Listen now to learn how MyStrategicPlan:

• Brings all the elements of an effective strategic plan together in one place
• Allows for dynamic planning
• Helps organizations sustain a living strategic plan
• Creates alignment by cascading the plan throughout your organization
• Provides individuals with consistent reports they need to execute the plan
• Improves accountability by tracking performance numbers

Download PDF (slide deck)

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1. Strategy Stat:
   1. Fewer Strategic Priorities Is Better
   2. After a recession, progressive companies outperform pragmatic companies
2. Topic: Open Line Q&A
   1. Question 1: I’m a big fan of strategic planning, but have never led the charge as the strategy leader.  I am new to our company and they have already been down this road too many times and it has never stuck.  Do you have any recommendations to purse to make it work more successfully this time?
   2. Question 2:
      1. i.     Part A: We do customer research all the time, what kind of research beyond this do we need in order to enter into a strategic plan with all the information needed?
      2. ii.     Part B: I find that many organizations that do strategic planning really don’t do a good job with the environmental scan, especially the external component. Do you have any suggestions or tools or templates that help to successfully facilitate this process.
   3. Question 3: What is the appropriate number of strategic objectives?  We have an internal struggle regarding strategic objectives and how many is too many.
   4. Question 4: We are an existing successful business with a long track record.  We are developing a Strategic Plan and a Business Plan to raise capital to help us expand.  I would love to hear you discuss how the Strategic Plan and Business Plan can work together in a situation like ours.
   5. Question 5: Our company has been checking out MyStrategicPlan and a few other options the past few months.  What are the benefits of MyStrategicPlan and a robust plan versus the One-Page Strategic Plan.  To me, I like the concept of a one page plan, but don’t know exactly what the trade-offs are.  Am I thinking through the difference right – robust vs simple?
   6. Question 6: Can you suggest 3-4 resources (video, book, speech, slideshow) to share with my CEO that will help me emphasize the value of Strategy Planning and to convince him that it is worth his time, and his staff’s time? I don’t have the buy in yet:-)

Additional Resource Shared during Webinar: 80-sample Strategic Plans

Download PDF (slide deck)

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Note: We will reference MyStrategicPlan throughout this post, but in doing so also acknowledge our great customers using MyNonprofitPlan and MyChurchPlan.

Before	After

Let’s dig into what this means.

Much thought and collaboration has been invested in each aspect of the new design. We are confident that MyStrategicPlan is now more efficient and intuitive than it was before, which is what you want from a business process tool. There are several new changes and based on initial response to our new design, we know that you will like it.

Throughout the redesign of MyStrategicPlan.com, we kept four criteria in mind; including:

1. Improving the look and feel of MyStrategicPlan with a new, fresh and very professional facelift.
2. Streamlining the user interface to reduce clutter and complexity.
3. Accessing high priority actions/tasks with fewer clicks thereby improving the efficiency of the system and our users.
4. Increasing our customers’ success rate through the strategic planning activities into the execution stage. The customer feedback from our annual survey helped us understand the need to simplify the strategic planning process. We want you to be successful!

You may experience a very short “re-familiarizing” period with the new design! We assure you that with a little “re-acquaintance” time, you will be more efficient and productive. We encourage you to give yourself some time to acquaint yourself with the new workflow and within a short time, you will also find benefit in the improved and efficient transition to operationalizing strategy.

Later in this post, I will highlight the changes in greater detail. As we move you through the design keep in mind the many resources that are available to you to improve your ease of use and application, provide you with guidance through the process and to keep each of you current with all system updates.

We are very happy to finally have MyStrategicPlan updated in response to requests. This redesign touches every single page. There is still more work to do over the coming months to improve the design and functionality of secondary pages so we aren’t completely done, but we are well on our way. We hope you will fully optimize the new design to fully engage your team and grow your company by converting strategy into action.

Thank you,

Erica Olsen

Learn more about the redesign in the short 5-minute video.

For a complete review of the changes, please read further.

