For Those Who Love Strategy As Much As We Do
Strategic planning can yield less than desirable results if you end up in one of the possible pitfalls! To prevent that from happening, here’s a list of the most frightening and common traps to avoid:
Relying on bad information or no information: A plan is only as good as the information which it’s based. Too often, [...]
Many leaders struggle with getting buy-in for the strategic planning process and getting their team to feel like they are part of the plan. Recently we were asked, “How do you successfully lead the charge as a strategy leader?” This question applies to both people who are new to strategic planning and those who have years [...]
The BSC was introduced by Robert Kaplan, a Harvard Business School professor, and David Norton, the founder and president of Balanced Scorecard Collaborative, Inc., in the early 1990s as a new way to work with business strategy. Today, over half of the Fortune 1,000 companies in North America are using the Balanced Scorecard, which has [...]
Are you feeling like you’re in a strategic planning rut? Do you need a little inspiration to help find your path? Check out some inspiring quotes from Steve Jobs we pulled from Fast Company to help kick-start your planning process.
“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you [...]
In response to the great input from our valued clients, team members and professional colleagues, today we are unveiling our third major redesign in our seven years of existence. Our team worked with our friends at Mesh Creative and Delge to help make it possible, and we are excited to roll out these exciting changes. [...]
There is no doubt that most business operators recognize a lack of leadership in our elected officials – no matter which side of the aisle you are on. No jobs created in August during the height of what should be solid marketplace activity. First time this has happened since 1945!! Yet there are corporations sitting [...]
A recent study from Bain & Company titled, Management Tools and Trends, looked at usage and satisfaction of the 25 most popular management tools. This study showed that Strategic Planning Tools rank the highest for satisfaction and usage. Figure 7 below shows how Strategic Planning Tools ranked against the other management tools. If you are [...]
To maximize resources and funding, organizations need to focus on what they do best and outsource the rest. Easy to say, right? That concept is harder to do in practice. The MacMillan Matrix, a tool developed by Wharton School of Business professor Ian MacMillan, was specifically designed to tackle this task. The Matrix can help you [...]
Many people are confused by the terms strategy, strategic plan, and strategic planning. For the moment, forget what you’ve heard about this subject. Strategic planning makes a huge difference to your organization both tangibly and intangibly. Below are some explanations that should clear up all the confusion. What is strategy? Strategy means consciously choosing to be clear [...]
MyStrategicPlan is one of many strategic planning software options available in the market today. There are very few options that allow you to input the plan content/data, then track progress and execute to it, but there are many that provide a mechanism to capture and structure the plan. At minimum, strategic planning software / strategic planning [...]
Here are some tips to help planning in your agency or community:
Identify specific agencies charged with implementation of clear outcomes. This only works if named agencies participate in the planning. Identify a single, coordinating entity charged with overseeing implementation. In some cases, the coordinating agency or group is created to implement the plan. Involve respected and representative [...]
Your organization’s governing or policy board plays an important part in your strategic planning efforts. The degree of influence boards have varies from nonprofit to government organizations. But in some form or fashion, these appointed or elected members are responsible for defining the organization’s purpose and mission, articulating the strategic priorities for the planning year, [...]
Strategic planning thought: “Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work.” – Peter Drucker I often see this quote, as many of you probably do, when reading blogs/articles/research on strategic planning. We use it ourselves and couldn’t agree with it more. To be fair though, hard work is only going to get [...]
5 Best Practices for Creating a Hospital Strategic Plan in Uncertain Times I came across this article the other day on Becker Hospital Review and thought it would be a great one to share for those in the medical field who are in the strategic planning process. James R. Trimarchi, director of strategic planning at Southwestern [...]
Implementing your strategic plan is as important, or even more important, than your strategy. It is the critical actions that move a strategic plan from a document that sits on the shelf to actions that drive business growth. The sad reality is that the majority of companies who have strategic plans fail to implement. Don’t [...]
Clearly the big difference between for-profits and nonprofits and governments is that pesky little word profit. Social-sector organizations are mission-driven, not profit-driven. So instead of the bottom line being strictly money — although that’s necessary to keep the doors open — the real reason for these organization’s existence is public service. Jim Collins, author of Good [...]
Customer loyalty data, while it may prove statistically strong, usually strikes a nerve with companies because it reveals some inconvenient truths that comes straight from customer’s mouths.
A few weeks back, Tim Vanderpyl wrote a post about strategic planning on LeaderLab. It generated some great debate about the usefulness of strategic planning. I took the opportunity to participate in the conversation and that response can be found below (as well as at LeaderLab). I’m a bit late to the party, but I wanted [...]
A few things that men can learn from women in their strategic planning process A recent article from Inc. Magazine entitled, Why Women Are Great Strategic Planners, highlighted the differences in a woman’s versus a man’s approach to strategic planning. The author, Jenn Houser, explains a conversation she had with a male entrepreneur who was so [...]
Planning for the future is important but very few businesses actually do it. Instead of listing the benefits of business planning and strategic planning, the following list of warning signs can tell you that you need a new strategy for your strategic planning process:
Someone asks where your business will be in one year, and you [...]
* Strategic Planning 101 with MyStrategicPlan
* Execute, Execute, Execute
* How MyStrategicPlan Helps Organizations
