The Pitfall of the Strategic Plan
Why strategic planning shouldn’t end with the strategic plan
It happens all the time. You embark on a strategic planning process, building synergy and direction for what's ahead. Then, the feeling of accomplishment you have once the plan is finalized turns to... well, nothing. The next thing you know, it’s six months or a year down the road and no progress has been made. In fact, it hasn’t even started. You step back to figure out what happened and then you see it. Everyone just went back to their day jobs. Business as usual. They didn't know (or perhaps some didn't want to know) that you envisioned them planning and carrying out the next steps. Or, more likely, they just didn’t know how.
We see this all the time — great organizations with great plans that are stuck on a shelf somewhere. (Seriously, if we had a dime for every time we heard, "We've been talking about doing that for years.") We see leaders frustrated with their teams for not moving things forward. Teams confused about what they are expected to do, how to get started and who should be responsible for different parts of the work. No one wants this, but so many find themselves stuck right here.
That’s why, at Mapt Solutions, we don't stop with the strategic plan. We help clients move their ideas into concrete, custom-fit action plans.
Once the strategic plan is complete, we work with leaders and their teams to sequence what's in the strategic plan across a three- to five-year time horizon, considering the organization's current strengths and capacity, planning needs, resource constraints and other important business and customer rhythms. We also make recommendations for how they can obtain outside support and capacity for key efforts. (And those recommendations are not always us! We’re about recommending the right people for the job.)
Then we drill further into the first year, creating a tactical roadmap for implementation. This includes identifying key roles and responsibilities for different efforts, developing out project plans, setting key performance metrics and ensuring strong planning and change management practices. Throughout this process, leaders get a chance to see, alongside their teams, how the work will come to life, making them better positioned to manage it. And teams get critical, tactical direction and clarity that provides confidence and sets them up for success.
By the end, your team is off to the races, and we just slowly fade into the background — like good consultants are supposed to. We've walked alongside you, planned with you and helped you develop the internal capacity and confidence to see your good plans through.
If you find yourself and your team stuck — or always talking about good ideas that haven't come to life — contact us.