Strategic Planning: Process, Templates and Effective Implementation (Risk Commentary Management Series)

Why do so many strategic plans end up collecting dust?

It doesn't make sense. Organizational leaders feel they should have good plans – and they are right. Private firms, government agencies and non-profits are all facing an uncertain future. Indeed, planning is still popular, and poor planning is shown to be among the top reasons for business failure.

The trouble is, people put too much faith in the document, often a bland re-hash of familiar issues. The real magic of strategic planning is when you use it as a transformational process.

After a lot of study and field work in program implementation, I was ready. Working with a like-minded team, I helped lead a manufacturing firm to win the Chamber of Commerce Business of the Year Award.

I am convinced: planners must follow a structured method that involves a round table review of the soul of the company: What are our special assets and values? What is our unique competitive advantage? As participants are invited, perhaps for the first time, to articulate their conception of the organization, they start to feel a compelling motive to work together and make the enterprise succeed!

What about the infamous "implementation gap"? No, I wasn't going to fall into that trap. I had already seen it, and even interviewed CEOs about reasons for business failure. I collected the proven principles of successful program implementation, and now I check all plans against them. To help you do this, I have formulated the success factors in a table (p.57).

Strategic planning, properly done and executed, can transform the culture and propel the organization to success.

Using this book, you will:

• gain clarity about the strategic planning process;
• confidently focus the planning discussion;
• engage managers and staff, build your team, and transform a negative culture.

This book is a fast read, 70 pages, complete with diagrams; templates; references; quotes from industry practitioners; and index. If you can organize and chair meetings, and if you are motivated to move the organization ahead, you can do this. Order it and start planning for success.

Why do so many strategic plans end up collecting dust? Organizational leaders feel they should have good plans – and they are right. Private firms, government agencies and non-profits are all facing an uncertain future, whether the task is to impress potential investors, chart a path towards profitability, or fight for funding.

Moreover, lack of planning is shown to be among the top reasons for business failure. And yet strategic planning, if done at all, is often a bland re-hash of familiar issues. It is frustrating when prepared plans set high expectations, but then are not even implemented. Embarrassingly, the effort has produced nothing but a dust collector.

I have seen this problem first hand – and solved it – not only as a consultant, but as a senior manager in public and private settings. I facilitated the effective implementation of organization-wide risk management programs (praised by the provincial Auditor General). As innovation specialist and director of strategic planning, I helped lead a manufacturing firm to win the Chamber of Commerce Business of the Year Award.

It was knowledge hard won. After years of study, field research and dozens of client engagements, I finally arrived at a refined and careful method, and formulated it for publication to share with others.I am convinced: planners must follow a structured method that takes into account not only the different types and purposes of planning (a distinction rarely made!) but also the principles of effective program implementation. These success factors are proven in studies, but do not seem to be part of management training. And yet strategic planning, properly done and executed, can transform the culture and propel the organization to success.

Using this book, you will:

- gain clarity about exactly what you’re trying to plan, instead of mixing up types of plans;

- focus the discussion and streamline the process;

- feel confident that your planning steps are in the right order;

- engage managers and staff, build teams, and transform a negative culture;

- conquer the “implementation gap”, link to the real business, and reverse program failure.

This book is a fast read, 70 pages, complete with diagrams; templates; references; quotes from industry practitioners; and index. Starting with an iron-clad positive case for doing strategic planning, I then show the practical steps. Take my advice, too, on the role of the planning champion and how to facilitate the process. If you can organize and chair meetings, and if you are motivated to move the organization ahead, you can do this!

Strategic Planning: Process, Templates, and Effective Implementation lists lower than the average price in the strategic planning category. Show your colleagues, staff and competitors you can do strategic planning the way it should be done. Order it and start planning for success!