I make claims for my Strategic Planning service in terms of speed, quality of outcome, level of buy-in, etcetera that some people find unreal.
So, I thought it would be useful to share a bit about my process to answer these questions.
Fundamentally collectively the top team have the knowledge and experience to ideate the best solution – in many cases they know what needs to be done I simply provide them with a structured thought process to discover unpack and agree what needs to be done in a structured and logical manner.
The process has evolved over many years, building on techniques that I learned from using Malcolm McDonald’s Exmar Expert Marketing Planning tool and techniques taught to me by Iain Peters many years ago. Building on these nuggets I have crafted the tools and process that we use today.
I will address this topic in three parts corresponding to the three major stages of the process with the majority of clients. There are further stages for clients who really want to go “all the way“.
The process can be administered on-line on Zoom or in person, as appropriate to the needs of the client. I have found that remote administration on Zoom works well in most cases. My role is purely facilitative, all the intellectual input comes from the top team so there is complete understanding of the plan.
The process can be applied to a one person organization in as little as one session of six hours and can be applied to a reasonable size SME in three to five days over a period of one to five weeks. It can also be applied to much larger corporates using the Strategic Map© to analyse the entire strategic environment.
Part 1 – Developing the Initial Critical Strategic Requirements
Interviews
A typical engagement commences with carefully tuned, one hour, one on one interviews of the top team that will be participating in the workshops. These interviews use three questions that get delegates thinking strategically – these questions have been honed over many years and sow the seeds of strategic thinking that inform the entire process.
These interviews also lift out any points of dissention or undercurrents within the team. I use what might be referred to as a “Strategic psychologist” approach, I ask my key questions, listen intently, take lots of notes and active listen such that I draw the maximum information from the interviewees. It can easily take a typical executive an hour to get through the three questions.
Sometimes interviewees will disclose major negative sentiment that is poisoning the top team, for example “Mike (the new expatriate CEO appointed by the new owners) cannot be trusted because if he screws up he can get on the next plane home!”
Attendance at the First Workshop
It is vital that the entire top team participate in the first workshop, even though the workshop is generally recorded.
Delegates should be the Shareholders (in the case of an SME), the Directors and optionally key members of the Senior Management Team depending on the culture of the organization. The preferred head count is five to ten people. Seven is ideal.
The process has been run with up to 29 delegates but gets very time consuming at that level since every delegate is given an equal time to contribute – this is a vital component of ensuring by-in by all delegates. Fundamentally I hold that direction should come from the top team and that, therefore, about seven delegates is ideal.
A core element of the method is to harness the collective wisdom of the top team and to engage with them to ensure that the resultant plan is a synthesis of their collective wisdom (knowledge and experience).
Opening Presentation
The first workshop is opened with a one hour proven presentation on “what is strategy”, why strategic plans fail and what is required for success and related topics.
This is, geared to get the team thinking strategically.
The presentation also provides an overview of the process to follow plus a summary of observations from the interviews including a first cut estimate of the “Essence of the Business and How it Thrives” – the core strategy.
If you are interested in this service please email me with a few dates and times that are convenient to you for a Zoom meeting or phone call.
Opening Focus Question – StratSnap©
The workshop then commences with a well proven initial focus question which facilitates delegates to dig deep into their strategic concerns and objectives and teaches them the process.
This process is called a “Strategic SnapShot©” and uses a tool called “StratSnap©” which has been refined over many years. The name “SnapShot©” derives from the fast paced approach to rapidly taking one or more quick and concise analysis views of the organization.
An engagement for a small to medium sized organization may only undertake this one SnapShot© while larger organizations may require a much larger number of SnapShots© covering a diversity of topics analysing the entire Strategic Environment (more about this in Part 3 of this article).
Process Guidelines
Every step of the way delegates are coached with a very well proven PowerPoint presentation of “Process Guidelines” to ensure that the delegates are fully informed with regard to their actions.
Brainstorming
Informed by the thought processes stimulated thus far, brainstorming of the Focus Question starts the process and gets all issues out on the table. With an average size team of about seven people brainstorming may run for more than an hour and capture over 300 points. The points raised are all typed into the tool in real-time on screen to stimulate thinking until the topic is exhausted.
Where appropriate, we may seed the process with information gained during the interviews, for example, I type in “The problem with Mike is that if this does not work he can get on the next plane and go home”. Such an input will typically release tension and unleash a torrent of new points.
