Plans are nothing. Planning is everything.
Original Publish Date: Mar 26, 2020
“Plans are nothing. Planning is everything.” – Dwight Eisenhower
The events from the last few weeks makes this quote from Eisenhower even more poignant. We are in the middle of a black swan event especially with the spread of coronavirus. The ripple effect of this unexpected health crisis continues to permeate multiple industries.
Another indication that the best-laid plans always must deal with the unexpected realities on the ground.
Whenever a company develops its strategic plan; there’s always a proclivity to overstate the possibilities in the form of projections. I think an optimistic view of the future helps during the tough times in any industry. But, the bigger takeaway, should be that we always need to hope for the best but plan for the worst.
Considering that, what are few things to review to test the merit of any strategic plan? What can we look for in a strategic plan to see if it can withstand unexpected developments?
First and foremost, prior to any review of your plan, you want to be honest about the process your team went through to build the strategic plan. Really think through the steps that led to the development of the plan. It’s easy to go through the motions and throw a plan out there. And that’s clearly setting up for failure. In fact, a McKinsey survey revealed that “nearly 8 in 10 executives describe the strategic planning processes at their companies as more geared to confirming existing hypothesis than to testing new ones.” Translation - a strategic plan often is a rehash of existing ideas and initiatives.
Move ahead with the review process if you believe your team didn’t slack off and went through the plan development process mindfully.
Back to the main question now, what are few things to review to test the merit of any strategic plan?
Assume a situation where you have 3 to 5 key strategies laid out for your company or business unit or end market. You created them based on the likeliest scenarios. Yet as we keep learning, the likeliest scenario from a year ago looks different from the reality in the present.
A good exercise after you have your strategies listed out would be to do a quick run through of the following items.
#1 - Assumptions
At the core of every strategy, we have several assumptions we make about the future – be it in the form of customer behavior, marketplace, stakeholders, regulations, solutions, to name a few. Part of the reason why strategy is not a science is because there’s incomplete information about the future. Or in simple terms, the future is strangely hard to predict.
We’re in some ways testing out our assumptions when we try to implement any strategy. Given the nature of assumptions; these become the variables in terms of how your strategy plays out. Take one strategy at a time and really dive deep into the assumptions you’re making behind that strategy. Create a probability spectrum around the veracity of each assumption.
#2 - Details
Any strategy needs a lot of definition in terms of tactics i.e. specifics on how the strategy will play out. Forcing oneself to expand on these tactics helps to figure out the loose ends.
Very often I come across strategies that are light on the details. It’s precisely in these scenarios where the strategy falls apart come execution time. No details imply no understanding of resource needs, no understanding of communication requirements, no understanding of potential risks.
Being clear about the tactics under every strategy also helps us in another crucial way. It will force us to come to terms with the choices or decisions on how we plan to execute a strategy. And therefore, if we face unexpected developments, we know exactly why we made those choices and can improvise in extraordinary times.
#3 - Accountability
Lastly, let’s not forget the all-important human factor in terms of ownership and stakeholders.
The very act of assigning specific folks to monitor and execute on a strategy lends it more credibility, while increasing the odds it moves ahead in some fashion. To further add to the human element, identify every stakeholder for the strategy implementation. Certain stakeholders may not play a huge role necessarily in the implementation part, but they can be crucial in gaining buy-in and influencing the progress of the tactical items.
Add urgency by specifying timeline and key performance indicators (KPIs) to monitor the progress. Linking timeline to tactics helps in better managing any unplanned crisis. As this Valuetainment video on crisis management further elaborates – part of dealing with a crisis involves creative thinking in shortening the duration of the crisis in view of how it affects your business timelines.
Moreover, KPIs provide the added element of evaluating the health of any strategy implementation exercise. You don’t always have to go for binary data points or metrics to serve as KPIs. Sometimes, we need qualitative KPIs to supplement and capture the entire picture of an effort.
I recently rediscovered a quote by Henry Mintzberg – according to him “strategy is a pattern in a stream of decisions”. Defining strategy this way also points to the effervescent, emergent nature of strategy especially in this unpredictable world. Any sound strategy in this new age might in fact need to work like a boxer capable of taking hits and still punching back strongly. Shape your strategic plan to sustain and prosper despite the hits from the ever-changing reality.