Creating Strategic Impact - 4 Ideas to Improve Next Year's Results

It’s early October, and many (likely most) large organizations that will create some type of annual plan are on the brink of intense strategic planning efforts.

Suppose your prior strategic planning efforts haven’t delivered the insights, implementation success, organizational development, or market results you’d expected.

If that describes your organization, and previous strategic planning efforts have fallen short in creating strategic impact, what are your options for improving next year's results at this point? Is it too late to improve the strategic planning process already underway so the plan doesn’t sit on the shelf?

Answering those questions is the focus of the “Creating Strategic Impact” workshop I’m doing this evening for the Financial Executives International group in Kansas City. As a group of senior professionals, the Financial Executives International members should be in fantastic positions to still bring about strategic planning improvements for next year.

4 Ideas for Creating Strategic Impact and Improving Next Year's Results

Even if an organization is well into strategic planning for next year, what steps will help ensure it’s having greater success in creating strategic impact?

Here are four ideas:

1. Broaden the range of employees invited to offer insights and ideas into the strategic plan. At a minimum, expand participation by at least one level in the organization.
2. Exploit how smart structure can create flexibility. While it sounds contradictory, selecting the right strategic planning structure can help employees more successfully contribute to creating strategic impact. And that’s true for both veteran and new planning participants.
3. Don’t ask the same old strategic planning questions. When knowledgeable people are invited to address strategic opportunities from questions that provide “strategic detours,” an organization will uncover exciting new paths to growth. Additionally, through expanding participation within the organization, answering these questions becomes part of the daily strategic conversations taking place in the organization.
4. Simplify your strategic language. If nothing else, use simple, understandable, and actionable language to describe your strategies and plans. Don’t use corporate jargon and confusing words so that what you’re trying to accomplish becomes clear to everyone in the organization.

Help Is Still Available for Creating Strategic Impact

Attendees at tonight’s presentation will receive more specifics on these four ideas. If you aren’t in Kansas City, and would like to understand how your organization can profit from these four ideas, give me a call (816-509-5320) or email, and let’s talk about what your best options are for creating strategic impact coming out of your strategic planning efforts. – Mike Brown