Guided Home Page: The new home page redesign not only offers our users a new, fresh and professional feel, it offers a system by which to implement and execute your strategies. This new landing page does a better job of providing you with both information and next steps. The home page now implements a level of intelligence in two stages:

• Increased guidance through the process. The “tiles” will help guide users through the key “strategic process” steps (intelligence based). This provides more of a “system guide.” As the system monitors your activity, it will propose your next actions. It will also provide direct resources to the respective item.

• Assistance through the performance management phase offers our users constant updates to navigate through their plan. Quicker access to execution tools and reports improves the effectiveness of using a management tool. For example, using the scorecard approach provides quick access to the number of actions/goals you have that are on target vs. off target. This perspective offers the busy executive, as well as all managers and team members, a “60,000 ft.” level view of plan accomplishments. The home page also offers Tips box that provides general strategic planning tips, thought provoking questions, jokes, and more; a view of upcoming free trainings; and best practices from the M3 team.

Before	After

Navigation changes: Besides the design changes, you will find some of the most noticeable changes are in the navigation at the top of each page. These changes provide you with tools that will most noticeably increase efficiency and productivity. Take your time exploring during your “re-acquaintance” period! We have streamlined the process and removed a number of clicks to get to key pages. Please note: Some of the top navigation tabs will have drop down links. Once on a section the secondary navigation will be moved to “side” navigation. This workflow more closely follows a typical strategic planning process and meets the request that many users wanted to see incorporated.

Before
After

Site-wide Appearance: We have taken the new design and incorporated it throughout the rest of the website. The space is better positioned taking advantage of white space to make the system easier on the eyes. It also provides more room for data entry, as well as more information to help you on the specific topic. The changes speak for themselves. Here are a few additional changes applied to many of the “interior pages” that we want to highlight:

• Tips box: Process pages will include a new “Tips” box to provide specific and important information to the task on that page.
• More Info box: Process pages will include a new “More Info” link to dig deeper into information on the section including examples and videos. More details on this below.

Before	After

More Info Link: Many of you will notice the iFrame box is no longer there. We have given our users full control of assessing the information and tips they individually need! This change provides you with greater control of available resources and allows you to decide if you want more details. If you do want more information and assistance, we offer many more examples + direct link to Virtual Strategy Guide via one quick click! You decide. We are also implementing organizational specific resources. To start, the examples provided will be different depending upon whether you have a MyStrategicPlan, MyNonprofitPlan or MyChurchPlan account. We will continue to build this out over the next year, but this is a great start. These “More Info” tabs will also link you directly to the Virtual Strategy Guide if you want to dig deeper. We have built out this resource further so it is a full blown strategic planning process.

Before	After

Reports: We are breaking away from the “highly technical” look and feel! The new reports page allows you to quickly see the listing of available reports and access them more effectively. You have two more clicks but the total time savings should be well worth it. Quick Access drop down menus allow you to navigate through departments to individual team members much more rapidly.

Before	After

Accounts Page: The plan administrator will notice the layout of the account page is more streamlined. The new page offers a department listing in a drop down menu, while team members are also displayed in a drop-down at a level lower than the department listing. Click through this new feature, it helps expedite user management workflow.

Future Development: MyStrategicPlan is not just a web application (or point solution with planned output). It is an end-to-end business process application. We are dedicated to enhancing the system to meet your business needs. Customer feedback drove these changes and if you want to have a voice in the next round, we welcome your feedback. We have a list a mile long. With your continued support and recommendations to friends and colleagues we are committed to making your job easier. As recommendations are submitted, we evaluate them and commit resources to those most mission critical. Here are some items scheduled for the next 6 months:

• API: The first pass at an API has been developed and is ready in write form. We look to connect to an industry leading application for testing. If your organization needs to connect MyStrategicPlan to a 3rd party application, please let us know.
• Mobile application: We know you want a mobile app and we do too!
• Powerpoint Report: Accelerate your strategy reviews by automating the production of a PowerPoint presentation that will pull in the information from your Track Goals and Actions page.

