Strategic Planning Definitions

Common Strategic Definitions – Helping us Communicate

 

ENDS:

Phase A – Ideal Future Vision

Vision: Aspirational – Idealistic: the vision is about where you want to be in the future – what you are shooting for, what you want to become, what mountain you want to climb.  They can be short and sweet and should inspire and be easy to remember.   The best vision statements out there have two things – they preserve the core (your current success) and stimulate progress.  We should always start thinking with the desired state in mind.  A succinct vision (with a solid narrative to back it up) should inspire the people in the organization that can help make the vision a reality.  A good vision statement should also help define why you exist (in the eyes of the customer).  Vision statements help us soar – while mission statement keeps us grounded.   Vision should not be about how – but rather what or where you hope to go and why. 

Mission: Pragmatic – Realistic – what is the business you want to be in vs. the activities that you do today and into the foreseeable future? It’s a declaration of your reason for being, why you exist (if not in vision) but above that, it concerns itself with the content of your business, who you serve, and what you produce for clients as outcome benefits.  It’s focussed on what you need to be today – your mission, in order to drive you towards your future vision.  Mission is not what activities we do – it’s not about the “how” you will do it.  For example, a car manufacturer would not have a mission that says – “We build affordable great cars” but perhaps, rather, “We give you affordable freedom that enables the life you want”. 

Core Values:  these are the soul or culture of you or your group.  Core values inform both the mission and the vision.   They often start with “we believe”  “we commit” or “we value”.   Core values can be thought of as “the way we do our business”.  As a best practice capture the positive values that you currently possess and not what you aspire to be or want people to buy into – they are what you already are, and what you stand for.   You will need to live your core values in order for them to bring your vision to life.   

 

ENDs

Phase B Key Success or Performance Measures (Outcomes)

Performance Measures or Key Success Measures (KSM’s) – help us to determine if we are on course or not, and answers the question, “How do we know we are being successful, and how will know when we get to achieving our vision?”   Often KSM’s are expressed as goals and objectives (see below)

 

Goals – high level, far reaching, hard to attain, keep you focussed on working towards, often never ending.  Remember the word GO in goals – GOALS keep you GOING, working and motivated.  Keep them simple and avoid using verbs and action words in your goals.  Goals should last for a while for most organizations.  Achieving our goals will take us steps closer to realizing our vision. 

Objectives – this is where we start to get more specific.  Objectives – think OBJECTS – things you could actually touch or measure or determine when you actually achieve them.  The objectives in a strategic plan are likely to change over time as some get achieved and other objectives replace them.    Good objectives are SMART (specific, measurable, agreed upon, realistic, and timely).  Objectives should answer the question “We want …………..”      Again avoid using action words like minimize, move toward, maximize, utilize, etc.  Save those statements for your strategies.   The objectives are what must be achieved so that you can demonstrate that you are working towards your goals and subsequently your vision.   Objectives are the “whats” you need to achieve.   What do we want to be!! The objectives are the outputs/outcomes that we are shooting for – for a desired future state.  These are the ENDS that we want.

 

MEANS

Phase D Bridging the Gap

Strategies or Priorities – these are where the strategic thinking really starts to come into play – this is where you actually have to start committing resources and inspiring action. Strategies are the MEANS to the ENDS.  You are revealing your game plan in your strategies.  You are starting to define the how – your approach for achieving the objective.   Only time will tell if your chosen strategy will actually help you achieve your stated objective.  If it doesn’t you have to change your strategies.  Strategies may change often, and can be short and sweet and general.  For instance using a hockey analogy – if one of your objectives is to win 15 of 20 hockey games – a strategy could be “improve defence”.     Strategies are the business glue that integrates and holds an organization together. 

 Activities/Projects/Tactics – now the rubber is hitting the road – this is the stuff that we actually do, usually specific.   This is the “what and how” you are going to do to achieve “what” you want – your objectives and vision.   These activities are usually time-limited and will need to be updated, validated, scraped, as you complete them and review and refine your plan.   Building on the hockey analogy above – activities could be, hire a defence coach, and recruit the number one defensive draft pick, institute strength and conditioning coach for the defensemen.   If after 14 games you have lost 10 on only won 14 with the activities you are focused on then – its time to try a different strategy – perhaps, improve offence.

Hockey Analogy:

Vision:  An enduring hockey legacy – a dynasty like no other

Mission:  For our game, our team and our fans, building an entertaining hockey experience – nothing compares or comes close

Goal: Win the Stanley Cup

Objective(s): Win 15 of the next 20 games

Strategy(s):  Improve offence

Tactic(s):  Hire number one offensive coach in the league, and recruit number one offensive draft pick. 

Personal Work Example:

Vision:  Dedicated father – striving to bring open, thoughtful, honest light in all my spheres of influence.

Mission: Family, career, me – balanced approach influencing others to excel and be compelled to action and achievement

Goal: Inspire to aspire, and guide the way

Objective(s): 10 of 20 in my circle find and challenge their “Everest” by 2012

Strategy(s):  Focus on the touch points in my existing circles

Tactic(s):  Spend 15 minutes a day connecting with those in my circle that I have a chance connect with and find a way to get them to take steps in a positive direction (i.e.  Get them to verbalize what they want)