For a lot of people, myself included, the thought of going through a word smithing exercise to come up with a brilliant statement of purpose, feels like getting a dental root canal done.
It is a good news, bad news type of story.
Most thought leaders will espouse the necessity of strategic planning exercises. Yet the research suggests it often fails.
Read More
A few of those sources:
- The Harvard Business Review estimates the ROI from traditional planning approaches to be 34% or less.
- The Economist Intelligence Unit estimates that organizations realize just 60% of the potential value of their strategies.
- Kaplan and Norton research suggest that 90% of organizations fail to successfully implement their strategies.
They fail for a variety of reasons:
- 53% of the people expected to implement the strategy cannot fully articulate it
- Failure to make strategy meaningful to frontline employees
- Poor communication of strategy
- Lack of clear and decisive leadership
Last week I facilitated a full day planning session with a technology company and their small team. At their 10th year anniversary, they did a full strategic plan. Now, 6 years later, their Team has doubled in size, and accomplished everything they envisioned back in 2018. The owners wanted to include the new staff and reset their vision and plan for the next few years.
A rich and nuanced conversation erupted with every topic. Not only did the vision, mission and values get a rewrite into simpler and more powerful language, but everyone got a deeper understanding of what it means to represent their Company.
As the facilitator, I could feel their commitment and purpose deepen right in front of me.
It seems that what this company did, is in sharp contrast to the research. They involved their employees and invited them to be part of the creation and review of their company’s mission, vision and strategy. And the result: their Team Members developed an intrinsic motivation and feel part of something bigger. Those results were immediate, and I believe they will be long lasting.
The Team Members committed to a host of actions they will implement, not only the leadership, but each Member has their part to add to the overall growth. Over time, I am certain the ROI of increased staff retention, higher productivity and reduced sick leave will be evident in the measurement review.
When was the last time you had input into your company’s strategic business statements and plans? Is it time now?