Brainstorming typically goes in waves and it is important not to end the brainstorming process until a sufficient number of waves have been processed. There will generally be consensus that the list is more or less complete albeit that as I go to close off the list someone will almost always chip in at the last minute with one or two points which, sometimes, can be important so should not be ignored.
Privately Develop Critical Factors
Some slides defining what is meant by Critical Factors and outlining the approach open the next stage of the process – the private development of seven critical factors in response to the brainstorming of the focus question.
Each person mentally consolidates all the points raised in the brainstorming into seven critical factors that constitute the 20% of the issues that correspond to 80% of the strategic priorities. By doing this we are harnessing the individual wisdom of each person in the room (physical or on-line).
Once complete each person, starting with the Sponsor (CEO), reads out their seven factors and they are typed in on-screen so everybody gets to hear and see the different viewpoints and there are always different viewpoints. The process makes it OK, to have different views.
Why Seven Factors? – Millers Law
Seven is a bit of a magic number – search on Google for “Hrair Limit” or “Millers Law”.
Wikipedia states regarding Millers Law Bottom of Form
“The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two: Some Limits on Our Capacity for Processing Information“[1] is one of the most highly cited papers in psychology.[2][3][4] It was written by the cognitive psychologist George A. Miller of Harvard University‘s Department of Psychology and published in 1956 in Psychological Review. It is often interpreted to argue that the number of objects an average human can hold in short-term memory is 7 ± 2. This has occasionally been referred to as Miller’s law.[5][6][7]
The use of seven factors is extremely powerful as a thinking device to focus the team on what really matters and contrasts with plans that frequently list many more “key” points which results in confusion and lack of clarity. When I first started with this service I started with five points but found that that was an excessive constraint. Tried six with the same result, been running with seven for many years, works well. A key element of the “Secret Sauce” is constantly narrowing down the focus to the 20% of issues that will deliver 80% of the strategic benefit and the Hrair limit is a key element of this.
Synthesis (Grouping) of Critical Factors
Once all delegates’ factors have been captured we cut and paste the individual factors onto the top seven factors, juggling the top seven as we go.
This is done collaboratively and goes surprisingly quickly, delegates quickly agree on the most logical groupings and with the use of functionality in the tool the compound statements are quickly created. Nothing is deleted so that, even if there is duplication, the information is retained.
The impact of this is that everybody has been heard and been given equal air time and input to the resulting seven factors.
If you are interested in this service please email me with a few dates and times that are convenient to you for a Zoom meeting or phone call.
Summary Headlines
Once all the inputs have been collated to the final set of seven factors a summary headline or title is allocated to each of the seven groups. These headlines are carried forward in the resulting analysis and plan.
Because of the way the list has been developed there is generally a very high level of consensus with regard to the seven headlines – all people have participated equally, all have been heard, all opinions have been honoured and retained. This is particularly important in situations where there is tension and strife in the team.
End of Part One
This is the end of part one of this article. This point is reached in the workshop in from three to five hours typically depending on the number of delegates, the size of the organization and any challenges that may be in play.
In the next article I will look at the weighting and scoring process leading to a strategic trajectory and weighted gaps, the end of the first StratSnap©.
The entire StratSnap© process can be undertaken multiple times depending on the size of the organization and the appetite of management for in-depth strategic analysis.
In the third article I will discuss the gap analysis process leading to the Strategic Action Plan. I will also outline additional processes that can be undertaken where appropriate depending on the size of the organization.
Conclusion
The process outlined above is very fast paced, very concise and consistently produces a high quality outcome.
The alternating private and public work ensures everyone brings maximum intellect, insight and experience to the process and ensures that all delegates constantly participate.
The end result is that all the top team know how they got to the plan and therefore own it at a visceral level.
If you would like to know what the questions are that I ask in the Interviews and the Focus Question I always start with, please reply to this email to set up a complimentary, no-obligation Zoom call to discuss your requirements.
Or if you are interested in this service please email me with a few dates and times that are convenient to you for a Zoom meeting or phone call.
Visit my website for more information
If you are not in the market for this service right now or are not the appropriate decision maker in your organization please share with someone who is appropriate. Thank you so much.
Warm regards
Dr James A Robertson
The Strategy Doctor