have a vision but no plan for how to get there?
Having a strategic vision without a strategic plan to match can leave you and your team feeling like your vision is nothing more than a dream.
Studies have found that 67 percent of companies fall short in reaching their strategic objectives.
How do you keep your organization from being one of them?
By addressing these common strategic planning problems from the start.
Strategic Planning Problem #1
You don’t know how to start strategic planning or how to engage your team in the process.
SOLUTion #1: Start With Your Story
The story of your organization holds the key to your strategy. Your organization’s strengths, culture, and people are what will help you reach the ‘happily ever after’ of your strategic vision. Use story to help you highlight what makes you and your team unique in a field of peers and competitors. Telling your organization’s story will help you define:
Your mission & values
Your audience
Your identity & branding
Your competitive advantages
Strategic Planning Problem #2
You have too many priorities and can’t decide which to focus on
SOLUTion #2: Identify Opportunities for Value
Define your strategic priorities - i.e., your ‘ways to winning’ - by answering one question: Where does your organization have the opportunity to create or extract additional value? Creating a strategic value map will help you and your team:
Collaborate on your goals for the future
Define the ‘big bets’ that will move you closer to your future vision
Prioritize which ‘big bets’ matter most now
Strategic Planning Problem #3
Your teams & projects are inconsistent, uncoordinated and inflexible
SOLUTion #3: Establish a Rhythm for Consistent Strategy Execution
They key to consistently executing on your strategic plans is establishing and following an operating rhythm that turns your strategic priorities into ‘the way we do things here’. Establishing an operating rhythm will help you and your teams:
Transform your ways of working from chaotic to predictable
Get better at setting and achieving goals
Create a standard of performance that is consistent across teams
Be more transparent and accountable with project progress and data
Respond more flexibly to change
“Vision without action is a daydream, action without vision is a nightmare.”
Your strategic plan is your organization’s game plan for winning - it is your answer to the question, “How will we win with what we have?”
The best time to start defining your organization’s strategy is now. Create your long-term vision and develop a practical plan to get from here to there.
Download My Free Operating Rhythm Ebook
What’s keeping you from achieving your strategic goals? This ebook will help you identify and overcome the 7 common challenges that hinder strategy execution. Create a 90-day plan to shift the way your team works and transform your organization into an effective strategy execution powerhouse.
MOre Ways to Bring Your Strategy to Life
Learn how to define, implement and optimize your team’s operating rhythm to go from strategy to reality. Browse my curated collection of courses, articles, books and workshops for leaders at every level.
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New to OKRs? This 7-minute video gives a simple overview of how to set quarterly OKRs that align with a larger strategic objective.