Last week we discussed how the outcomes of Strategic Planning excursions often end up in a binder on a shelf, ignored. Here are some fresh ideas you can implement to make sure your planning sessions don’t go to waste and your team stays on track.
First, commit to regularly reviewing and course-correcting the implementation of your new plans. When setting up your first meeting AFTER the plans have been introduced, prepare and tee up a conversation in way that allows people to engage their minds in a forward thinking way. For example, prior to the meeting, ask everyone to review the business plan/strategic plan with the intent of assessing current status and mild course corrections. It helps to give people time to think about it in an actionable way.
The following framework helps us to break the problem of SOT (Same Old Thinking). Too often our discussions center around what we see in the rear view mirror or the traffic jam we are in at that moment. Instead we need to start looking past the windshield, past the hood ornament, and even beyond the visible line of site. We need to start moving toward the horizon and beyond. Staging the conversation around that scenario is important to break the SOT.
Once you have set the stage, ask the team to brainstorm the answer to the following questions:
Given (fill in the blank), what do we need to stop doing, start doing and continue doing to achieve our (strategic/business) goals? Sometimes it make sense to brainstorm each independently.
I have found that three flip charts with Stop, Start and Continue are helpful props.Brainstorming all three choices freely generates better thoughts. In some cases what one person identifies as a “Stop” spurs someone to think about something that we need to “Start” or “Continue”.
Here are a few examples of how this framework can break SOT:
- One person says we need to “Stop” all the pricing exceptions, which prompts someone else to say we need to “Start” documenting standard pricing guidelines.
- Someone may say they want to “Continue” team building exercises which may prompt someone else to recommend “Start”ing monthly wellness excursions.
- Someone might say we need to “Start” holding our people accountable, and that could generate an inverse like, we need to “Stop” micromanaging.
You get the picture! When it comes to Strategic Planning, the key is recognizing and accepting that plans change. Commit to regular revisit meetings as a way to not only keep your teams on track, but also to give yourself an opportunity to re-route the train before something comes up and you jump the tracks completely.