How can you use MyStrategicPlan?

Solutions to common business challenges

Still not sure how to use strategic planning in your every-day business activities? Below you'll find examples of issues you've probably encountered in your organization, along with solutions using MyStrategicPlan.

Accountability | Decision-Making | Board Governance | Divisional Planning | Employee Loyalty | Strategic Planning

 

Accountability

John, Team Leader at Primatech Paper

Problem: “Every time reports are due, I have to chase down my team members to find out the status of their projects. I’m fed up and I know my team can’t stand me hounding them”

MSP Solution: With MSP, each of John’s team members receive emails once a month reminding them to update the status of their projects. It only takes them 5 minutes and the information passes right up to John, John’s boss and all the way up to the CEO, who can log in to the plan at any time.

 

Decision-Making

Beth, Manager at Everything Except Shoes Corp.

Problem: “My position requires that I make a lot of independent decisions, but most of the time there’s not a clear answer because I don’t know what to base them on. I know it’s holding my team back putting things on hold- I need to be able to make faster decisions.”

MSP Solution: Now that her company uses MSP, Beth can log on any time and see her company’s full strategic plan, or even just her own department or team. In addition, MSP’s cascading goals let her see where her team’s priorities support the goals of the company, giving her the ability to make snap decisions.

 

Board Governance

Fred, Board Member overseeing the Omnifam Foundation

Problem: “Every month our board meetings are a disaster. The board is responsible for making sure the foundation is meeting its goals, but our director never has his information in order to update us on his progress. We don’t know where the foundation stands with the strategic objectives we all agreed on, and no one knows how to fix it.”

MSP Solution: With MSP, the board is satisfied and the director gets to keep his job! Any board member can log in at any time to check the foundation’s status, and the director shows up at every board meeting with an updated action sheet detailing their progress, as well as an executive status report that provides a broad view of the foundation’s objectives.

 

Divisional Planning

Kate, Department Head at Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems

Problem: “Charting the course for my division is nearly impossible. In order to make the plan I need information from our CEO and other executives who I can’t track down, and I need to know what resources our other departments have or need and no one knows. Then, when the time comes to implement, there’s never a clear method for keeping everyone informed. And don’t even ask me how I’m supposed to get my staff to take responsibility for building it- they’re way too busy.”

MSP Solution: MSP’s permission structure takes care of Kate’s plan development by breaking down the process by department. After the company executives decide on their company-wide objectives, Kate can build her department’s plan and see how the other departments in her company fit within the plan and share resources as well. Once she’s finished, her staff can input how they’ll contribute towards the company's success by creatimg action items for themselves in support of assigned department goals.

 

Employee Loyalty

Ted, Employee at Initech

Problem: “When I was hired at Initech, I was told my job would make a difference, but I don’t see it. I get tasked with things that I know aren’t doing the company any good- it’s just busy work. I’m already searching for another job at a company that knows where it’s headed and where I fit in.”

Solution: Responding to Ted’s concerns, his company crafted their strategy using MyStrategicPlan. In MSP, all of Initech’s high-level organizational wide strategies led to divisional goals which created team actions, which inspired Ted’s individual goals for the year. Not only can Ted log in at any time to see where his job fits within his company’s Strategy Map, but he also now looks forward to performance reviews because he knows what he's responsible for since he created many of his action items himself. With this sense of purpose given to Ted’s position, he’s excited to be part of Initech again.

 

Building Strategic Plans

Jose, Small Business Owner

Problem: “I know how to run a restaurant, but I don’t know where to start building a strategic plan. My bank has asked to see our plan in order to talk about funding our expansion plans, and I want one to guide our decisions, but I don’t want to waste a bunch of money or time on something that won’t work.”

MSP Solution: This is why MSP was built. By the time Jose is finished building his plan, he’s reviewed tutorials, videos and examples of successful strategies from all over the world. MSP outlines the entire step-by-step process in language everyone can understand, so that he can build a solid, balanced strategic plan to guide his business and reach his goals. Jose can focus on his business and his strategy- MSP handles the structure.