This detail is important as when we attain goals, we create small wins that deserve celebration. People within your organization must be able to recognize the validity of these achievements. If the measurement of the goal is too weak or non sequitur to a larger communicated vision, then you may be giving ammunition to the resistors in your organization.

Almost all types of change create some form of resistance, from at least a small throng of people within the organization. This group of people will harbor skepticism and use it to drive critiques of what is billed as progress. It’s human nature to some degree, but a line is crossed when information is manipulated to suggest that the only things can be “right” is if they fit nicely within the conceptual reality of the scrutinizer.

Leaders need to understand this kind of bias as they move change programs and plans forward. You can see it manifest with a goal’s attainment being discredited or unrelated to the true momentum that is needed. Constructive critiques can make change efforts stronger. If critiques only support pre-existing opinions or reinforce ineffective processes, then you are dealing with a confirmation bias, which only fulfills the status quo. Navigate around this quicksand of consensus, as it looks harmless enough from the surface yet can pull your change efforts downward, slowly but surely.

How constructive are the critiques of your change initiatives, and how do you handle those that are based on biases?

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• Administrative “Super User” Component: Plan administrators now have the choice of logging in as different users from one screen. This will allow for greater ease with switching from user to user and negates the need to sign-in as a different person each time.
• User Interface Enhancements: When setting goals, you’ll see that several new features have been added including: helpful hints that will guide you as you enter/edit new goals; start and end dates are pre-populated on supporting goals based on the parent goal; and cross assignment of goals can be done on similar tier levels across varying departments and teams.
• Plan Setup Options Added: Plans now can reflect a variety of options including currency, date format, fiscal year start and much more.
• Question & Answer Session: An open Q&A forum with Erica about what is coming and any other questions that attendees had about MyStrategicPlan and strategic planning.

We hope you take the time to listen this important webinar and find these recent additions to our system valuable. If you are a plan administrator, we encourage you to follow up on these changes to your plan to maximize benefits.

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Since the future cannot be controlled, many times long-term goals and objectives in strategic planning seem unattainable and even grandiose.  For example, when you worked at NASA in the 1960s, putting a man on the moon probably inspired just a little uncertainty, if not full blown doubt, by some!  Nevertheless, they engineered the problem and incrementally came up with solutions.  The same incremental approach is needed for strategic objectives that position companies at a certain spot three, five or seven years down the road.  Luckily these aims don’t require the same amount of resources as placing a man on the moon.

For many organizations, a pervasive problem in executing strategy is the existence of ambiguous wording, measurements and tracking mechanisms.  Without clarity, a strategic execution becomes directionless work.  Morale and support quickly erode in these circumstances.

Adam Smith says, “On the road from the City of Skepticism, I had to pass through the Valley of Ambiguity.”  We say rebook your trip!  With clarity of purpose, organizations can create tasks and routines that keep incremental actions moving forward with holistic purpose and accountability.  Leave less to question and interpretation when assigning strategic tasks and begin progress toward a more certain future.

Strategy Check:  Do you steer clear of ambiguity when talking about strategic performance?

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When establishing strategic objectives that span 3 to 5 years, a series of supportive goals and actions typically cascade through the structure of the organization.  At its core, the selected metrics for these goals and actions should drive the strategic objective.  The underlying metrics must align to ensure the success of the long-term goal.

No single metric can provide a clear direction. From a process perspective, the use of multiple metrics can serve as drivers that aggregate toward the fulfillment the strategic objective.  These tips should help focus your metric selection:

1. Select metrics that drive performance, not just measure history.

The propensity to measure the past through financial gains, losses and revenue for example, does not help give insight on the processes that so vitally impact organizational success.  Transformation that is typically inherent in strategic objectives is often dependent on improving intangibles like service, customer loyalty and morale.   Gauging these requires an understanding of the conditions that need to exist in order to select effective metrics.

2. Include metrics that consider the “lead and lag” relationships.

Internally, this may mean projecting the value of employee training for reaching a new level of efficiency or priming the organization for innovation.  Externally, this may mean staying responsive to market conditions or other relationships that may impact your value chain.  A true competitive edge requires attention to the “lead and lag” indicators of your organization’s environment, so you might as well include these as metrics that can be reviewed regularly in your strategic execution schedule.