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At minimum, strategic planning software / strategic planning applications can offer some of the following benefits: (the better the software, the greater the benefits):

• Centralized system and result in efficiencies that are both time savings and cost savings.
• Keep the goal visible via reports that are always up to date.
• Real time access to plan updates – no waiting around.
• Keep the plan alive, keep it off the shelf.  Execute against it!
• Collaborative effort so everyone is working toward the same goals.
• Many more… check out the features of MyStrategicPlan.com.

The pains of Excel in the strategic planning process are exhausting.  What version of the file are you using?  Can you get out so I can update something?  Can you help me dbl with this formula?  What is that link referencing?  Excel can temporarily serve a need to get your plan off the ground, but there are better templates for even those at that stage and limited budgets.  If you can, try to avoid this all together and invest in your organization/yourself.  For a full blog post on this topic, see Why Excel falls short in executing Strategic Planning.  Check out some of our inexpensive resources (books / templates) here.

I understand that budgets are tight and software is an expense.  Some justifications are listed above.  At the end of the day, a software can be leveraged to facilitate a better execution of your strategic plan.  Executing strategy is what you are after.  Execution drives change and if done right you can find the same success that those committed to the strategic planning process typically experience – a 12% improvement above business as usual.

We are biased and think we have one of the top strategic planning software’s on the market.  We are also the first to acknowledge that our system is not a fit for everyone – we are not a one size fits all.  We do have VP’s of Strategic Planning for Fortune 500’s that leverage our system for the structure.  On the flip side, we have small businesses that don’t know anything about strategic planning and need the structure in addition to the self-help instruction provided in how to write a strategic plan.  The, we have organizations in between that are for-profit, nonprofit, church, government, education, military and more.

Your planning needs may vary.  If it isn’t us, then find another viable solution.  Move your planning process forward and invest in software. Take the paper-based pain out of your strategic planning.

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Sign up now to learn how MyStrategicPlan:

• Brings all the elements of an effective strategic plan together in one place
• Allows for dynamic planning
• Helps organizations sustain a living strategic plan
• Creates alignment by cascading the plan throughout your organization
• Provides individuals with consistent reports they need to execute the plan
• Improves accountability by tracking performance numbers

You may also be interested in:

• Jump-Start Your Planning Process Using MyStrategicPlan – Recording Listen to this recorded webinar to learn why strategic planning...
• Performance Management and the Planning Process By the time company managers get to the action...
• Setting Strategic Objectives and Cascading Goals June 13 | 9 a.m. P.T. | Register Now ...

“I could never do what I do without being strategic with my resources.” -Santa Claus

Looking back, it has been a big year for the MyStrategicPlan (MSP) team.  We have been intensely focused on leveraging our software to better work for you.  In case you missed any of the key launches of 2010, we thought we’d do an end of the year wrap up for those using our system and those considering it.

Just last month the Virtual Strategy Guide came online for our customers, offering perhaps the most comprehensive, step-by-step virtual approach to strategic planning offered on the Internet.  It lives in the MSP Help Center, which by the way has been remodeled beautifully.  If you haven’t logged on to the help center lately, you might want to see what we are so excited about.  If you aren’t a customer, but know you need to re-approach your strategy for 2011, please take the free trial period offered and review the virtual guide.  It will likely give you great insight to the time and resources needed to really get your strategy purposefully underway.

In August we launched our interactive dashboard, or The Dash, as an add-on feature to MSP.  It solves the inherent challenges of visually displaying strategy for broad-based stakeholder engagement.  The Dash brings the MSP customer’s strategy map alive, with the ability to view long-term objectives and related goals at the organizational, department, team and individual levels with a few clicks.  With performance insight offered in various ways on The Dash, organizations get a real-time, big picture view of strategic progress with drill down into team and individual accomplishments quickly.  For those needing to report to external stakeholders, The Dash can be posted on websites as well.

