A good deal of the work we do with clients is focused on vision and strategy: helping senior teams get a clear sense of the future they want to create for their company, and then mapping out a plan - both strategic and tactical - for getting there. We have (if I do say so myself) an excellent framework for this, and generally speaking our clients end up with an accurate sense of their current state, an agreed-upon vision for the future, and a practical, doable plan for getting there.
However, I know that the world of strategic planning is not always such a pleasant place. Often we're called in because a previous strategic plan has gone awry...or never really even gotten started. I just read an interesting article in the HBR blog by Ron Ashkenas about why this happens. Much of what he says is accurate: his article focuses primarily on the fact that people may say they're onboard, but aren't really, and the fact that people don't hold themselves and each other accountable for following through. But I think those are only symptoms of the real problem.
In our experience, the main reason strategic planning fails is that it's done in a kind of intellectual vacuum, without reference to current organizational reality. It's way too easy to sit in a room for a couple of days (or in some cases - sadly - a couple of weeks or months) and come up with a plan that sounds good but that isn't feasible. Most strategic plans simply don't take into account people's actual skills, time, understanding, capability, values and motivation.
It reminds me of my favorite Aesop's fable:
Long ago, the mice had a general council to consider what measures they could take to outwit their common enemy, the Cat. Some said this, and some said that, but at last a young mouse got up and said he had a proposal to make. "You will all agree," said he, “that our chief danger consists in the sly and treacherous manner in which the enemy approaches us. Now, if we could receive some signal of her approach, we could easily escape. I propose that a small bell be procured, and attached by a ribbon round the Cat's neck. By this means we should always know when she was about, and could easily flee.”
This proposal met with general applause, until an old mouse got up and said: “That is all very well, but who is to bell the Cat?” The mice looked at one another and nobody spoke. Then the old mouse said: "It is easy to propose impossible remedies."
When we do vision and strategy planning with clients, a big part of our focus is helping them, at every step of the way, vet their own plans against reality. We have a number of ways of doing this, but the main one is to teach them three mental skills and support them in applying these skills individually and as a group throughout the planning process:
- Becoming a fair witness: There's a whole back story about how we came to use this phrase, explained here, but basically what it means is to train yourself to look at things as objectively and neutrally as possible, without inference, wishful thinking, or avoiding uncomfortable truths. When leaders do this, they're much more likely to base their planning on a realistic sense of what exists now and what's possible for them.
- Pulling Back the Camera: this involves learning to step back from a situation mentally so you can see more of the factors impacting a specific situation. For instance, it's easy to put in your plan that you'll 'increase sales by 30% this year.' But if you pull the back the camera, you might see that many of your sales people are new, and just learning the products and their features and benefits - and that your complete new sales cycle is 18 months, on average. That breezily planned 30% increase starts to look pretty far-fetched.
- Sorting for FIT: this stands for Feasibility, Impact and Timeliness. Especially when clients get to the 'strategies and tactics' part of the festivities, we encourage them to get into fair witness mode, pull back the camera, and ask three questions before committing to a course of action: Is it Feasible? (Do you have the skills, bandwidth, will and other resources in the organization needed to accomplish this?) Is it Impactful (Will doing this give you a good return on your investment of time and energy - is it likely to yield a 'big bang for the buck'?) and Is it Timely (Is this something you can do now, or are there other things you must do first?)
When executives use these skills in their planning, they're much more likely to come up with plans that people can accomplish and will commit to - and that move them toward the future they've envisioned.
______
Want to know more about leader readiness? Find out here.
