by Seth Sinclair, Member
One of the services Sinclair Advisory Group is most often called upon to perform is to help our clients develop strategic plans that enable them to fulfill their organizational mission, vision, values and goals. Many organizations, however, don’t have overall strategic plans, and seem to be doing just fine. Why, then, is developing a realistic and actionable strategic plan the right thing for every company—from the smallest LLC to the Department of Defense—to do?
Well, to begin with, let’s offer an excerpt from Chapter VI of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll. Alice is speaking to the Cheshire Cat:
“’Would you tell me, please, (said Alice) which way I ought to go from here?’
‘That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,’ said the cat.’
‘I don’t much care where--’ said Alice.
‘Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,’ said the cat.
--‘So long as I get somewhere,’ Alice added as an explanation.
‘Oh, you’re sure to do that,’ said the cat, ‘if you only walk long enough!’”
This dialog, which is often summarized as “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there” is perhaps the best reason every organization needs a strategic plan. Who, today, goes to an unfamiliar place without a GPS device, or at least a printed-out set of directions from the Internet? Who builds a house without a blueprint? Such foolhardy souls may, in fact, still exist—but they have a whole lot more trouble getting to where they are going, or realizing the vision they see in their mind’s eye, without having taken the time to plan ahead.
Everything in life goes more smoothly with a plan. In its simplest form, a plan answers three questions: where are we now, where are we going, and how will we get there? By answering those questions, a strategic plan provides an important service for any organization: it helps identify the right things to do to enable the organization to progress and improve.
Most leaders know that strategic planning is important, and that their organization should have a solid plan; but many shy away from the strategic planning process, because they feel it’s time consuming, and just too much work for the return. Others have no idea how to get started. Still others begin the process, but get frustrated along the way and give up.
Actually, like most things in life, developing a strategic plan is not difficult if you know what to do. When Sinclair works with organizations to build a new plan, we follow a simple outline:
First, we help organize the process, and work with the organization to make sure everyone—not only top management--understand what’s going on: that we are building a framework to help them fulfill their mission, their vision and their goals.
Second, we take a detailed look at the environment in which the company operates, by reviewing any existing plans the organization has; summarizing the company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats; analyzing the current environment, and identifying key issues and risks on the organization’s horizon.
Third, we facilitate sessions that develop and capture specific and measurable goals for the organization to attain, and tasks that they should accomplish in order to reach those goals.
Fourth, we help define measures that the organization can use to measure the organization’s progress towards meeting its goals.
And fifth, we help write and distribute the actual plan and then, if we’re asked, provide follow up support to make sure the plan is doing what it’s supposed to do.
Organizations working with SAG get the benefit of our Associates’ experience and skills as planners, and some proprietary aspects of our process that add significant value to the product we help develop. But any company or organization can follow the same five steps we follow, and make better progress towards reaching their goals than they are making now. Having a strategic plan works—and it’s not hard to make one. And if you’d like SAG’s help to make your process easier and better, don’t hesitate to call!
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