In this downloadable chart (click here), we show our new report enhancements we implemented to give our customers what they said they wanted.  As you can see, there are a bevy of reports with different views according to what your group may need. Rarely does any one customer use all report formats, but with the chart below, you can now more easily determine what report might be best for your organization.
As we approach 2011, we will launch a series of customizations and communication options that will give administrators more discretion into how the plan is managed.  From the option of designating a “super user” to choosing your currency type, we continue to advance our strategic planning platform to better serve our very valued, forward-thinking customer base.

StrategyCheck: Are you maximizing the strategy tools within your reach?

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Over 1,100 entries in 54 categories were received and although many finalists were from the United States, the international competition was strong with other finalists hailing from Singapore, the United Kingdom, Australia, China, South Korea, Japan, Canada and the United States.

Both the Best New Product and Website of the Year were developed and managed by women employed by M3 Planning.  The website was developed and designed by Michael-Anne Hougland and Kim Perkins, with assistance from Cara Montoya and Shannon Forster.  The 2009 upgrade of MyStrategicPlan was a collaboration of work between Nancy Olsen, Vanessa Lindeberg, Erica Olsen and Hougland.

For Best New Product, the M3 Planning’s 2009 version of MyStrategicPlan was chosen for providing increased user functionality with guidance videos and tutorials.   Over 800 companies, non-profit organizations and municipalities use the web-based strategic planning software to help them guide their strategic development and execution.  Initially launched in 2003, this year’s version improvements included a professional line of automatic strategic reports, performance management reviews and a “drag-and-drop” functionality that keeps strategic actions properly categorized.

As consultants to develop Alaska’s North Slope Borough School District strategic plan, M3 Planning quickly realized that communicating and executing a unified plan would hold unique challenges.  The district’s geographic isolation, along with fragmented travel options between villages, warranted the development of a web site that would be instrumental in increasing information flows and to teachers, students and the community-at-large.  As a finalist for Website of the Year, NSBSD.ORG now unites the 11 schools and 8 villages, greatly improving the pace of educational and Inupiat cultural exchanges throughout the expansive district.

“In this economic environment, we are so pleased that our service remains relevant for our clients.  We have a great team here at M3 Planning, many of whom just happen to be women who are incredible at balancing work and family.” credits Nancy Olsen, VP of Business Development.   “It’s nice to have this recognition at a national level.”

About M3 Planning:

M3Planning is a company dedicated to help organizations become more directed and aware of its factors for success.  Services are delivered from their award-winning web-based strategic planning software (Best New Product, 2008 Stevie Awards) and through strategic planning consultation that leaves organization more aligned with their resources to make the biggest impact possible.

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Planning is the Key to Weathering the Economic Crisis, Says Author and Strategy Expert

Strategic planning helps organizations stay nimble and flexible during tough times

Reno, NV (PRWEB) June 12, 2009 — Jack be nimble; Jack be quick; Jack figure out who to lay-off to keep your business afloat. That may seem like a joke, but with massive layoffs, bankruptcies and bailouts becoming more and more common, tough decisions have gone from an occasional necessity to a daily reality. According to strategic planning expert, Erica Olsen, organizations who want to best prepare themselves for braving the turbulent environment caused by the global economic crisis need to ensure they have a nimble, flexible plan in place to guide them through.

Olsen, author of “Strategic Planning for Dummies” and VP of Marketing for strategy consultants M3 Planning, says that now more than ever companies need well articulated strategy at work in their organization in order to ensure the kind of adaptability needed during a recession. “If you don’t have a plan then you don’t know where you’re headed,” says Olsen, “and more importantly, when challenges or opportunities present themselves you can’t respond in time.”

If you don’t have a plan then you don’t know where you’re headed

and more importantly, when challenges or opportunities present themselves you can’t respond in time.

Right now the first thing for companies who are feeling the crunch is to see where they can trim expenses without reducing the value they offer their customers.

Instead of acting out of fear or frustration, organizations that have a plan in place can weigh options and make confident choices based on what is best for the company.

