Questions and Answers

We are concerned that the Simplified Strategic Planning process will take too much time.Is there are way to do it faster?

One of our key process improvement questions has always been "Can we do this faster?". While the Simplified Strategic Planning process described in our books, manual and seminar is, in our opinion, the very best way to get the planning process done in a practical amount of time, the answer is often "yes" - it can be done faster. It's important to recognize that SSP is designed to get you through all of the key strategic questions in a minimal amount of time. That being said, it is possible to "short cut" around certain questions and issues which will not have a great impact. In subsequent cycles, we routinely complete the entire process in just 4 days of meeting by doing this, and also by forgoing the extra training the team need in the first cycle of the process. In our "Fast Track" process we bring these short cuts to the first cycle, which brings the benefit of less time spent in planning meetings. The downside of doing this is that we have to rely on limited information to decide which issues warrant deeper discussion and which ones need to be tabled for later. It is even possible to strip the process down from the 4 days in Fast Track, but we would not recommend trying this on your own. Inevitably, the greatest risk is that the team comes out of the more rushed meetings with diminished expectation that the plan will succeed, which often becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

How can we adapt Simplified Strategic Planning to a non-profit organization or school?

SSP has been used successfully in a number of non-profit organizations, including trade associations, charities, churches, municipalities and schools districts. There are two main changes that are necessary to the process. First, the primary motivation of the process should be analyzed from the perspective of the organization's primary values, rather from the perspective of optimizing shareholder value. Second, the analysis of the core strategy is likely to be segmented by core constituencies or stakeholder groups rather than by market segment. Other that these two key differences, most of the process - especially opportunity generation and screening and everything after page 5.1 (Strategic Assessments), should be very similar. We have associates who are currently working on a revised workbook which will specifically address some of these types of organization, so please contact us if you'd like to explore this approach.

I'd like to involve my board in the strategic planning process - what is the best way to do this?

Most boards have some level of responsibility for the strategy of an organization. We feel that the detailed strategy is best laid out at the management level - that is, strategy (and tactics) are best handled by the people who have to live with the decisions that are being made. As a result, we prefer to do strategic planning with the top management team with day-to-day responsibilities in the organization, and - if necessary - get board approval both before embarking on the process and after the strategies have been created. While there are times when greater board involvement is called for, we have very rarely see boards reject a well-thought-out plan created by the management team - and when we have, it hasn't led to a strategic improvement in the business. If you feel the board must take a more active role in the strategy formulation process, we recommend you involve them in the middle meeting, starting with homework review and proceeding all the way up to objective setting. If the board misses the homework review, you are likely to spend a lot of time going back over the homework and even debating the content of the homework at inappropriate times. And, obviously, if the board leaves before the objectives have been set and prioritized, you run the risk of having the board second-guess that part of the process.

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Center for Simplified Strategic Planning, Inc.
2219 Packard - Suite 13
Ann Arbor, MI 48104

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