The plan: A lot has been written about strategic planning, strategy management, and strategic foresight, scanning, framing, and forecasting, but little has been written about how to make the plan come to life.
This is partly due to the lofty value placed on visioning and strategies, which is what leaders do. Getting the strategic plan right is hard to do, but implementing it is even harder.
While teams are assembled and meetings held to build consensus and bring ideas to the table, in the end the strategic plan is a document signed by leadership that details the vision, mission, and goals of the firm. In essence, the plan lays out what the firm will do differently in the future. And everyone’s job depends on it.
Old School/New School
In the past, taking the plan off the shelf and putting it into action was often delegated to second- or third-tier teams. Today we know that leadership is all about getting the team excited about the strategic plan, but more important, it is about implementing it.
We now know that a leader must be deeply involved in the plan’s implementation because without leadership’s support of implementation, the plan is abstract and of little practical use. We know that without direct leadership involvement in implementation, it simply won’t happen. IBM’s recent television campaign says it succinctly: “Don’t say it, do it.”
Only when actual outcomes meet or exceed strategic goals do you know that your plan is on target and that it is being implemented effectively. If the outcomes don’t match the plan, you have a problem. And likely it’s bigger than you might think.
And if you do not have or are not effectively using the tools for implementation, you are likely missing out on more than a few stretch goals. The tools used for implementation are the same tools used to make good companies great, and great companies stars. These tools will help make good things happen and better things happen consistently in organizations.
The Tools of Implementation
Implementation is all about making good things — no, great things —happen. And to come full circle, this is the essence of the strategic plan — to mold a vision and watch it unfold. The process (not the outcome) is somewhat formulaic. Several events must occur before a full plan can be realized. They may fall in different orders, but generally a good plan has the following attributes:
• A SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis of your firm’s true strengths and real-world weaknesses. It is also important to look on the horizon of change and think through the opportunities and competitive threats in the markets.
• An analysis of your personnel’s strengths and weaknesses. Greenway’s LEAP analysis efficiently identifies the core competencies and the challenges of leadership. Some firms also use Greenway’s LEAP meritocracy program that measures not only a firm’s cultural performance but each leader’s performance as well.
• An analysis of the forces that come from the outside. Michael Porter’s five forces framework helps identify competition and the underlying economics.
• Identifying and stating clearly the vision, mission, and values of the organization.
• Finally, setting goals, both realistic and stretch. Voila: the strategic plan.
From Strategy to Implementation
Getting from smart ideas to action requires serious attention and fortitude to a supporting set of practices. Four things are necessary for success: marketing, operations, finance, and professional services. If any of these are missing, a firm’s performance will be marginalized. Next, there are tools because let’s face it, architects, engineers, and designers tend to be very hands-on.
With these implementation tools, you can move from strategic goals to outcomes directly linked to goals. This is the whole point — to have outcomes measurably meet and surpass the initial envisioning goals. For that move to happen, the tools must align with the goals and with each other. For obvious reasons, this relationship is often called alignment, and it sometimes requires aligning disparate tools.
Tool Time
This is where the tools and organizational structures of the firm support the strategic goals. Most organizations align around five factors:
• Staff • Clients • Projects • Technology • Delivery systems
When these are aligned, they are supported and strengthened by each other.
To help you visualize: Imagine an octopus that has just grabbed a juicy mollusk. The body of the octopus is the strategic goal, the tentacles are the tools, and the mollusk is the measurable outcome. The octopus either eats or starves or something in between. Unfortunately, many firms occupy the area in between, based on surveys conducted by Greenway Group and DesignIntelligence. But organizations need not languish in mediocrity; you’re looking for the feast and the prosperity brought about by the agile execution of your strategic plan.
The Right Staff
Having the right staff in the right position with the right training is the fundamental key to successful implementation. If you do nothing else, this alone will keep your organization alive.
For effective implementation, one in which outcomes match and even exceed goals, it is important to make sure that every employee be involved with implementation. To do that, staff needs the skills to carry out the plan, and to do that, staff needs the resources and training. That is where leadership plays its critical hand.
When everything is in place with your people, it is crucial to make sure that incentives are aligned with actions. Unless staff have real incentives to implement the plan, they will not commit to it. Simply put: Reward good behavior, discipline bad behavior. This thread must weave through daily communication at all levels, performance reviews, salary adjustments, and bonus configuration.
Remember, with your staff you must always:
• Create energy that is focused on your priority goals.
• Communicate priorities daily in presentations and written documents and e-mails.
• Recognize the phases that people go through when coping with change and coach them — bring intensity to recognition.
• Manage yourself through times of transition — you are the role model for change and new firm health.
• Coach and encourage employees when behavior indicates they are stuck, struggling, or resistive.
The Client Fit
Cultivate clients that know you and support you. This is sometimes called emotional branding. Communicate your vision, mission, and goals clearly and early to clients in language that is relevant to them. On a regular basis and in progress reviews, ask clients to provide input concerning the value of your vision and how well it is being implemented. Consider using a third party to get candid feedback. Reach out for that real feedback from people you know who will tell you the truth. And tell them the truth.
