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Strategic Planning A Pragmatic Approach J Blair, ConsultingCounsel to Management
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HOME SMALL BUSINESS ADVISORY SERVICES THE RIGHT IMPLEMENTATION STRUCTURE
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From BusinessWeek". . .strategic planning is back with a vengeance, it's also back with a difference. Gone are the abstraction, sterility, and top-down arrogance of the old model. The death knell for that approach was sounded in 1983 when General Electric Chairman John F. Welch dismantled the company's once heralded planning department, where as many as 200 senior-level staffers used to crank out vinyl-bound reports. Today's gurus of strategy urge companies to democratize the process--once the sole province of a company's most senior officers--by handing strategic planning over to teams of line and staff managers from different disciplines. Frequently, these teams include junior staffers, handpicked for their ability to think creatively, and near-retirement old-timers willing to tell it like it is. And to keep the planning process close to the realities of markets, today's strategists say it should also include interaction with key customers and suppliers." The following essays on strategic planning are well attuned to the theme in the excerpt above. The only key idea not in the excerpt that is more and more important is that the planning process needs to be fast. Plans are defined by some as the organized search for the right work. For this "right work" to be valuable, it needs to be implemented . . . soon. Three and five year planning horizons are history for most businesses. The right work must be found (through the planning process) and implemented within a year or less so the the benefit of the work will be realized before the market and economic conditions change dramatically. For instance, how valuable would a five year strategic plan, developed in 2000 be today? For most businesses, not very.
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