"A Plan is Nothing: Planning is Everything"

President Eisenhower knew what he was talking about. As a general directing European operations during World War II, he understood the power of determining a plan of action and then constantly communicating it, evolving it and refining it as information came into his camp.

Are our business situations any less mission-critical today? I understand that we aren’t in armed combat (although it does seem like it sometimes) but when you run or own a business, it sure feels like bombs are being lobbed from all corners.

Really, nothing about the fundamental importance of business strategy has changed for 65 years except:

• Businesses don’t like to do it (“takes away from the REAL work”)
• It takes too long (“you don’t understand, things move too fast in our world”)
• Nobody seems to know what he or she are supposed to be doing (they got the email, the slogan and the mug but things dropped off fast after that)

I just finished a one-day strategic planning retreat for a client involving the senior team (yes, I did say one day). Part of the secret sauce in this recipe is doing work up front so I designed an online assessment that got at the heart of the strategic issues. All of the verbatim feedback was put into word clouds (www.wordle.com) so the areas of strongest commonality of thought were prominently displayed.

We used small group and large group activities to define Mission, confirm Values and design the five Big Rocks that became the positioning statement and strategy for the next 24 months. Because the word clouds so powerfully illustrated Opportunities and Challenges, we were not struggling throughout the day to agree on these items.

There is one more day to set 12-and 24-month goals and I use a simple spreadsheet that combines long- and short-term goals, action plans and metrics. It displays the Mission and Values so they never are forgotten in the planning process. This document is the North Star for the client: guiding strategy execution and ensuring that decisions are in line with Mission and Values.

The communication piece is so important -- and frequently not designed -- because everyone in the organization has to know what direction it’s going in for the foreseeable future. That is part of the second day goal-setting workshop. I believe we can boil the strategy statement down to “let’s get a man on the moon by the end of the decade” as President Kennedy did. That way, we lessen the risk of failure to execute.

Business strategy doesn’t have to be a 12-month cycle of PowerPoint presentations and number crunching. I don’t think either General Eisenhower or President Kennedy had that luxury of time. Both understood that planning is far more powerful than the plan and that communication is the trump card for execution.

What planning do you do in your organization? Is it a PowerPoint or a Word Cloud?

What Makes a Good Business Strategy?

That question was asked by Veena Houston at one of our recent Leading Engaged Companies webinars; it’s a good one. I’ve been an internal practitioner and external consult of strategy for 25 years and it’s interesting how strategy formulation goes in and out of fashion, seemingly more in vogue when the economy is tough. For me, business strategy is one of the CEO’s KPI’s and there is the additional responsibility for communicating it and for ensuring it is executed.

First, my definition of business strategy, as I see so many references to “strategy” in the blogosphere but their message is really about tactics (marketing strategy, CRM strategy, HR strategy, etc.). The late Peter Drucker defined business strategy as “Analytical thinking & commitment of resources to action and innovation. Making decisions today about an uncertain future. Taking the right risks while exploring opportunities.”

Back to the original question: good business strategy components. Here are my must-haves:

Foundation of Vision, Values and Mission. Strategy can’t tell you what you stand for or why you’re in business but it should guide you in how you’re going to be different, competitive and successful.

Thorough Understanding of the External and Internal Environment. Knowing where you are now in terms of competition, customers, economic and regulatory issues and creating a report card of internal resources are imperatives; otherwise, strategy and direction are built on hope or dumb luck.

Evaluating Options in the Context of Your Reality. Strategy is about moving in a new direction which means building capability (human, structural, financial and relationship capital) that will support these decisions. Because strategy is a 3-5 year look ahead, not everything can be or needs to be accomplished Year One. That’s why we love annual action plans and budgets.

Scenario Planning. I came across this tool while working in England in the 80s through Royal Dutch Shell and the concept was so blindingly obvious that I’ve never thrown it out of my toolkit. We don’t have a crystal ball to predict our future so strategy development is, by its very nature, imperfect. We mitigate the risk by assessing our assumptions and using those to create scenarios of “What Ifs” and responses to those. Scenarios can lessen the impact of a flaw in the original strategy by allowing rapid course correction.

Measures and Monitoring. Failure to execute is the single greatest reason for strategy failure. These days, with financial and business modeling, strategy maps, scorecards and the like, there is no excuse not to design short- and long-term measures. Good strategy also demands that it cascades into departments, regions, and functions; and, ultimately to the individual level through a performance management system. If KPIs and compensation are not tied to business strategy, there is no skin in the game and therefore no incentive to change the status quo.

Communication, Involvement and Celebration. Communicating strategy is not a one-time event; it needs to drip continuously into the organizational consciousness until it is part of the fabric of all discussions, meetings and reviews. Keeping the message simple makes it easier to weave it into everyday activity.

Involving the workforce is critical, not just so that they are engaged but also because employees are in a perfect position to immediately discern a problem, which, if diagnosed quickly, can avoid strategy disaster.

Yes, celebrate. Every success; every mistake as a learning experience; every time a goal is achieved.

What do you think makes good business strategy? Can you add to my “must-have” list?

Let's Hear It For (the New) HR

A lot of us have taken a verbal swipe at the HR profession occasionally; some have written about it. After all, they are the “people people” not the hard-driving, analytical, results-oriented business influencers that the rest of us are. Right?