The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz offers a code of conduct that can transform your relationship with clients and staff:
• Be impeccable with your word. Speak with integrity; say only what you mean.
• Don’t take anything personally. What others say or do is a projection of their reality, not yours. Don’t be the victim of needless suffering.
• Don’t make assumptions. Communicate as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstanding and drama.
• Always do your best. Under any circumstance, whether you are 100 percent or 5 percent, simply do your best and avoid self judgment.
Healthy Projects
All your projects should support your vision and mission. Not 75 percent of them, but all of them. Look into the rear view mirror and consider those projects and clients you wish you had never had. Keep in perspective that many firms have a history of over 90 percent of projects being profitable. This is healthy, realistic, and achievable.
Technology in Motion
Technology is all about getting things done efficiently, which is why it’s an essential tool, not just for documenting projects but for all you do. In the age of information, you cannot have too much of it. You can mismanage it, but you can’t have too much.
Information management is all about progression and documentation. All staff, client, projects, and delivery systems need to align with technology so that you are exactly where you want to be. Progression is all about moving and keeping on track.
Documentation allows you to track where you were, where you are, and where you’re going. Manage your electronic filing. Have a file name, file path, and date on every piece of information generated in your office.
Connecting the Dots with Delivery Systems
The delivery system tool is all encompassing. From office procedures to project procedures, it’s all about getting from point A to point Z with the least amount of resistance, the greatest amount of fun and creativity, and all the time building your assets.
When you see a successful process, get your staff to document it. Then get everyone to use it. This is where your employees get pumped. Because when they come up with a good idea, everyone tries it on. Some will work better than others, but some will definitely work exceptionally well. There is nothing more annihilating to the creative spirit than to be pigeon-holed into a script that never varies.
Remember the CAD layering systems? They don’t work for everyone. But getting all the CAD technicians to work continually on layering will fire everyone up and get the best product. The best unified CAD layering delivery system has potential for making a project great. You get the picture.
The same delivery system tool works with communications, office procedures, project procedures, marketing, and contracts. As a leader, you set the standard, throw out the net, and see what you bring in. Chances are that the bright, well-trained staff you’ve hired will figure out the processes and get them documented.
Goal-Driven Performance
Finally, check for alignment of your goals with all your organizational tools. Are you and your staff 100 percent on board, does your client buy into your unique brand, are your projects distinct and defining, is your technology up-to-the-minute, and do your office procedures and delivery systems support your goals? If so, then you are on the road.
Remember the 1957 Chevrolet? It was the perfect alignment of design and implementation. Chevrolet put its brightest engineers to work on it, and it was everyone’s dream. It was and still is unique, it was mass produced, and it made the company money. It wasn’t enough to have a good idea, and it still isn’t. That’s why today nearly everyone over the age of 20 knows exactly what you mean when you talk about the ’57 Chevy.
Backing up and Going Around
Because everything changes, you must have a back-up and go-around plan. Just like your plan for backing up the data on your computers, you need a backup and go-around plan for everything else.
• For your STAFF, everyone needs to know what their primary responsibilities are and who they back up. When someone is out for a short time, or for an extended time staff should be on autopilot without any direction from management. Have a written plan with names, responsibilities, and backup responsibilities. Make sure everyone, including you, is covered.
• For CLIENTS, strategize your projects so that when a client comes in that you just cannot turn away, you can fully engage them with talented staff without ruining relationships you have with faithful long-term clients.
• For PROJECTS, diversify with small, medium, and large projects. If a project gets pulled, you’re ready with the next in line. It’s like the surgery board at Seattle Grace Hospital.
• Backing up TECHNOLOGY should not even be discussed here, but it needs to be said in case you don’t know this. You cannot spend too much time or money on backing up your data because this is a protection of your investment. Consider two information systems: one that has access to the outside world trading information and one that does not for secure information.
• DELIVERY SYSTEMS. Try something new. Collaborate with someone you admire. Provide a service that you think would add value for your clients and figure out how to make money doing it. Commissioning is a concept someone came up with and now some clients demand it.
Communicate your Message of Significance
Let everyone know that implementation is a critical key to your success. Tell everyone that you follow through and that you have backup and go-around plans in writing. Send out your messages of significance to everyone who will listen, paying particular attention to those who are giving you something in return.
Now get everyone around you to do the same thing. Once you have the implementation bug, it’s hard to be around people who don’t value it as well. Staff who are all talk become intolerable (and get fired). Clients who tell you one thing and then do another become intolerable (and get fired). Train and mentor everyone you connect with.
If you are doing a particular project type because you love doing it but it does not align with the other tools, you fire it too. Technology that doesn’t work gets replaced. Delivery systems that make the front page of journals but don’t improve your assets get put aside until the right client and project come into the picture. It’s all about alignment.
Projects that align with your goals and produce measurable success are more fun and make more profits. Life is good and it keeps getting better, consistently.
