Does your firm focus enough on innovative stategic planning? Most companies don’t spend enough time planning and communicating their strategy and when they do, the quality and effectiveness is questionable.The best strategic plans in the world not only needs innovative planning, but are not likely to be successful if they are not effectively communicated to those who must implement them: the employees. This strategic plan/vision must recognize that organizations are made up of social, communicative human beings who can achieve great things together only after they recognize that it is to their benefit to come together cooperatively and communicatively.
At the end of the last year and the beginning of 2013 , there were the usual deluge of Trend reports, concerning technology as well as strategy. Many of these reports are touted to likely impact 2013. As we look forward to the rest of the year, perhaps its time to implement Innovative Strategic Planning Questions to see if your organisation is still on course. You may be concluding the process of creating and developing yourt strategic plan. Or it may have finished and be ready for execution. Regardless whether it is still in the development phase or completion, there some critical questions that your company needs to answer before it moves its strategic plan out of the development phase into the execution phase.
Once you have managed to sort it all out by asking the right strategic planning questions, remember that you have a second major task.. To communicate your strategy effectively.
The first thing to Ask
1. Where do you want to go from here?
You have already made it to this point but the future is still unwritten. What do you want to accomplish? Clearly describe the ideal desired outcome for your business. Project forward 3 to five years. The greater clarity you have about where you want to be at a specific time in the future, the easier it will be for you to create a great business strategic plan, that will enable you to get from where you are today to where you want to go. Be specific about your future goals and desired outcome.
The Learning Organization
2. What are our plans for learning and adapting as fast as the world is changing?
3. What steps do we take to immerse new employees in the lives and challenges customers face? Are we prepared to even consider this?
Strategy & Purpose
4. We live in a world disruption for business and associated models, what do we stand for and strongly advocate as an organization that makes us special?
5. Are we asking enough “why” questions, If we are not asking enough of them, if not why not?
6. What are we the “most of” in our field? Do we own our niche real-estate?
7. Don’t ask, “What is keeping us up at night?” Ask, “What motivates us up in the morning?”
Marketing Metrics
8. Are we distracted by meaningless numbers are part of our marketing metrics?
9. How many people are correctlysearching for our brand name or URL
10. If we’re using in-person events in our marketing plans, who were the new people and companies we met this year, and how are we turning them into customers?
Infographic credit : Greg Gunther and Associates
Hayden Richards is Contributor of IntelligentHQ. He specialises in finance, trading, investment, and technology, with expertise in both buy-side, sell-side. Contributing and advising various global corporations, Hayden is a thought leader, researching on global regulatory subjects, digital, social media strategies and new trends for Businesses, Capital Markets and Financial Services.
Aside from the articles, interviews and content he writes for IntelligentHQ, Hayden is also a content curator for capital markets, analytic platforms and business industry emerging trends. An avid new media explorer Hayden is driven by a passion for business development, innovation, social business, Tech Trading, payments and eCommerce. A native Trinidadian, Hayden is also a veteran, having served with the Royal Air Force Reserves for the past 10 years.
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