StratTalk eNews — Issue 10, March 2009

Happy March, everyone. We have two exciting announcements this month.

First, Anne Marie Smith, co‑author of 60 Minute Strategic Plan, has a new book out called Second Bloom: 10 Steps to Reinvent, Rejuvenate, and Realize a New Life. Based on the 60MSP process, Second Bloom was written specifically for women who want to transform their lives but don’t know how. The process walks the reader through the steps of creating a “transition plan”: a strategic map for where they want to go—from budding desire for change to full blossom transformation—and how to get there. For more information or to order a copy, go to www.second-bloom.com.

Secondly, because we know the power of the 60 Minute Strategic Plan, to keep your organization moving forward, we are going to map out the 12 steps of the plan via our newsletter each month. Together we will explore, step by step, this highly effective and efficient method of strategic planning.

As always, please let us know how we can be of service to you.

John E. Johnson, CEO
Anne Marie Smith, President

Strategic Issue

Step 1: Selecting a Strategic Issue

When lost in the woods, you will tend to go in circles if fixed on your immediate environment. If you lift your head, however, and focus on a distant destination you are much more likely to make directional progress. That’s the perfect metaphor for approaching your strategy and tactics. Strategy is direction and tactics are the steps to get there. Without knowing where you’re going and the precise path to get you there, plan on finding yourself in a sea of chaos whipped by winds of conflicting priorities—soon to be sunk or beached.

There is no shortage of issues facing an organization, but there is a shortage of time and resources to deal with them. The tyranny of the urgent or “crisis du jour” can be a relentless dictator, demanding short‑term focus while the long‑term goal (or strategic progress) goes unaddressed. Operating under this dictatorship is a guarantee of running in tactical circles that circumvent straight‑line strategy.

What is a Strategic Issue?

Stephen Covey, author of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, said, You are perfectly aligned for the results you are getting. So if you’re not getting the results you want, it’s time to ask, How are we out of alignment with our strategic issues? When you have an opportunity for growth, or perceive an obstacle to growth, you need to identify the strategic issue. To do this, look for clues.

Clues to strategic issues may lie in:

• A pattern of disappointing results from your current methods. Challenge your current operating assumptions even if they seemed viable or worked well in the past.
• Your mental habits. What have you as an organization overlooked, ignored, or worse, learned to live with?
• The change that is all around you. The economy changes, your competitors change, your customers change, and your people change. Strategy is all about shifting with change and, in the process, making your organization stronger.

Four Thoughts About Strategy

1. A leader is a good strategist. This quality is embedded in the definition of leadership and, thus, central to the effectiveness of any leader. Strategy, therefore, cannot be delegated. It must be led.
2. Strategy, by its very nature, involves change…and change is almost always resisted. So a leader must weather that resistance by modeling openness to, and being welcoming of, change.
3. Strategic activity is always superimposed on full work schedules, ensuring that the work being done answers to the strategy in place.
4. Strategic activity requires people to work harder and smarter. Without a strategy, people can spin their mental wheels, wasting trying to figure out what to do next. With strategically driven activity, people work harder because there is a clear path to direct them and keep them motivated. And in the process, they work smarter because they’re not sidetracked by investing in things that aren’t leading them to the goal.

What People Say About Our Workshops

It was a great presentation that did an amazing job of bringing not only focus but also a realistic action plan for a solution to the challenge. I feel like it was a fantastic use of my time!!!

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