Integrated Business Planning driven by Strategic Planning | Fact ...

This week?s post is on Strategic Planning.? This is the last component of the four key components of integrated business planning.? Like project planning from the previous post, strategic planning focuses on the ?grow? and ?transform? business functions.

As a way of background, for the past 25 years I have worked within companies, as well as alongside them as a consultant to facilitate the creation of their strategic plans.? Early on this process was very loosely defined and resulted in a lot of good ideas. The executive team felt good about the plans, but unfortunately, in most cases those plans failed.? They typically failed for any number of reasons including:? it produced a nice fancy document no one wished to keep up to date and revise;? it was poorly communicated beyond the executive team so it had little support;? the vision was documented but the projects to accomplish were not planned, quickly forgotten or they were killed in the next budget revision and went unfunded; no one established the criteria to measure the progress of the plan and hold individuals accountable and departments for their part of the plan.

In the mid 90?s I was introduced to the Balance Scorecard Methodology, developed by Drs. Kaplan and Norton.? At that time the Balanced Scorecard Methodology focused on strategic measurement.? Over time that method has transformed based on how companies use it to a strategic planning methodology.? When that happened, my world became clearer.? That ever evolving process suddenly became well defined process.? All the information I had tested and tried using other strategic planning methods became noise.

Just to give you an idea how it has evolved, the slide below shows a timeline of the books written by Drs. Kaplan and Norton and just viewing the titles alone, you can feel the transformation from strategic measurement to strategic management.

Timeline of Books written by Drs. Kaplan and Norton on the Balanced Scorecard Methodology

Timeline of Books written by Drs. Kaplan and Norton on the Balanced Scorecard Methodology

I don?t have the space in this post to dig in any detail to the process of the balanced scorecard methodology, but I would like to offer you a free book:? ?The Execution Premium? by Drs. Kaplan and Norton. This will provide detail on both the process and case studies of organizations that have successful implementing the balanced scorecard methodology for strategic management. ?Click on this link and it will take you to a page to register.

The book has some tremendously helpful takeaways for strategic planning, including:

  • Clarity of vision ? using strategy maps and theme reports help companies focus on what is important to their business
  • Communication ? it provides a methodology to get everyone in the company focusing on how their job contributes to the overall plan.
  • Measurement ? When you hold people accountable for realistic goals and objectives and their measurement is clearly defined, magic happens.? The model I use for sales reps is telling them what they need to do and how they are compensated and they achieve it.
  • Converting ?transform? and ?grow? projects to action ? by linking the action plans defined during the process to the financial plans.

I know there are those opposed to this methodology, claiming it doesn?t work or perhaps it failed for them but I think the key is it gives you a place to start and a process to follow, over time you will keep what works for you and tweak what doesn?t work within your organization?s culture.

My next post will focus on the challenge of integrating these four areas in a corporate environment.

Source: http://www.fact-based-decisions.net/?p=719

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