I had an amazing experience a couple of weeks ago when I volunteered for SHRM-Atlanta at a call in Help Desk for job seekers hosted by a local TV station. Here are some of the things I observed about my HR colleagues:

• They Get It. They not only have a good grasp of business strategy but also are good at formulating it. The organizers developed a mission critical style and approach to this event that was awesome to watch. During our two- day call-in, the organizers were tracking call types and other metrics to analyze how best to follow up and improve for the next call in. I know they also will be tracking and analyzing call resolution.

• They Are Savvy About Business. This group of HR professionals developed a program, including training, researched resources, screened volunteers and marketed the heck out of this event using every channel available including social media; on time and with a shoestring budget.

• They Give Back. SHRM-Atlanta has a vision of Working For a Better Atlanta and from the Board down to individual members; they are trying to live out that vision in all that they do. I don’t think this approach is limited to our local people.

• They Believe in Education and Development. HR professionals are credentialed and take their own professional development very seriously. I never sat for the PHR or SPHR designation but I understand that the curriculum is rigorous and maintaining the credentials requires annual continuing education including strategic coursework. How many of us can say that about our own professional development?

• They Are Collaborative. These HR professionals worked closely with the Department of Labor and the television station as a seamless team; adding their own particular talents to create something bigger and better than anything they could create alone.

• They Can Execute the Heck Out of an Initiative. That says it all.

Is there a theme here? I believe it’s that HR isn’t “Personnel” any longer or the group that processes benefits and payroll or nags us about performance reviews. There has been a sea change and it can only benefit businesses that are challenged to do more with less and yet do it with the best talent available. Your HR department just might be an untapped source of what it takes to lead an engaged company:

1. Strategy Development and Execution
2. Identifying and Developing Leaders
3. Creating a Culture of Collaboration and Teamwork
4. Providing guidance and influence in human capital development and management
5. Selecting, developing and training customer-focused employees through a performance management system.

So, before we put our HR colleagues back in their box on the organization chart, take another look at your HR department. Talk to them; invite a dialogue. Better yet, invite them to your next strategy session. You wouldn’t dream of leaving out the Finance person, would you?

Is your HR Department leading the way to organizational engagement? What are some of the ways you utilize its strengths in non-traditional ways?

Five Things I Learned From the Men on a Submarine

A few weeks ago, I wrote a blog about customer (no)service during a recent buying experience and it prompted some interesting discussion with Adrian Bashford in Ontario. People who responded to the blog were unanimous in their agreement that leadership is accountable for the customer relationship. That led to the question: where do leaders learn skills other than finance, marketing and operations? Adrian suggested that the lack of military training in our leadership ranks over the past few decades might be at the heart of the problem. My first reaction, was “heck no” but it got me thinking about an experience I had a few years ago when I spent two days with the officers and men of the USS Nebraska at the King’s Bay Nuclear Submarine base in Georgia. Adrian might be on to something.

• Values Guide Every Decision: every man knew the Navy’s core values and the expectation that behaviors and decisions were guided by those values.

• It’s About the Mission: The purpose of each 3-month trip under the ocean was well understood by all men on the boat; it was the plan of execution.

• Train to the Mission: training was embedded in every task during a voyage and was reinforced during dry dock periods. Every training session included an After Action Review. Nothing long or drawn out, just What Happened? What Was Supposed to Happen? What Accounted for the Difference? What Will We Do Differently Next Time? During those days and nights at sea, the men were engaged in learning and studying for their exams to move to the next position.

• Only Warheads Exist in Silos: the men worked in cohesive groups, teaching their jobs to others and learning new jobs from more experienced men. The most dangerous element of a voyage is fire and each man not only knew what he was supposed to do but how to do another man’s job if necessary.

• Every Man is a Leader: rank did not preclude a man speaking up if he felt that a decision by a superior went against either the Navy’s Core Values or the Mission. This was an expectation that was constantly reinforced by the Captain and the Chief of the Boat.

It's a lot easier to run a business or manage one when people know what the expected behaviors are and act accordingly; understand why they are doing what they are doing; cooperate to achieve common results and are confident that if they speak up, they will be heard. If you’re aligned with Mission and Values, everyone is a Leader and everyone understands the accountability piece.

Isn’t it better to build the foundation at the front end instead of trying to fix things in the organization that should never have broken? Is your mission inspiring? Have your values retained their meaning over time? What do you do to learn the hard(er) skills of leadership?

Got a Game Plan? Dispelling Some Myths

What's your game plan? Do you have one? Despite the rumors that strategy is dead, it's never been more important to know where you're going and how you're going to get there.

First, let's dispel some myths about creating a game plan:

Things Move Too Fast - No Time: unless you have unlimited resources and access to capital, it's never been more important to get a handle on how you're going to be more successful.

It's Too Hard: The old process of a never-ending planning cycle has had its day. You can use just 5 steps to get from Purpose to Execution. That's it. Five steps.

We Do Fine Without One: Are you sure about that? If you can't draw a straight line from programs, initiatives and campaigns to the business results you want, you may seem fine but you'll do a lot better with some direction. Without a game plan, how do your employees understand where the company is going and how they can play their part?

In the video clip below, I outline the five steps to get a successful game plan:

As the Cheshire Cat said to Alice, ' if you don't know where you're going, any road will get you there.'

What process do you use to get your game plan? Are you actively engaging in strategic thinking or just bumping along?