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by Michael Cote.
Original Post: "Strategic Planning Redux"
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Blue-sky strategic planning emphasizes a vision with little attention paid to
rigorous homework or to the details of how to execute the vision. The strategy
falls into the no-man's-land between vision statement and concrete action.
Because the strategy is vague, it does not force the organization to make choices
or to build whole-hearted organizational commitment. Any initiative can be
made to fit, ultimately creating initiative overload.
The blue-sky approach also fails to answer the question, "What do people on the
front lines do differently tomorrow?" For example, Eastman Kodak's strategy "to
drive digital imaging to new markets" was first articulated eight years ago. Few
would disagree with this strategy given the changes in Kodak's business. Yet it
remained elusive even as Kodak's leading position in its traditional film market
eroded. Misguided efforts, a raft of overlapping initiatives, and organizational
confusion have created a lot of activity but little progress.
Blue-sky planning also neglects to tie strategy to financial performance.
Financial projections might be asserted (usually in the shape of a hockey stick),
but the strategic and operational drivers of financial performance do not get
identified or incorporated into the process. When the economics of the business
are not explicit, no one in the organization knows which metrics matter and
what to benchmark to see if they are on the right path.
As the question "What do people on the front lines do differently tomorrow?" implies, the report focuses on nitty-gritty things to do instead of vague, feel goodie plans. Then again, there's not too much explosive that can be done in just 12 pages.
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