3. Opt for metrics that reinforce the best in your employees.

All organizations have employees that offer skill and talent.  How effectively does your organization tap into the collective strength within?  Recognizing the ways in which employees are finding inspiration or assigning meaning to their jobs is key in understanding what needs to be nurtured.  Create an environment in which employees can be motivated by inspiration and meaning, and you’ll have a solid foundation to take your organization to another level of strategic achievement.  Needing some inspiration around this topic? Check out a new TED talk (available above) about “Measuring What Counts” for some ideas.

These are just a few considerations, but should be a good start when determining metrics for your strategic plan.  Creating conditions for success means measuring performance and processes from a holistic perspective, which is what a great strategic plan should demand.

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Howard Olsen, co-founder of M3 Planning

Howard Olsen, co-founder of M3 Planning, (the company that developed MyStrategicPlan) is a lead market researcher and strategist for our consulting services arm. With a Ph.D. in international business and marketing, as well as an MBA and a CPA, Howard provides our clients insight on effective interpretation and use of data.  He shares his insights regarding measurement below.

Q:  What are some key aspects to consider when assigning measurement to strategic goals and actions?

A:  Traditional approaches to measurement have been financially-based, which recant history instead of reflecting something holistic about an organization. Measurements can be predictive to some degree and determining if any industry comparisons exist is an important step to developing metrics, making companies more competitive,  as well as aiming for internal improvements.

A great resource for this kind of data is www.kpilibrary.com.  When determining any metric, make sure it is one you can stay with for a period of time for benchmarking purposes.

Q:  What are some common pitfalls that seem to prevent companies from translating measurement into action?

A:  Many times, companies do not take stock of what kind of data can be easily collected.  A thorough understanding of measurements currently being collected in any organization is a proper place to start.  This helps to ensure that any additional data system that develops will correspond and correlate metrics that make sense.   Interpretation of the data that develops must be consistent throughout the organization, with a clear understanding of how the data reflects existing (or non-existent) processes.

Q:  What is your recommendation to companies that can’t seem to find the right metric to measure?

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A:  Convene a group of employees that will be clearly impacted by what is to be measured.  Many times they will be able to provide additional insight.  You can also establish a proxy that will measure accomplishments or track the momentum related to accomplishments that collectively signify success of a related goal.   In addition, a proxy represents what may be needed but currently is not available or not readily available.

Just as you cannot fly an airplane with only one instrument, much is the same for organizations.  Multiple metrics/indicators drive holistic performance.  Base your organization’s performance with measurements that meaningfully capture customer relationships, processes and internal organizational growth as well as the financial picture.  This is a great way to structure strategic approaches and set up key performance indicators.

“In God we trust, all others bring data.” – W. Edwards Deming

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Our glossary currently defines priorities as “objectives or tasks that have been determined to be essential to meeting a company’s strategic direction and or time-sensitive.” So, then priorities should be things that you don’t have a choice but do. But what happens when you look at your list of priorities and it has 25 items, some of which may even conflict with one another?

Well, then it’s time you looked a little closer at the process of how you determine what really needs to live on that list. If you’re starting to think that yes, maybe your list of 25 “priorities” may have a few duds, read on. Today on 43 Folders, one of my major internet man-crushes heroes, Merlin Mann, explains exactly what separates false priorities from real ones.

…a priority is not simply a good idea; it’s a condition of reality that, when observed, causes you to reject every other thing in the universe — real, imagined, or prospective — in order to ensure that things related to the priority stay alive.

A simple test can be devised from something mentioned earlier in the article. Look at your list of priorities. How many of them have been on there more than a month? Are they really priorities then?

A priority isn’t just something you deem important. What we think of as important can change from person to person and from day to day, and by letting something that subjective take such a large hold of our task lists, we are doomed to constantly changing direction or speed. A list of 25 “priorities” that are ever vieing for top-ish position is a list that’s bound to grow larger, not shrink.

If you’ve accepted there’s a problem with your list, here’s how he suggests to find the true priories on the list (emphasis added).

Because, once you see what’s really there — once you know about an idea or a thing or a person or whatever that you’d reject 10,000 other things to protect and nurture — you’ve found your priority. And, consequently, you’ve discovered a bunch of other things that aren’t allowed to be priorities any more. Even in spirit.

