Strategic Planning Post COVID-19

My client Brian is the president of a billion-dollar nationwide company. His email popped up in my inbox with an unusual subject line: The disciplined pursuit of less.

I thought it was an article. It wasn't.

"I'm kicking off the first round of our FY21 AOP on Monday afternoon, using for the first time the Hoshin Kanri x-matrix tool. I'd appreciate your help in shaping my thinking into how we get exponentially better at prioritizing and truly focusing on less. We have the propensity for distraction – running toward new, shiny objects … I have specific thoughts on how to approach this that I'd love to bounce off of you."

A few seconds into the Zoom call and a slide deck appeared on the shared screen. Brian wanted to walk me through his presentation.

I blacked out and asked for a time out.

We spent the next few minutes defining a clear outcome of our 30 minutes together. We always achieve clarity about what Brian wants to walk away at the end of our coaching.

He wanted to achieve a higher focus, fewer projects, greater impact in a shorter time.

But the leadership team struggled to focus on less. Why?

Because they view the business through different lens.

With such realization 10 minutes into the call, I thought we finished. We didn't. Brian returned to his agenda on HOW to select 1-3 winning projects out of 8 initiatives.

He focused on the strategy rather than on the senior leadership obstacle to sharing the "same lens."

The problem wasn't the strategic process. It was a different lens. The executives operated with different preconceived assumptions, hard-wired mindsets, and limiting beliefs.

How can a leadership team agree on the strategy when they don't share a similar vision of the future?

I ask every executive team I work with write the vision as they see it. For a team of 8 members, we typically get on average 7 variations. 

Strategic efforts doom to fail until the leadership team writes the same vision.

The versions are reflections of the different assumptions, beliefs, and mindsets.

"What would your email look like a year ago in May 2019?" I asked Brian.

Silence. Long Silence. "It wouldn't be different," Brian replied.

Does it make sense?

COVID-19 changed the world. We don't know what the new world is going to look like. Let's look at the preconceived assumptions:

1. FY21 – Annual planning process (is it right, post-COVID-19?)
2. AOP (Annual Operation Plan) - Operational focus inward-out rather than outward-in.
3. Hoshin Kanri x-matrix tool – What are long and short terms in a disruptive world?

These are underlying assumptions the executive team members have made.

Brian let go of the original agenda and closed the slide deck.

He decided to show nothing. He would ask questions. He would find a shared 'lens.' They will agree on the strategic priorities once they agree on the lens.

Are you aware of your individual and collective assumptions, beliefs, and mindsets?

What might prevent you from making and executing the right decisions?

Who's your outsider partner to alert you of dangerous blind spots?