72. Meeting the financial projection Common mistakes Reach out to stakeholders Measure progress Best practice examples A living document Is your work done? Monitor the plan STRATEGIC PLANNING IMPLEMENTING THE PLAN Strategic Change Process Checklist
108. Meeting the financial projection Common mistakes Reach out to stakeholders Measure progress Best practice examples A living document Is your work done? Monitor the plan STRATEGIC PLANNING IMPLEMENTING THE PLAN Strategic Change Process Checklist
A good strategic plan inspires change and modification in products or target markets
A good strategic plan clearly defines threshold criteria for achieving success. No one strategic model fits all organisations, but the planning process includes certain basic elements that all businesses can use. In this session we will explore the vision, tactics and objectives of effective strategic plans and outline a set of underlying principles and management tools that will help you to create a truly valuable strategic plan. Why is strategic planning important? Strategic planning describes the status quo and the forces likely to change it in the immediate future. During the process, planners: • address questions of key importance • offer a framework for future decision making • uncover and clarify future opportunities and threats • serve as a channel for internal communication • set specific objectives for achievement • create a basis for efficient performance measurement • communicate goals to employees, investors and others • focus attention on the company’s long-term growth.
Monitoring the plan It is essential to monitor the progress of the strategic plan and measure the results.
Stay committed. Every action must have a due date. Due dates can be pushed back, but don’t let them go away.
Conduct short-term reviews. Schedule team “huddles” every 60 to 90 days to revisit the original plan, determine whether objectives are being met, and implement new action or corrective steps as necessary.
So that completes our run through of the traditional approach to strategic planning. But this is just one way.
Compare our business with our competitors’ by drawing your “as is” strategy canvas. See where our strategy needs to change. Resolve differences of opinion about the current state of play before discussing changes in strategy. Be aware of being invested in the status quo and not seeing a compelling need for change.
Go into the field to explore the six paths to creating blue oceans. Observe the distinctive advantages of alternative products and services. See Which of the factors that the industry takes for granted should be eliminated ? Which factors should be reduced well below the industry’s standard? Which factors should be raised well above the industry’s standard? Which factors should be create d that the industry has never offered? Send a team of mangers to see face-to-face with what they must make sense of: how people use or don’t use their products or services. Do not delegate this out . Never outsource our eyes, see for ourselves. Go after customers and non-customers. Buyers and users. Talk and watch them in action. Identify the array of complementary products and services that are consumed alongside our own services in order to look for opportunities. Look at how customers might find alternative ways of fulfilling the need our services or products satisfy. For each visualization strategy, write a compelling tagline that captures the essence of the strategy and speaks directly to the buyers.
There is a sequence to blue ocean strategy
The Impact of Creating Blue Oceans
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Challenge underlying assumptions . While monitoring the plan's ongoing progress, also continue to examine its underlying assumptions, the continued validity of its objectives and the influence of unanticipated events.
Create a "champion" for every strategy and action . The champion has to be someone other than the CEO, because he or she isn't accountable to anyone. The champion doesn't necessarily have to complete the actions, but must see that they get done."
Conduct short-term reviews. We suggest scheduling team "huddles" every 90 days to keep the plan "reviewed, reloaded and re-energized." (Or alternatively, 60-day reviews by senior management.) These reviews offer the opportunity to take another look at the original plan, determine if objectives are being met and implement new action steps as necessary. Another benefit: during these huddles, you can identify those individuals who are getting things done and those who aren't (the "empty suits").
Here is our suggested 11 point "Strategic Change Process Checklist”:
Finalize a strategic plan or major change with a rollout plan.
The performance of a very large mobile phone company logistic centre in the UK was poor with service and delivery turnaround time, to their 610 UK stores and to individual consumers who ordered on line, stretching unacceptably. A logistics centre development strategy was developed with close cooperation between the HQ in London and the local Management of the logistics centre. The key steps of the strategy were broken down in to smaller steps and allocated to local task force teams, who reported weekly on progress, any difficulties and planned next steps. These were then reviewed by the logistics centre GM and the Head office team on a weekly basis and changes and/or corrective action agreed. This was fed back to the local teams on the same day who then met briefly to agree individual actions for the team members. This process proved to be so successful in improving turnaround times and removing bottle necks that it became a permanent feature of the centre. The practice has now also been adopted by the head office to cover all operations. As a result the company now has a “culture of over performance” which has reflected in an improvement in the company’s reputation among potential recruits and a performance premium on the company’s shares – in short it has created a “virtuous circle” of improvement for the company.
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