STRATEGY CENTRAL

How well does what your organization is designed to do…fit what you’re trying to do?  Oh…you might already be pushing back.  You might be saying, "We didn’t design anything" or "it was already like this when I came!"  But every organization has a design.  It just might not be a very good one.  Or a [...]

What is your objective when you do long-range planning?  What are you hoping to accomplish?  One of the whiteboard drawings that I often include in my work is a version of what you see to the left.  The point?  There is no problem-free solution.  Instead, every possible solution is really an opportunity to choose the [...]

When you carefully examine the likely scenarios for your organization…are there some things that get ruled out right away because everybody knows that that can never happen?  Word to the wise?  Be very careful that you don’t casually exclude some things because it’s common knowledge that those things can’t happen.  Puzzled?  Here’s a little to [...]

How aware is your organization of the need to thoughtfully develop your plan?  As you can probably tell by now it’s a little bit of a hobby horse with me…frustrating when there’s really no thought to consequences or effects of what is done.  Recently I wrote about the upside of constraints.

There’s a great parallel in [...]

Looking for a way to jiggle your organization out of the status quo?  How about this exercise from Turning the Future Into Revenue?  This will be a killer if you’re locked in a discussion about whether you’re actually keeping up with the times…or how quickly you’re becoming irrelevant.  Here’s how it works:

Spend some time pulling [...]

What’s your practice when you plan for the what’s next?  Are you reactive?  Inactive?  Or pre-active?  This is potentially a key insight about a reality of your planning DNA.  Clearly understanding your organization’s tendency is the first step in moving toward a healthier, more productive, planning perspective.

According to systems theorist Russell Ackoff there are [...]

As with many things, the key to developing strategy is asking the right questions.  There are several questions that are wrapped up within the process of developing a strategic plan.  Think about your organization as you look over these questions:

What?  This is the vision question.  What will our future look like?  What will we accomplish?  [...]

One of the speed bumps in choosing a strategy is the search for problem-free.  In fact, the notion that there is a problem-free solution almost always delays the implementation of strategy.  Why?  As your team discusses how to do what they’ve decided they need to do…there will almost always be sides chosen around at least [...]

We’ve all seen it.  Usually marked with a red star, alongside the words, "You Are Here."  Maybe you’ve seen it at the mall.  Or the airport.  Or Disneyland.  But you’ve seen it.

When you’ve seen it you’ve done a few predictable things.  Look around for landmarks…so you can see whether you are looking at the map [...]