Marcia’s Leadership Q&A

Q. I’ve had a company for over ten years. We weathered the pandemic, though it wasn’t easy. We’ve never had a Strategic Plan, nor has my Advisory Board. What’s the value of developing one now?

A. There are hundreds of businesses that have grown up and survived without a plan. Generally, those who have been successful have a leader or business owner who communicates directly and with an intense focus on the customer experience. However, it doesn’t mean that managing a company without a Plan is easy, but taking the time allows a team to discuss strategies for the future, not just react to current operations.  Leading with a plan can be challenging, too, but the leaders and boards who create a Strategic Plan go through the process of posing questions that need to be considered and answered; challenges and threats that need to be discussed; and opportunities that need to be defined and pursued.  

Defining the direction of the organization for the next month, year, and five years, allows everyone to be creative and share information and ideas to move forward together. The team can discuss the resources needed and what they want to accomplish together for the customers and developing future services, products, and markets. A Strategic Plan is the foundation for any organization. Without it a business can rapidly flounder, struggle, and react. When the pandemic hit, did your organization have a Pandemic Plan? Some did; most didn’t. For those that did, the team had had the freedom to discuss a crisis calmly and not under pressure or stress; they only had to review and adapt their plan. Creating a Plan together allows a leadership team to learn, work, improve, anticipate, and innovate together. Planning is powerful—if done well. There’s the traditional way of breaking down your organization into parts and silos (vision, mission statements, arbitrary numerical goals, a road map.) There’s a better way: use a Strategic Compass and look at how all of the essential parts of your business need to work together to serve your market.