Strategic plans are useless!

by Don Harkey

Strategic plans are useless… if they are not utilized. Too many times, strategic plans are carefully developed, cataloged, and filed, only to become obsolete at the first unexpected event that was not discussed in the creation of the plan. The reason this occurs is due to a common misunderstanding about the purpose of a strategic plan. Organizations start by developing a “desired future” and then try to plan a path to get from where they are to where they want to be. This works only as long as barriers don’t appear on the path. Great strategic plans don’t focus on providing the path, they focus on providing the criteria for making good decisions on the journey.

A military strategist typically has no idea what an enemy army is going to do. So in order to be successful, they must establish “rules of engagement” based on a master “vision” of what they are trying to accomplish. The most successful leaders successfully communicate that “vision” to all of their commanders and soldiers in the field. This way when (not if) they encounter an obstacle or a decision that needs to be made, they have a foundation from which to make the decision. If that foundation is based on something that the soldiers can rally around (be passionate about), then they will make more good decisions. The entire army is aligned, moving in the same direction rallied around a common goal.

Organizational leaders have come to rely too much on metrics and scorecards derived from strategic plans developed in the boardroom. These metrics are hard to rally around and seldom provide a truly clear path to success. Instead leaders need to spend time taking a hard and realistic look at their organization to determine its strengths and weaknesses and most importantly, its passion. This provides the foundation for making decisions with great clarity at all levels of the organization. It frees up the leaders and supervisors to innovate and create value toward that common purpose. It gives the “soldiers” a flag they can rally around.

Strategic Planning: It's the Journey

by Don Harkey

I have heard a lot about Strategic Planning lately. Organizations who have struggled in the recent economy are realizing that they could have been better prepared. Unfortunately, many companies who thought they had a plan, found out that the plan didn't apply to rapidly changing conditions. I recently reviewed a plan from a professional firm that had been filed away shortly after it was created. The owner of the plan simply said that the situation had changed from when they created the plan. When would this not be true? Does this mean strategic plans are worthless? No...

When you want to develop a strategic plan, the steps are pretty universal. You look where you are, where you want to be, and then decide how you will get there. If you stop here, this is where your plan will become out of date before it is even completed. The most important step of strategic planning is to develop an understanding of who you are.

Last week, I took a Guerrilla Marketing seminar from Brett Curry (Curry Marketing). Brett talked about marketing strategy and the first thing he said was to develop a marketing message. You need to know who you are before you can go forward.

Imagine that you are standing in the forest with a trail in front of you. You are trying to get back to your camp. You develop a plan to get there. As you go on your journey, you find that your original path is overgrown with thickets. Are you going to cut through the thickets, find another path, or go back to the beginning and start over. Your decision might be based on the distance to be traveled, how much food and water you have, the temperature outside, how much energy you have... You need to have a clear understanding of the situation in order to make a good decision. If it is getting close to dark and you don't have a flashlight, it might be a good idea to punch through the thickets and accept the scratches that come with it. If you have lots of time, you might backtrack a little and find a new path.

The point here is that strategic planning is not about planning the path from where you are to where you want to be. It is about establishing the knowledge you need to make decisions while on your journey. There is no way that you can know what the future will hold, but you certainly can gain some clarity into who you are and what your values hold so that you can make decisions based on your strengths and abilities rather than on the heat of the moment.

Good strategic planning should apply to any situation, because it is a statement of your values rather than a concrete plan. It takes the foreseeable future and tests your values against it. It honestly evaluates your position and gives you insight into what you need to do to prepare for an uncertain future. It gives you clarity!

Springfield Church Builds for Mission

by Don Harkey

Six years ago, a Springfield community church asked the question, "why are we here?". Messiah Lutheran Church, located on Seminole street just west of St. John's Hospital, was a 44 year old congregation with a history of being a steady family church. The church was strong, but its members new it could be stronger.

Over the next several years, the congregation spent thousands of hours using hundreds of members to answer this simple question. The answer came out in the form of a mission statement that most members of the church can recite from memory. "Guided by the Gospel we: Welcome All to Worship, Make Disciples, Hunger for Ministry, Nurture Youth, Gather Resources for Growing Ministries, and Offer Healing and Care to All in Need. These are just words... right?

When the process was begun, the church saw an annual income of around $400,000 and attendance right around 80% of its seating capacity. Members knew that the capacity was keeping the church from growing, so they had been talking for many years about expanding the church or moving to a new site. Once the church's mission had been defined, the newly focused congregation began to plan to grow on its existing site.

The subsequent capital funds campaign raised a whopping $1,000,000 over the next 3 years and collected almost every penny of what was pledged (despite the downturn in the economy). With these pledges, the congregation launched a $2.7MM building project that is nearly completed.

This Sunday, barring any significant construction issues, the congregation will worship in its new sanctuary for the first time, within a few months of its 50th Anniversary.

Yes, the congregation is in debt now, but this past Spring, the congregation launched a 2nd capital funds campaign that has already received almost $675,000 in pledges over the next 3 years, which will easily make payments on the loan and pay down principle.

