Strategy. Implementation. Disconnect... and Winston Churchill

How much time do organisations spend on Awaydays, planning for their future? And how useful is it?

This article suggests you spend more than you know, and less than you think! And that you could be wasting your time and money in any event.

We suggest that the time spent preparing for, discussing during, and pontificating afterwards is often forgotten when estimating the cost. It's more than just the room or facilitator hire... it should include the loss of leadership status, diversion from the business, and wasted opportunity.

And if you do manage to craft something that you're proud of...then what?

I'll drag in Winston Churchill at this point, who is reputed to have said "No matter how beautiful the strategy, sometimes you just need to look at the results" And I guess he knows something about turning strategy into action.

So, how. Let us share five steps to turn strategy into action.
So, You've decided to read on. Is that driven by idle curiosity, or the knowledge that you want to face the challenge of making a success out of the change you've carefully planned?

Let me share how we deal with the thorny problem of turning strategy into action - based on working in and with many organisations in financial and busienss services, through probably thirty different strategic planning sessions, or Awaydays. In five steps.

They're not easy, mind - and don't even begin to address the need to lead change, redesign the processes you go through, nor changing the mindset of the people in your business. That comes later. For now, all you nee is...

• Vision. The purists call this a mission statement. We're not convinced that it really matters what you call it, but you need some purpose to your organisation. Your purpose can be purely selfish, but few people buy into that kind of view. Better to have something that others believe in. Why? It can be useful because when the going gets tough, it's less difficult if you know your people are rooting for a shared purpose. It is useful when you determine your strategy, as we see next;
• Strategy. This the the translation point between the vision and real-life, because it provides a natural rational route from the existential 'why are we here' question to the prosaic 'so what does that mean' planning;
• Critical Success Factors. These begin to turn strategy into concrete action, by asking organisations to identify the major requirements that will help or hinder the strategy;
• Key Performance Indicators. Knowing the success factors allow organisations to agree the steps needed to meet or defeat the CSFs mentioned above. Here's where we introduce SMART (or some other acronym) objectives, including what; when; how much and how measured;
• Action steps. Even up until this stage, we've just planned. Sure, they're more realistic, because we've taken ideals and introduced practicalities - but now need something to happen.

If you'd like, we can talk specifics about organisations we've helped before. We could even talk about how we can help you reach your goals. Not rhoguh coaching or planning, but through action. After all, us operational types like to make things happen!