During a recession or similar circumstance, competition is increased and resources are thin; this is the time when missing an opportunity can spell disaster.

If you’ve planned well

your organization can take advantage of opportunities like renegotiating contracts with suppliers or media outlets, or even capitalizing on struggling competition through purchases or mergers.

Because our application is internet-based

users can log on from anywhere in the world to collaborate in creating a living, breathing plan that they can monitor or edit all year long.

Well-built, flexible strategic plans, according to Olsen, offer clues to where companies can cut costs. “Right now the first thing for companies who are feeling the crunch is to see where they can trim expenses without reducing the value they offer their customers.” According to Olsen, strategic plans that accurately display an organization’s resources allow managers to make cost-cutting decisions based on facts rather than emotions. “Instead of acting out of fear or frustration, organizations that have a plan in place can weigh options and make confident choices based on what is best for the company.”

Making quick decisions is especially important during an economic downturn, according to Olsen. “During a recession or similar circumstance, competition is increased and resources are thin; this is the time when missing an opportunity can spell disaster.” Olsen explains that M3 Planning’s previously published recession-planning toolkit, Strategy on a Shoestring, offers frameworks for quickly evaluating opportunities. “If you’ve planned well,” says Olsen, “your organization can take advantage of opportunities like renegotiating contracts with suppliers or media outlets, or even capitalizing on struggling competition through purchases or mergers.”

Olsen goes on to add that M3 Planning’s own MyStrategicPlan web-based strategic business planning software can be used right now to build a robust and flexible strategic plan for organizations of any size. “Because our application is internet-based,” Olsen says, “users can log on from anywhere in the world to collaborate in creating a living, breathing plan that they can monitor or edit all year long.” With features that include professional, on-demand reports, as well as email reminders, Olsen says that MyStrategicPlan ensures that organizations’ plans stay not only flexible but also useful to every employee.

About MyStrategicPlan MyStrategicPlan is an easy-to-use software application that enables any organization, regardless of size and budget, to build a comprehensive plan, effectively and easily track goals, create professional reports for every stakeholder and monitor implementation all year long.

About M3 Planning M3 Planning is a strategic planning firm that works with growth-oriented organizations to develop and execute their strategic plans. In addition to their online strategic planning system, the company is also a resource for other strategic planning tools, books, articles, workshops and facilitations.

About Erica Olsen Through M3 Planning’s online client base and onsite strategic planning facilitation work, Erica Olsen has developed and reviewed hundreds of strategic plans for organizations across the country. She has also authored several strategic planning books including Strategic Planning for Dummies and was named Entrepreneur of the Year by The Business Report of Northern Nevada in 2007.

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Once you have a strategic plan in place, a powerful tool to monitor your progress and communicate company direction is performance management software, like MyStrategicPlan’s implementation module. Before you choose a system for managing performance, it is important to make sure that you’ll get the most out of it. In order to make the most of your software, you’ll need to avoid some common strategy pitfalls by putting in place some time-honored business practices.

The hard truth: without proper management, your performance management software could become just another program on your desktop

Many businesses, even those with well-made plans, fail to implement their strategy. Their problem lies in ineffectively managing their employees once their plan is in place. Sure, they’ve conducted surveys, collected data, gone on management retreats to decide on their organization’s direction- even purchased expensive software to manage their process- but somewhere their plan falls apart.

Expensive performance management software does not ensure success: Implementation of your plan depends on solid accountability

Accountability is key to successful implementation of your business strategy— hands down. If you and your team don’t have to report to anyone on your progress, the plan may find itself further and further down your to-do list or at the bottom of your stacks of paper. You don’t need an elaborate accountability system, but you do need something.

Before you purchase software to manage your organization’s performance, make sure you set in place these 3 keys to implementation:

• Appoint a strategic plan manager
• Link rewards to performance
• Coach for Achievement

With the right manager, the right rewards and the right coaching, performance management software can be the most powerful tool for making sure your plan becomes a reality.

>> Continue reading with Step One: Appointing a Strategic Plan Manager

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