Everyday, we hear from prospective clients who want support in building a strategic plan, many of whom offer a detailed RFP. We don’t fulfill RFPs. Instead, we ask: Why do you want a strategic plan? We ask this question because we’ve learned there are many reasons organizations decide they want a strategic plan. We also know that designing strategy and strategic planning are different activities. Sometimes, our quest to understand what the organization really wants means we don’t win the business. And that’s a good thing. Because the why matters.
To simplify, we generally see three overarching reasons driving the requests for strategic plans:
BETTER MARKETING: For some organizations, strategic plans are often desired to combat declining enrollment or revenue growth: the plan is envisioned as the “silver bullet” to drive better marketing, branding, and advancement. We see this most often with organizations who want to better articulate and promote what makes them valuable, special and distinctive. We hear things like “we need a strategic plan so we can do a better job of describing and communicating who we are — and we need to push that message out successfully”. Often these organizations also want a feel good process that involves stakeholders to “bring everyone along”. When we hear this “why” we challenge clients to examine their assumptions. Have they defined the problem correctly? Is there a root cause or an issue of quality they may have overlooked? If not, we steer potential clients to marketing, branding, and communications strategists.
A NORTH STAR: For other organizations, the desire for a strategic plan is grounded in an optimistic sense of opportunity, and the need to orient everyone towards a “North Star”. In schools, there may be an accreditation cycle that gives the extra push -- and a recommendation that the school develop a clear purpose. It’s also not unusual for this “why” to correspond with an upcoming leadership transition or with the entry of new leadership. The organization feels like it’s on solid ground, and is eager to develop a vision for the future as it leans into its assets and strengths-- clarifying its own purpose and imagining a bold new future. These kinds of strategic plans are also often inclusive exercises — but they are a heavier lift — actively engaging people in affirming what matters most, and designing and testing new ideas to support effective execution.
A WINNING TRANSFORMATION: Then, there is the plan driven by a deep sense of importance and urgency: a sense that the current operating model may not be viable for the future --- that the conditions for success are changing — and a sense that the needs and interests of stakeholders are changing. In these cases, organizations want to consider the changing landscape and scenario plan; they want an honest diagnosis of current operations, and a reasonable and compelling treatment recommendation. Sometimes the value of the program and the product is under serious examination, and the relevance of mission needs to be tested. Most often, questions regarding the capacity of leadership and talent surface, as do elements of culture: can the people and the culture we have now take us where we want to go? Transformation and change are the core of this planning endeavor, it’s a deep, long partnership, and the design of strategy happens within the execution of strategy -- and the plan is an iterative working approach to execution. It drives the organization towards new success.
You may see parts of your why in one or more of these buckets: often, we find clients begin with one why and discover another why as we set out on the journey together. Our work focuses on the NORTH STAR and the TRANSFORMATION projects because that’s what strategy is all about. Goals, tactics, and laundry lists of to do’s that drive effective execution follow the creation of a winning strategy. What is your why?