How can lean thinking streamline your strategic planning process?

Lean thinking places a strong emphasis on identifying and delivering value to the customer. When applied to strategic planning, it encourages you to start with a deep understanding of customer needs and market dynamics. This customer-centric perspective ensures that your strategies align with what truly matters to your target audience.

One thing that I find useful is showing yourself and team grace as you encourage learning from failures. It's also important to fail early and cheap so that there is room for more experimentation for better results that will foster value and efficiency.

Lean reverse-engineers your way of working. In conventional planning, you start with a solution in mind. Your solution will then be conceptualised & estimated in terms of budget, time and expected results. Which in itself is an "un-lean" process as you are already losing resources before knowing if your solution will deliver (customer & business) value and return on its investment. In Lean we turn around this way of working. Instead of: solution > big planning > big investment > implementation > go to market > testing > discovering problems > gone are the resources. We work like this: Discovering problems > Research > Design a solution > Go To Market > Testing > Traction: yes? > Big planning & Big investment. Traction: no? > Course-correct!

In my experience, lean thinking always takes root in going back to basics and asking fundamental questions. Before resorting to abstraction layers. I really find it useful to ask the critical questions and find answers in layman's terms then gradually expand upon that as needed. this way you achieve the true desired outcomes with highest resource efficiency. It's about outcomes not fancy words and jargon.

Start by identifying what adds real value to your strategy – the core objectives and outcomes. Anything not directly contributing to these goals is excess and should be minimized or removed. This approach encourages a focus on simplicity and clarity, avoiding over-complication. Apply lateral thinking to find innovative, straightforward solutions to achieve these core objectives. Regularly review and adjust your strategy, staying agile and responsive. Lean thinking in strategic planning is not about doing more with less, but about doing what's essential more effectively, ensuring a focused, efficient approach to achieving strategic goals.

These below examples demonstrate how different industries leverage lean thinking in various aspects of their operations: ?Automotive Industry: Toyota’s “Just-In-Time” production strategy is a classic example. This methodology minimized waste, reducing excess inventory and improving efficiency in the manufacturing process. ?Retail Chains: Amazon is a prime example. Its approach to continual improvement, evident in the way it manages its supply chain, product delivery, and customer service, has allowed the company to respond to customer demands rapidly. Healthcare Sector: Many hospitals have applied lean principles to streamline their processes, reduce waiting times, and improve patient care.