Because, if you aren’t rejecting or dumping things every single day, you don’t know your priority. You’re making things up. If you think you have 35 priorities, then yes: you also think you have 35 arms. Is it any wonder you’re feeling awkward and unsure?

If you need a more detailed step-by-step approach go hit his site and read the whole post. Actually, do that anyway- it’s fantastic stuff for anyone needing to pare down their task lists and come back to earth.

Your priorities shouldn’t be a list of things that keep you stressed because you’re never getting to them- they should be a tiny list of things that you will put above anything else- or else they’re not priorities but good intentions. And I may have missed something in our facilitations, but we don’t seem to have a place for those in our strategic plan.

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In order to reach your strategic objectives, you need to set goals – short term, more immediate milestones that stretch your company to reach its full potential. In business, goal setting is an essential but often times misused element.

But what makes a great goal? Whether you’re using MSP’s or sitting down with a pencil and paper to plan your day, you need to make your goals smart. Smart goal setting ensures that everyone in your organization knows what they’re supposed to be doing and when.

So what’s the difference between a smart goal and an unsmart goal?

Un-Smart Goal: We want to make more sprockets.

Smart Goal: The sprocket department will raise sprocket production by 20% by the end of this year.

The first goal leaves a lot of unanswered questions. No one knows who is in charge. There’s no way to tell when the goal has really been achieved. For effective goals to function as yardsticks for tracking a company’s performance and progress, they must state how much of what kind of performance and by when it is to be accomplished. They must be relevant, aggressive yet achievable, and be stated in measurable or quantifiable terms.

Think S.M.A.R.T. when you create your goal setting worksheet:

Specific:

Goals need to be specific. Try to answer the questions of How much and What kind with each goal you write.

The sprocket department will raise sprocket production by 20% by the end of this year.

Measurable:

Goals must be stated in quantifiable terms, or otherwise they’re only good intentions. Measurable goals facilitate management planning, implementation, and control.

The sprocket department will raise sprocket production by 20% by the end of this year.

Attainable:

Goals must provide a stretch that inspires people to aim higher. Goals must be achievable, or they’re a set-up for failure. Set goals you know you, your company, and employees can realistically reach.

The sprocket department will raise sprocket production by 20% by the end of this year.

Responsible person:

Goals must be assigned to a person or a department. But just because a person is assigned to a goal doesn’t mean that she’s solely responsible for its achievement. See our article on Performance Management for ideas on how to hold your team accountable for goal achievement.

The sprocket department will raise sprocket production by 20% by the end of this year.

Time specific:

With reference to time, your goals must include a timeline of when your goals should be accomplished.

The sprocket department will raise sprocket production by 20% by the end of this year.

In Business, goal setting that is S.M.A.R.T. can make a huge difference in maintaining growth and momentum. Whether you run a modest department or a massive corporation, make sure that you always make an effort to add these properties to the goals you set!

Check out our S.M.A.R.T. Goal Writing Tools

• Sign up for a free trial to use our goal software, mystrategicplan
• Download our goal setting worksheet.

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Well, when’s the last time you put your budget on the scale? Just like our bellies, our spending can start to grow over time without much notice, and we don’t know how bad it is until something exposes it- like being invited to the beach, or a meeting with the accounting department!

In our recent “Ultimate Recession Planning Toolkit,” MSP outlined several great ways to get your business’s budget- especially marketing- into shape for the coming economic downturn. We give you specific exercises that can trim the “holiday fat” and get you ready for anything- like the following advice about advertising during a recession:

• Temporarily switch media: In order to stay in the public’s mind for less, look into moving your budget from TV to a less expensive medium like radio, print or in some cases the internet.
• Buy in Bulk: Find out what kind of discounts you can get now by making a large purchase before your budget shrinks.
• Negotiate Long-term Deals: Media outlets will feel the pinch as well, and will be looking to make money. If you prepare by saving now, you can meet with them to lock in a low price for a long-term contract.

So go check out our advice on the heavy lifting, stretching and other activities that’ll get your balance sheet all sexy for the beach season, er, recession.

“Does your Marketing Budget Make you Look Fat? Five Exercises for a Leaner Organization“

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