Boring, tedious, cautious and painful.
These are the frequent replies from executives when we say, “Tell us about your strategic planning process.”
Typical Strategic Planning
The reason for these unenthusiastic responses is that most strategic planning processes are a torturous reminder of the annual budgeting exercise — rooted in the past and derived by extrapolating next years plan from this year.
As one high-ranking executive at a Global 500 company put it: “Strategic planning; that’s when we go offsite to agree on our plans for the future, and then return to our offices and do what we were going to do anyhow.”
Our Unique Approach
Our approach to strategy development is radically different. We start with the premise that most — if not all — of the information and intelligence needed to craft a meaningful strategy already exists within the organization. Still, any strategy is only as good as the level of ownership around it, and even the most accurate, grounded and well-crafted strategies will fail if people do not feel accountable for success. The challenge then is getting the right people in the room and creating an environment conducive to asking the right questions, pushing hard for meaningful, well-grounded answers and coming to genuine alignment on a path forward.
Our work is focused on creating the type of open, honest, courageous and insightful discussions that marry the crafting of strategy with the commitment to its fulfillment. People exit these conversations fully owning the strategy they have participated in crafting. They create a powerful, inspiring vision that galvanizes them to go beyond what they previously believed was possible — and take destiny into their own hands.
As Alan Kay, an ex-Apple Fellow, said, “The best way to predict the future is to invent it.”