In the past month, the congregation is talking more and more about its vision for what Sunday morning will look like in the newly expanded church. Visitors in the fall should expect to enter Mission Hall and be greeted with opportunities to worship, learn, or just hang out and eat breakfast or drink coffee. Messiah is truly an exciting place!

The point of this story is to show how any organization can transform itself by becoming focused on its core purpose. Messiah was a strong congregation before, but becoming more focused has only made it stronger and more energized. The building project is only the beginning. This fall, the church will host the Lighthouse Daycare Ministry.

Is your organization energized? Do you know why you exist?

Navigating in a Fog

by Don Harkey

I have been working on a project this week where I couldn't see the end or how to get to the end. Has that ever happened to you where you know you need to do something, but you aren't sure how to do it or even what steps to take to find out? It is like walking in a thick fog. You slow down and get that strange, uncomfortable feeling...

As a strategic thinker, I love to know "where I am going". When I don't see a clear path forward, I get that "foggy" feeling. The temptation is to slow down and wait until the fog lifts. However, the right thing to do is probably to keep walking within your limited vision to try to find a clearing.

This week, I managed to force myself to keep walking. I always tell young project managers, if you are going to mess up a project, make sure you go down kicking and screaming, not whimpering on the floor in a fetal position. I took my own advice, despite my discomfort. I worked hard and looked around. When the fog didn't clear, I tried something else. Then I did it again and again and again, until finally, the fog lifted and I could see where I was going.

It is a horrible feeling (especially for a strategist!), but it is worth fighting through. I got some critical help from coworker and in the end, the client acknowledged that they couldn't see a clear path forward either and applauded our initiative in finally seeing the way to the end.

It reminds of me a true story. My family used to go to Minnesota every summer for vacations. My Dad loved to fish. One morning, he went out on the lake to fish, and a thick fog settled down on the lake. He could barely see the end of the boat. Suddenly, he wasn't sure how to get back to the dock.

He drove the boat slowly through the water talking to himself to notify the other fisherman that he was close. It was futile. He couldn't see anything. Finally, he stopped, thought a bit, and stood up in the boat. To his great surprise, the fog was only sitting about 3 feet on the lake. Above the fog, it was as clear as could be. The site was remarkable. The lake was covered by this thick cloud, but he could now see the shore. He could also see the heads of a few other fisherman who also figured out to stand up (or who had bigger boats!). The fishermen began to yell out to everyone in a boat to stand up to see over the fog. Within a few minutes, everyone located each other and the shore, and everyone found their way home safely.

If you find yourself in a fog at work or anytime in your life, it is important not to panic or go into hiding. Think, communicate, and ask for help. Try to do things that might clear up your view a bit. Try standing up!

Where are You Going?

by Don Harkey

For many leaders, this is a difficult question to answer. As uncertainty surrounds us, especially in challenging economic times, this question becomes even more difficult to answer.

In concept, the strategic planning process I like to use is simple. Where are you now? Where do you want to be? How do you get there? This is a simple approach to a difficult problem.

First of all, the question of "where are you now?" is very challenging in itself. One method of determining this is to brainstorm a list of values that you feel that your organization has within a cross-functional, cross-level team. The next step is to discuss these values with the understanding that a true value is one that is truly (and currently) part of your DNA. If product quality is listed, for example, ask yourself whether or not quality is really part of your culture. If it is not, this is difficult to admit, but it is extremely important. If it is a core value, it doesn't mean that you are perfect... it just means that your organization naturally and universally works toward that value.

This process will naturally lead you to the next step. What about the values that didn't make "the cut"? Are these values that you would like to see your company have? This is the beginning of the "where you would like to be" discussion. If product quality is not a core value, but you think it should be, what can you do to get it there? What is missing? This leads to the next step.

What do you need to do to get from where you are to where you want to be? This should be a list of actionable things that you can do. If you discovered that you could do better with quality, what kinds of things do you need to do to start to build quality into your DNA? (Hint: DO NOT HANG UP A "QUALITY IS IMPORTANT!" POSTER)

Strategic planning is actually a continuous process. Where are you? Where do you want to be? How do you get there? This is a moving target within a changing environment, so you can't allow yourself to be stalled by uncertainty. I am surprised by how many companies I hear talking about waiting for to see what is going to happen next in the economy or with the next government stimulus package. While these external factors will no doubt have a significant impact on many organizations, there is undoubtedly internal actions that would better prepare your organization for ANY external outcomes.

These rough times are actually an opportunity. Your competitors are likely flying in a holding pattern and waiting. You could be doing some low cost, high benefit activities like understanding and developing the people within your organization. You could be forming the basis for making your organization more nimble and quick to respond to outside factors in the market.

Knowledge of the future is an illusion. We never really know what is going to happen next. All we can (and should) do is prepare ourselves to handle change deliberately by gaining a true understanding of your organizations strengths and vision. This type of knowledge is never wasted!