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Collaborative planning process

Learning and reflection

December 6th, 2011

This document intends to share author’s learning, ideas and personal reflection on the topic. If you intend to quote or replicate any part of this presentation, acknowledgement of this document and other authors cited in this document as your sources would be greatly appreciated

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Session highlights

• Strategic planning process – adopting a collaborative approach

• Creating interdepartmental teams to identify strategic issues and develop implementation plan

• Methods for creating common goals

• Strategies to raise visibility of progress

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Strategic vision lays out the company’s strategic course for the future

Strategic vision – describes the route a company intends to take and usually is a bit beyond one’s reach

Mission statement – describes the what business the company is in

Corporate values – the beliefs, traits and behavioural norms expected to display in conducting business

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Crafting a strategy is always a work in progress, and not a one-time event

New initiatives plus ongoing strategy elements continued from prior periods

Adaptive reactions to changing circumstances

Latest version of company strategy

Prior version of company strategy

Abandoned strategy elements

Proactive strategy elements

Reactive strategy elements

Source: Crafting & Executing Strategy (Book)- Thomson, Strickland and Gamble

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The strategy-making and strategy-executing process is neither a linear process nor annual process

Developing a strategic vision

Setting Objectives

Creating a strategy to achieve the objectives and vision

Implementing & executing the strategy

Monitoring development, evaluating performance & making corrective adjustments

Revise as needed in light of actual performance, changing conditions, new opportunities and new ideas

Source: Crafting & Executing Strategy (Book)- Thomson, Strickland and Gamble

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A collaborative approach is necessary if the organization needs to be both proactive and reactive

• A survey of Fortune 500 firms revealed that more than half of the organizations experienced the following problems when they attempted to implement a strategic change:– Activities were ineffectively coordinated– Competing activities and crises took attention away from implementation– Key implementation tasks and activities were poorly defined– Uncontrollable or unanticipated external factors or problems arose– Information system inadequately monitored activities

Source: Concepts in Strategic Management (Book) – Wheelen, Hunger and Wicks (p. 199)

• Many people who are crucial to successful strategy implementation probably have little to do with strategy development.

• This often leads to resistance and foot-dragging• Involving people from all organizational levels in the

formulation tends to result in better performance

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Collaborative efforts break down boundaries and yield organizational synergies

• Shared know-how • Coordinated strategies• Shared tangible resources• Economies of scale or scope• Pooled negotiating power• New business creation

• Synergies superior performance

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Engaging cross-functional teams upfront to create strategies

Strategic issue A – lack of new product

Strategic issue B - customer technology

not easy to use

Strategic issue C – low share in

emerging markets

1. Bottoms up input through the year

2. Executive prioritization

4. Cross-functional team A - Product team on Strategy development and implementation

4. Cross-functional team B – Customer team on Strategy development and implementation

4. Cross-functional team C – Sales growth team on Strategy development and implementation

3. Strategy and planning teams facilitate

5. Ongoing / continuous process

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Strategic planning is an ongoing collaborative effort

Strategy A – Product Strategy

Strategy B – Customer technology Strategy

Strategy C – Emerging market

strategy

Executive Review to provide input and prioritize

Budget allocation

Cross functional team A - Product team review plan and build detailed actions

Cross functional team B – Customer team review plan and build detailed actions

Cross functional team C - Sales growth team review plan and build detailed actions

Functional managers take plan and implement with respective team while maintaining check point with cross project team

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Clear articulation of the strategy is the first step of good implementation

Strategic tactic Action item Support function

Name Start Completion Interdep-encies

Understand customers needs

Develop and conduct customer surveys / focus groups

Marketing research Manager

J. Smith Jan 2012 Feb 2012 Part of the annual customer survey

Map out product requirement

From customer surveys identify product feature requirement

Product manager

D. Brown Mar 2012 Apr 2012

Build product business case

Identify capability build requirement

Product Manager

D. Brown May 2012 Jul 2012

Identify technology requirement

Technology Manager

P. Wilson May 2012 Jul 2012 Customer technology initiative

Identify operations process for delivery

Operations Manager

T. Johnson May 2012 Jul 2012

Cost out requirement Finance Manager

A. Mann May 2012 Jul 2012

Strategy A – Product StrategyObjective – Launch new product that meets unmet customer needsVictory Statement – New product is launched by Q3 2012 and receive positive customer review via Consumer Report upon launch

Strategy Owner – B. Khan VP MarketingSuccess measures – Positive consumer report feedback; Customer adoption rate is 5% 3 months post launch

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An example of goal cascading that supports one of the corporate priorities: Product Strategy

CEO: Achieve Revenue growth of $100M

VP Marketing: Launch new product by Aug 2012 with a

customer adoption rate of 5%

Product Manager: complete product design with business case by July 2012

Technology Manager: Modify customer technology to support new product

VP Technology: Improve customer technology interface with an improved satisfaction rating

SMART goalS: Specific; M – measurable; A – achievable; R – relevant; T – time bound

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By identify stress point or success factors, cross-functional team and executives can align effort more effectively

Top 3 Stress Points or Success Factors

Mitigating Actions Warning system

Technology platform is not robust enough to support new product launch

Engage technology team in product design upfront to ensure specs are feasible

Progress report from technology team

Customer adoption rate falls behind target

Conduct customer focus groups to test viability of product prior to launch

Customer focus group results

Business case is not viable (investment requirement is too large and is risky)

Build in option to phase in features (phase in investment), only invest when adoption rate shows return before next upgrade

ROI and risks identified in the business case

Strategy A – Product StrategyObjective – Launch new product that meets unmet customer needsVictory Statement – New product is launched by Q3 2012 and receive positive customer review via Consumer Report upon launch

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No one gets it right all the time, it is a continuous organizational learning process

• Strategic planning process needs to be a continuous and collaborative effort

• Probability of achieving your strategy increases when you involve those who will be executing as part of your process

• Effective goal cascading requires clear goal setting – SMART

• Knowing where your stress points focus effort and acts as an early warning system

Acknowledgement: Concepts in Strategic Management (Book) – Wheelen, Hunger and Wicks; Crafting & Executing Strategy (Book)- Thomson, Strickland and Gamble

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With a collaborative team effort, we will successfully navigate across the turbulent riverWith a collaborative team effort, we will successfully navigate across the turbulent river