Seven Rules of Strategic Guessing

Rule Number Seven

Rule number siete is by far the coolest. This reglo says: It is critical that the team show discipline and do the work. Remember the saying, “Garbage in, garbage out.” It is important that the leadership team does complete work. In this endeavor, it is better to do less with better quality than to do a lot with mediocrity.

Some companies have a heck of a time getting out of the firefighting mode. Others never do get out of that stage.

Sometimes members of the leadership team are addicted to firefighting. They are addicted to the way things are and not to dreaming up ways the company could improve. To participate in a good breakthrough planning/guessing process, the planning team must commit time to this endeavor. Real thinking and dialogue must exist.

Once you have created the plan, you need to make sure it is acted upon. Monthly meetings of one to three hours and spending time on objectives and action plans will ensure focus. Then, once a quarter, the planning team should meet offsite, preferably with a coaching resource like yours truly. (Bonus points if the coach is bald-headed. It makes the coach smarter and buffer—really.) At the session, the group will look at what happened in the quarter and then focus on what needs to happen in the next quarter. This will keep everyone aligned on what needs to take place to push the company forward.

Well, there you have it: seven rules that will support you in establishing a successful planning process. Put another way, it is the plan to producing and implementing good strategic planning/guessing. Using these rules will help you create a bright business future—and when you get there, let everyone know that the Brucie sent you.

This series of blog posts are excerpts from the chapter “Seven Rules of Strategic Guessing” from Bruce Hodes first book Front Line Heroes: Battling the Business Tsunami While Developing Performance Oriented Cultures.

Seven Rules of Strategic Guessing

Rule Number Four

By far, my favorite rule is el grandote numero quatro: start big by creating a vision of the future of the company. It is important that the breakthrough guessing/planning process allows for dreaming and looking at what is the organization needs for a bright future. This is critical. When you have a vision, you are creating a future for the company that employees can then fulfill.

Typically, I do this by asking the group to envision three to five years into the future and record their thoughts on a flip chart. I ask the following questions to arrive at a future vision. If you were already standing three to five years in the future, what would the world look like? What are the important trends affecting your industry at that point?

Once a futuristic scenario is developed, the group should look at what it would like the organization’s image to be in this future. What are customers saying about the organization? Why are customers loyal four years from today? What goods, services, and new products have been brought forth? How much revenue will the organization bring in, and how many employees will it have?

This part of planning can be used to run growth scenarios. Have at least one for aggressive, medium, sluggish, and no growth. Play with the numbers and have some fun with what could be. The planning team should get familiar with the possible territories and futures that could be facing the organization.

For more information about creating a company vision click here.

Seven Rules of Strategic Guessing

Rule Number Three

For the third amazing rule, it is important that you complete the previous year. A powerful completion process will allow you to put that year behind you as you welcome a new one. It’s important for the organization to distinguish the previous year and discuss what occurred during that time, good and bad.

At the very first session of the planning process, the past goes into the past. When I coach these sessions, the group lists the previous year’s information on flip charts. The past is broken down into a number of categories, such as BREAKDOWNS FOR THE YEAR, BREAKTHROUGHS, FIASCOS, DISAPPOINTMENTS, ACCOMPLISHMENTS, and the like.

One of the great aspects of this exercise is that the executives and key employees of the organization get to review all the work that was accomplished during the past 12 months. What aspects of this year are we taking into the next? What aspects are we leaving behind? It’s all included in the meeting minutes and brings completion to the year. One season completes and the next opens up. Excuse me while I get a little weepy. This exercise is worthwhile and useful; everyone is now ready to invent the organization’s future.

For more information about CMI's strategic planning process click here

The Sixth Rule of Planning

El fantastico numero sies is that the planning group has to be able to actually work and create together. For good productive work to be done, there can be no pretense here. The group has to be able to implement the plan. They have to perform together.

This has to be much more than “plays well in the sandbox” kind of behavior. The planning group needs to be creative, generative and able to move quickly to implement change. They have got to be collaborators, problem solvers and be change agents within their organization.

Implementation is the key to planning success. This is not about producing a document that is pretty and will sit on a shelf. This is about implementing actions and activities that will steer the company in a healthy and profitable direction.

Committed action is key to the success of the planning endeavor. Part of the process is to focus the leadership team on becoming a high performance team. This is done by experiential exercises and measuring for high performance team behavior.

A company running with a high-performance team has many advantages over its competition. I have a particular client in mind. This company has done a remarkable job of growing in very challenging business conditions. I have seen them change marketplaces and customers.

Recently, this company had growth at 60% and they continue to hire and retain great people. Part of how they have done this is by having a fun committee and by paying attention to whether or not their people enjoy their work and being at the company.

There is trust in this planning team. People can speak their minds. This communication is taken as straight communication about the business and not taken personally. They are playing a business game of growing a great company. This team is not engaged in petty issues, nor are they interested in who gets along with and agrees with whom.

Their corporate culture is not a smelly, gossipy political environment. This type of focus gives their leadership team a great advantage when competing against other business leadership teams that are rife with gossip, mistrust and miscommunication.

For more information about CMI's planning process visit our website: www.cmiteamwork.com