Don’t Stop Now! Adjust

Apr 16, 2024 | Strategic Planning

“We’re thinking we should just postpone this next quarter’s strategic plan update session. Everyone is really busy, and honestly, we’re tired. You know we’ve had these two huge, out-of-nowhere projects come up that have taken over our lives. The team has done great, but we’ve fallen behind on several strategic initiatives. I think it’d help everyone’s morale if we just gave ourselves a break. What do you think?” I know you’re all tired and understandably so. But I think you’d be making a...

Culture Eats Strategy for…an Appetizer

Jan 24, 2023 | Strategic Planning

We’ve all heard Peter Drucker's saying, “Culture eats strategy for lunch [or breakfast].” I am, of course, not going to disagree with that statement. However, given the work world today, it’s not enough. Culture doesn’t just eat strategy for breakfast or lunch. Culture eats strategy as an appetizer. Then it eats strategy for breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert, a snack, etc. A poor company culture will eat up and spit out your organization if its cultural framework, strategic priorities, and...

Don’t Create a Laundry List. Create a Strategic Plan

Dec 13, 2022 | Strategic Planning

It happens frequently. It happens with C-Suite executives as well as with mid-level managers. It happens when the excitement of DOING things to transform the organization takes hold. ‘It’ is when the strategic planning team focuses more on what they’re going to DO instead of what they want to ACHIEVE. It is when they stop thinking strategically. It causes teams to create laundry lists instead of strategic plans. …when the strategic planning team focuses more on what they’re going to DO instead...

Stop Boring Strategic Plan Updates

Nov 22, 2022 | Strategic Planning

An association executive director asked during a recent coaching conversation, “Am I doing something wrong, or why are the strategic plan review meetings I hold with my senior staff so boring? My Director of Operations said yesterday, ‘It feels as if all we’re doing is tracking stuff so we can mark it off this master plan.’ You know what? She’s right. That’s exactly what it feels like.” Well I wish I could say I was stunned by his revelation, but I wasn’t. Because, tracking strategic plans...

Starting a Strategic Initiative? Clarify Your Culture First

Jun 21, 2022 | Strategic Planning

Now that you’ve finally hired the additional project team members needed, and you’ve checked, checked, and triple-checked your strategic initiative’s plan and deliverables, it’s time to start your project, right? Wrong. Before you start any strategic initiative, clarify with your team the role the project plays in supporting your organization’s mission, and how each team member fits in. The more clearly every team member (veteran and new) understands how the project and their work –...