A strategic plan is a roadmap for achieving your vision and goals as an executive leader. But it's not enough to create a plan and forget about it. You need to keep it relevant and effective in the face of changing circumstances, opportunities, and challenges. Here are some tips on how to do that.
Don't let your strategic plan gather dust on a shelf. Review it at least quarterly, or more often if needed, to assess your progress, identify gaps, and adjust your actions and priorities. Use data and feedback to measure your outcomes and impact, and compare them to your expectations and benchmarks. Celebrate your successes, learn from your failures, and acknowledge your risks.
A prime example is our experience at Shopgreen.gr in 2023. When our traditional marketing strategies underperformed, we swiftly pivoted to TikTok. This shift resulted in a 160% increase in sales, 220% growth in website sessions, and an 89% boost in conversion rates. By regularly reassessing our strategy and being agile in our approach, we turned potential setbacks into remarkable success.
In my perspective, these are the top ten recommendations to enhance corporate strategic plans and ensure converting data and insights into decisions and actions that enhances the organization's profitability and resilience. 1. Regularly conduct market researh. 2. Ensure having clear Vision 3. Adhere to SMART Goals. 4. Embrace cross-functional collaboration. 5. Allocate adequate and competent resources. 6. Identify risks and develop contingency plans. 7. Incorporate regular feedback mechanisms for adjustments. 8. Remain flexible and adapt to changing market conditions. 9. Involve employees and communicate the strategy's benefits. 10. Ensure the strategies support long-term sustainable growth and innovation.
An example I have seen is when your strategic plan is directly embedded in your FP&A process, and it is used for communicating the target to the FP&A team before the budget review meeting is even scheduled. That way sandbagging is reduced, and the review meeting is more productive with a discussion around variance to target rather than having the mysterious "plug to target" simply "inserted" or "included" in the plan - which defeats the real purpose of setting the strategic direction to begin with...
Always review this and make changes as needed. Letting something sit and be stagnant will not support your growth goals. Monthly report outs on the KPI's against the overall goal allow for changes that support the overall push forward.
In my experience a strategic approach, though having to be subject to review, agile and able to adopt to changing circumstances, need some extent of stability and consistency. The work plan - annual, quarterly etc, derived from the strategic planning process is to be the focus of intense review and constant evaluation in order to make sure that the strategic goals are being served and the organization moving in the right direction.
Your strategic plan is not only yours, but also your team's, your organization's, and your customers'. Involve them in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of your strategy. Solicit their input, feedback, and ideas, and communicate your vision, goals, and actions clearly and frequently. Build trust, alignment, and collaboration among your stakeholders, and leverage their strengths and resources.
The most important stakeholder is ultimately your customer. Therefore, regularly update your strategic plan based on real-time customer feedback to ensure it addresses evolving needs and preferences. Use data analytics and direct engagement to keep a pulse on customer behavior and market trends. By continuously aligning your strategy with customer insights, you'll stay agile, relevant, and poised for long-term success.
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My workers feel empowered when they also have a say with the company's overall strategy. As the leader, I show them the way - point them in the direction of the North Star of where the company aims to be. They then tell me what they think can be done within their role, and then we write it down and execute it. It's also important to review and see where things are holding periodically to make sure everything is on track and nothing falls in between the cracks.
A blend of agility, strategic foresight, and human-centric practices is essential for building a sustainable and successful business in today's dynamic market. 1. Human-centric Approach: Placing people at the center of business strategies. 2. Internal Communication is Key: Sharing customer feedback with teams daily promotes transparency and keeps everyone aligned. 3. Holistic Evaluation Process: Filtering demands through the product's future and considering customers signifies a balanced outlook. 4. Innovative Communication Tools: Using Slack or a similar tool can be effective in genuine relationships. 5. Relationship-building Over Transactional Interactions: Stresses the importance of treating customers as partners in the journey.
Absolutely, collaboration is key to success. By involving all stakeholders in our strategic planning and execution, we harness a collective strength that propels us towards our goals. Monthly and annual KPI's help track against the strategic plan and celebrate success!
I totally agree. Having all stakeholders, at all levels, feeling ownership is essential. This can only be achieved by the active involvement by all parties from the beginning of the strategic process, within and outside the organization.
Your strategic plan should not be isolated from the external factors that affect your organization and industry. Scan your environment regularly for trends, opportunities, threats, and changes that may impact your strategy. Use tools such as SWOT analysis, PESTEL analysis, or Porter's five forces to assess your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, and how they relate to your political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal context.
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While this is true, and needs to be done, it's also important to think of creative ways to stand out above the competition. A leader needs to always think about how to be different, and how to give more added value in order to stand out, all while remaining true to the data in the SWOT & PESTEL analysis and/ pr Porter's five forces.
Though this is true, especially to identify significant, but somehow, general trends, this needs to be accompanied by extensive and exhaustive analysis of organizational data relevant to its core business to leverage insights critical for obtaining a clear assessment of the opportunities and challenges facing the organization
Sometimes we get so focused on the strategic plan that we forget the bigger picture. ... stay focused but always ensure that you see the full picture and realign your strategy where needed.
