-planning-fails-part-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/balancedscorecard.org\/staging\/blog\/why-strategic-planning-fails-part-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Strategic Planning Fails – Part 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

Developing an “executable” strategic plan<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"\"This is the third installment in a blog series that discusses potential pitfalls that could hold you back from being fully successful in your strategic planning efforts.\u00a0\u00a0The first was ensuring that you have full leadership support before you begin the strategic planning initiative and the second was generating needed buy-in across the organization.\u00a0\u00a0As I started the first blog\u00a0of the series,\u00a0most things that I have been successful at in my life have been because I did it the right way and using the right tools.\u00a0\u00a0At the Balanced Scorecard Institute, we have the \u201cNine-Step Process<\/a>\u201d to building a strategic management system.\u00a0\u00a0We believe in this approach and we have helped hundreds of clients develop comprehensive strategic plans with a management system that enables them to effectively execute strategy.\u00a0\u00a0I myself have worked with over 80 organizations and have seen very successful strategic planning efforts and also those that were less so!\u00a0\u00a0I wanted to share some observations as to where those that were not as successful went wrong along the way.<\/p>\n

The third pitfall is developing an \u201cexecutable\u201d strategic plan.\u00a0\u00a0For me, this is the most glaring gap I see when reviewing strategic plans.\u00a0\u00a0It jumps off the page when the strategy in not built in such a way to support successful execution.\u00a0\u00a0There are several key areas that really require doing it the \u201cright way.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0The first key element to mention is understanding the key future assumptions that are driving the strategy.\u00a0\u00a0Linking the strategy to future assumptions is the only thing that makes \u201cstrategic planning strategic!\u201d\u00a0\u00a0So many strategies end up sounding like operational plans because they fail to link it to their analysis of the future environment in which the organization will\u00a0\u00a0exist.\u00a0\u00a0The problem is, if you are not lifting your gaze and scanning the horizon you could be missing out on significant opportunities or worse yet, not seeing impending threats!\u00a0\u00a0If we made buggy whips in 1910, and our strategy was all about making better buggy whips, more variety, high quality, faster to market, etc.; we would miss out on the fact that they were building car assembly plants and missing a glaring opportunity to redefine our business.\u00a0\u00a0The second major miss is developing \u201cmeasurable objectives.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0These usually start with words like increase, decrease, reduce, etc.\u00a0\u00a0These are words that we can measure.\u00a0\u00a0Many strategies have initiative words in their objectives like \u201ccreate,\u201d \u201cdevelop\u201d and \u201cbuild.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0These identify actions that have a beginning and an end and not necessarily what we can monitor to track our strategic transformation.\u00a0\u00a0The last key building block is in linking initiatives to objective targets.\u00a0\u00a0I had a client who had an objective to \u201cgenerate 5 million more customers in 5 years.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0A great measurable objective!\u00a0\u00a0But when pressed on what initiatives supported the objective, we determined that the ones they had in place were only going to generate 75 thousand new customers.\u00a0\u00a0They failed to link what they said they needed to accomplish with the initiatives they identified would get the job done.\u00a0\u00a0Bottom line is that if you said that the targets are what you need to achieve, then make sure you are going to do things to reach those targets!\u00a0\u00a0If you want a strategy that you can measure, will guide the organization, and is sure to create the success you have identified that you need, then it is important to build it the right way!<\/p>\n

If this pitfall sounds familiar,\u00a0contact us<\/a>. We have been helping clients for many years, and can help connect the dots and work with you to customize our approach to best meet your needs for future success.<\/p>\n

Over the next few blogs we will explore four additional potential pitfalls I have seen that hold organizations back from realizing the many benefits to developing a strategy and a supporting strategic management system.<\/p>\n

Missed Part 2 of the blog series? You can read it\u00a0here<\/a>. You can read Part 4\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The third pitfall is developing an \u201cexecutable\u201d strategic plan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":33193,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","content-type":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[25,23],"class_list":["post-33192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-strategic-planning","tag-strategy"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy Strategic Planning Fails - Part 3 - Balanced Scorecard Institute<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/balancedscorecard.org\/staging\/blog\/why-strategic-planning-fails-part-3\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Strategic Planning Fails - Part 3\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The third pitfall is developing an \u201cexecutable\u201d strategic plan.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/balancedscorecard.org\/staging\/blog\/why-strategic-planning-fails-part-3\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Balanced Scorecard Institute\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/StrategyManagementGroup\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-06-13T18:49:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-08-23T14:49:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/balancedscorecard.org\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Business-hand-drawing-gears_500x333.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"333\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tim Johnson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@BSCInstitute\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@BSCInstitute\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tim Johnson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/balancedscorecard.org\/staging\/blog\/why-strategic-planning-fails-part-3\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/balancedscorecard.org\/staging\/blog\/why-strategic-planning-fails-part-3\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Tim Johnson\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/balancedscorecard.org\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/f9cf779ef00cb3fd114bd533ae8ca20d\"},\"headline\":\"Why Strategic Planning Fails – Part 3\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-06-13T18:49:20+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-08-23T14:49:16+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/balancedscorecard.org\/staging\/blog\/why-strategic-planning-fails-part-3\/\"},\"wordCount\":665,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/balancedscorecard.org\/staging\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/balancedscorecard.org\/staging\/blog\/why-strategic-planning-fails-part-3\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/balancedscorecard.org\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Business-hand-drawing-gears_500x333.png\",\"keywords\":[\"strategic planning\",\"strategy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/balancedscorecard.org\/staging\/blog\/why-strategic-planning-fails-part-3\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/balancedscorecard.org\/staging\/blog\/why-strategic-planning-fails-part-3\/\",\"name\":\"Why Strategic Planning Fails - 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