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Strategy & Strategic Planning

The Foundation:

All things start from values. From values flow organizational purpose (i.e., vision or Ends), and in terms of accountability and authority, board governance becomes the initial source of accountability and authority, (and, therefore, must own and support the values and ends).

Values:

We believe that an organization must first identify and articulate its values. (see Values) We can provide an organization a values/ethics construct or framework from which an organization can identify its key values. We work not only with for-profits and non-profits, but with faith-based ministries and have considerable experience with a wide range of ministries, including international missions.

Our approach to ethics and values is to develop the values model interactively with attendees and assure that there is understanding (if not buy-in). Our belief is that values or virtues and ethics are, fundamentally, not a list but a system of core values from which all other virtues and ethics emerge. The virtues are, in fact, interdependent; they depend on one another for support. They strengthen each other. The model is powerful and comprehensive and has been taught in a wide variety of settings.

Purpose:

After values, no strategy for an organization can even begin without a clear view of the very purpose of the organization, its ends - why it exists and what it is to accomplish in its community. Many call this vision (although the word vision varies, depending on the user, which is why we prefer the more precise term, ends). Many organizations create mission statements that express what the organization does, but that is still at the level of means. All good strategy begins, however, with a clear view of what ends or results are to be accomplished. Ends and their measurement become the aligning and guiding star for the organization.

Governance:

The role of Board governance is vital because it includes the establishment and support of the organization's purpose which is stated as such in terms of board policy. The board must then support the organization and management as it plans the means to achieve the ends and position the organization for strength and sustainability.

Competencies:

The three competencies (above) are necessary for the work of strategic thinking (and planning) and are interdependent. Strategy cannot be successful unless the organizational fundamentals can support it. Strategy, in turn, may point to areas of need for improvement in fundamentals, improvement cannot occur without competence in quality, and quality improvement science can be used to continue to improve approaches to strategy.

Customer or client-focused:

We also believe that understanding the organization’s customers or clients, as well as the nature of the larger market, is a vital part of strategy. This deeper understanding of the customer or client is termed the Voice of the Customer (VOC). Listening to the voice the customer (be they clients, church members, patients, or citizen-customers, as in a governmental context) leads to “customer driven strategy.” When organizations look at prioritizing their strategic competencies and array truly strategic competencies by “drivers” versus effects, they discover that understanding the customer or client will rise to the level of being at or near the top in any ranking.

Method:

This construct, set out above, provides a framework for thinking about strategy. In terms of method, we have adopted a visual approach for arriving at wise strategy.

Value of Visual Thinking:

We particularly use, in the actual process of working with the client, pictorial and graphic means to assist in developing insight and strategy. This powerful approach to process is increasingly recognized for its ability to produce insight while being efficient. (See, for example, Dan Roam, Back of the Napkin)

Information relevant to development of the strategy needed by the organization to succeed (defined as successfully accomplishing and sustaining the ends) must be brought together and synthesized and a strategy “mapped.” We believe in the power of visual thinking to do that. Visual thinking permits a group of people to effectively and quickly synthesize the large amount of information and then see one’s “path” to what is required to succeed. Using visual thinking in the context of the planning group permits the digestion of an immense amount of information that is relevant to the strategic planning process - features of the organization itself and its current “position,” (e.g., strengths and weaknesses), features of the competition (or those components having the same effect as competition), and barriers to growth or achieving the vision, features and trajectories of the economy or other topographically important considerations, social, legal, regulatory/governmental, etc. The visual thinking evidence and our experience shows that digesting this information is done much faster and comprehensively when the data is converted to simple pictures (drawings). (The theoretical basis is that our brains have more visual processing power (by many times) than linguistic power. Pictures trump words.) To the extent possible we use those principles, which is probably still a bit rare among those facilitating strategy.

The Strategy Map:

The startling thing is that a group can, in fact, more quickly digest, and fruitfully discuss and think about complex issues and relationships when dealing with pictures of those things, even if very simple drawings. Key operational dimensions emerge which can be mapped - usually multidimensionally. People have no problem understanding the strategy maps and explaining them to others. We facilitate the group’s search for the key dimensions vital for the strategy and find a way to map those dimensions, (usually 3-4 dimensions). This entire process, in our experience, can take place in less than a day.

The product is a multidimensional strategy map that all can understand and can be used to convey to others, such as employees, funders or investors, the strategies the organization will pursue and how they fit together.

Development of key themes:

From the strategy map will emerge the key actions or "thematic goals" (if you’ve read Lencioni’s Silos, Politics, and Turf Wars) or, in Hoshin planning terms, "Hoshins," action themes that affect the organization multidimensionally - both in terms of positioning and in creating ends. Examples would be gains in to be achieved in certain key competencies or efficiencies, results-based metrics, product changes or adjustments, speed of service. Sufficient information may not be known (usually isn’t) to continue this process knowingly without doing research. For example, customer research is almost always required. Systems thinking (and possibly modeling) may be useful to really understand what is going on. Process studied for inefficiencies, poor quality, employee turnover, etc.

Action steps, ownership and execution:

Proceeding from key themes are the actions (processes and projects) required to accomplish the themes or Hoshins. A method of assigning accountability/ownership must be developed or adopted to allow leadership to track process and project progress, even if it is a simple Hoshin matrix which we can teach, dealing with ownership of themes, projects, action steps, dates, measures (“balanced” to assure sufficient breadth of monitoring), etc.

Philosophically we believe in simple planning methods, simple tools, and simple communication and tracking.

What is Hoshin Planning?

The best technique we know for managing and tracking effective follow-through of thematic goals (sub-strategies) is Hoshin Planning, developed in Japan to assure ever improving strategy and its execution. It came out of lessons learned from the quality movement. It is based on first identifying the key needed organization-wide themes or sub-strategies (as mentioned above) required to achieve the desired vision (prepare for the future, strengthen weaknesses, etc.). Next is identifying the key action steps or projects to be achieved from that list of thematic goals or sub-strategies and then cascading the strategic “theme,” or Hoshin, down through the organization with each level crafting a complementary set of sub-strategies that will advance the corporate-wide strategy. This is similar to the simplified planning approach that author Patrick Lencioni suggests in his book Silos, Politics and Turf Wars.

The beauty and power of this approach is its flexibility and applicability to all types of organizations, for-profit, non-profit and governmental.

An added ability the BroadBaker Group can bring to the client’s approach to strategic thinking is the use of systems dynamics and dynamic modeling to test assumptions and mental models. (See our insert on systems dynamics.)

Complexity in our systems, economics, and human relations threatens the capacity for strategic planning. Yet within the complexity of the situation is tremendous power that reveal opportunities for synergy buried in the immensity of details. However, many models for simplifying complexity, such as critical success factors thinking, mitigate or eliminate opportunities by simplifying complexity in ways that hide or even eliminate the richness of the reality. Systems thinking offers a framework and a set of tools that enable simplification but retains the essential richness - a richness that is loaded with potential for sustained high performance.

Interested?

Contact us.

The BroadBaker Group can assist and facilitate in strategic thinking, including Hoshin Planning, long view and contingency-based techniques, dynamic modeling, and VOC-based approaches.

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