1. Stay Ahead of Change: With rapid advancements in technology, shifts in consumer behavior, and geopolitical developments, no organization can afford to be reactive. Scanning helps businesses to anticipate change and adjust their strategies accordingly. 2. Risk Management: By being aware of external threats and challenges, organizations can develop contingency plans, thereby mitigating potential risks. 3. Leveraging Opportunities: By identifying trends and shifts early on, businesses can capitalize on emerging opportunities that their competitors might overlook. 4. Informed Decision Making: Decision-makers are better equipped when they have comprehensive data about the external environment.
When 'scanning' the environment for potential enablers or disruptors of any strategic plan, any proposed changes should be carefully evaluated to ensure that neither the strategy nor the goals are compromised in terms of costs or quality. Often times, a change in strategy is necessitated by causes that may not have been fully accounted for, or even well understood. In such cases, before making any change to the strategy, see if revising the expected goals, but not so much the strategy makes better sense. Alternatively, see if strategy revisions help you deal with the changes better and help you meet or exceed your goals and expectations.
Your strategic plan should not be rigid and fixed, but flexible and agile. Be ready to adapt your strategy to changing conditions, new information, or unexpected events. Don't be afraid to experiment, innovate, or pivot when necessary, but also don't lose sight of your vision and goals. Use a framework such as OKR (objectives and key results) or SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound) to set and track your goals and results, and adjust them as needed.
"Be stubborn on vision but flexible on details," as Jeff Bezos said during my time at Amazon. Meaning, maintaining a clear long-term objective while allowing room to adapt strategies as circumstances change. Periodic reviews and quick adjustments keep your plan agile, ensuring it meets the demands of an ever-changing environment.
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In today's chaotic work landscape, there are many changes to account for. Sometimes the entire ship needs to be steered in a completely different direction due to a drastic change in the industry. Leaders need to be flexible and to know how to pivot quickly. Most importantly, they have to communicate these changes with their workers and have the workers make some suggestions regarding some of the changes.
While having a clear vision is paramount, the path to achieving it in today's world is rarely linear. An agile and flexible approach ensures that organizations can navigate the twists and turns effectively: 1. Rapidly Changing Environments: The digital age has increased the pace of change in almost every industry. What works today might not work tomorrow. 2. Resilience to Shocks: Whether it's geopolitical events, market crashes, or global pandemics, agility ensures businesses can withstand and recover quickly from disruptive shocks. 3. Staying Competitive: An organization that can pivot quickly can often outmaneuver larger, less agile competitors, seizing new market opportunities or addressing emergent customer needs.
Your strategic plan should not be unrealistic or unfeasible, but aligned with your resources and capabilities. Make sure you have the financial, human, technological, and physical resources to execute your strategy, and allocate them wisely and efficiently. Also, make sure you have the skills, knowledge, and competencies to deliver your strategy, and invest in learning and development for yourself and your team.
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Instead of dictating what should be done, let your workers set realistic goals and expectations for themselves. It helps give them the motivation they need, and they also feel that they're involved in the bigger picture.
A strategic plan that isn't in sync with available resources and capabilities is essentially setting up for failure: 1. Conduct a Resource Audit: Regularly evaluate your financial, technological, human, and physical resources. 2. Skills and Capability Assessment: Understand the current skill set of your team. Are there gaps in knowledge/skills that need to be filled to achieve your strategic goals? 3. Budgeting and Financial Planning: Ensure your strategic goals are reflected in your financial plans. This includes budget allocations, expected returns, and contingency planning 4. Prioritize: Not all strategic objectives can be pursued simultaneously, especially if resources are limited. Decide what needs immediate attention and what can wait
Your strategic plan should not be developed or implemented in a vacuum, but with feedback and support from others. Seek feedback from your peers, mentors, coaches, or consultants, and use it to improve your strategy and performance. Seek support from your network, partners, or alliances, and use it to enhance your reach and impact. Seek feedback and support from your stakeholders, and use it to build trust and loyalty.
Seeking Advice is one of the intangible aspects in business, the critical aspects is knowing how to utilise advice and action it. A board chasing after shot term gains is useless but a board passionate about creating long term sustainable value is helpful and might not come from shareholders but from industry enthusiasm. Legal advice can make or break you, a legal advice incentivised around hourly chargeouts vs. Fixed and result driven advice which you can appreciate in value matters. Also for advice you need to seek out what is the pain and fix it, how to fix it can cover various aspects, and then also allocate what could be a pain to you, and seeks subsequent advice. Support comes from building the network of "believers".
Stay ahead of the curve. Continuously analyze trends, adapt to market changes, and embrace innovation. With a clear vision, agile mindset, and unwavering commitment, we ensure our strategic plan remains relevant, effective, and impactful.
In a rapidly changing landscape, a fixed strategy can sometimes become more of a trap than a roadmap, locking you into outdated objectives or tactics. Adaptability often trumps planning; when the market zigzags, a rigid strategy won't let you zag with it. Over-reliance on a set plan can also stifle creativity and innovation, making you blind to unexpected opportunities. Think of strategy as a sketch, not a blueprint; it outlines the vision but should leave room for improvisation and real-time adjustments.