Strategic Planning often dies a quiet death as the well-intentioned plans are relegated to a shelf in someone's office!
After having invested hours researching and prioritizing the goals of your organization, proudly sharing with all stakeholders the collective vision of the future, you find your Strategic Plan has failed to bring about the changes you envisioned. How frustrating to be a part of something to see it fail before your eyes. The next time you are asked to volunteer your time on such a project you will think twice before agreeing.
How could this happen you wonder. A critical component of the Strategic Planning process is accountability. When we are finalizing the plans we have painstakingly prepared, the responsibility for carrying out the strategy and tactics must be clearly assigned. Every member of the organization has a responsibility to hold themselves, and each other, accountable to report progress on a timely basis.
The measurements and timelines must be clearly understood and realistic. The reporting and metrics need to be agreed to as part of the final plans, and the schedule for reporting progress must be followed. In one community where we wanted to hold each other accountable, I had a banner created and hung on the wall as a constant reminder of our promise to the community and each other of the importance of our shared vision and goals. You can be sure we were prepared to discuss our progress each meeting, and even noted our accomplishments on the banner as a way to visibly check the boxes as we completed assigned tasks.
Obviously, there are other pitfalls to staying on track with your plans, like selecting unrealistic goals or timelines, not having the resources to carry out your strategies due to changing internal or external factors, etc.. However, I have talked with many organizations in both the public and private sectors who will tell you proudly they have a Strategic Plan, and they may even be able to find it on a shelf somewhere, but then have no idea why it failed to achieve the goals selected.
To be successful in achieving your Strategic Plan, you must include specific actions plans around each goal chosen and hold each other accountable for reporting progress. Nothing is as satisfying as noting your organizations progress during review of the Strategic Plan, especially when you see the vision you created come to fruition. If you currently have a Strategic Plan gathering dust on a shelf in your office, give me call and we can discuss ideas for putting it back into circulation!