The 12 Most Common Pitfalls in Strategic Planning

#1 Ineffective Pre-Planning - It is not uncommon to see executives rush into the planning
activity without adequate preparation. Hey, you got to Plan-to-Plan too, if you want your
Strategic Planning process to be productive and meaningful!

#2 Lack of Ownership and Commitment by Management - Here I mean the collective senior
and middle management that make the organization tick (if it is indeed ticking). It is useless to
have a Strategic Planning exercise, unless the senior team is first commited to doing a good job
with it and seeing it through to implementation, and the middle management also takes
ownership and are committed to do their part.

#3 Not Getting Support Early from People that Matter - They key phrase here is "get support
early". Trying to get buy-in when the planning is done is an uphill task; I'm sure many of you
can attest to it. After all, "People Support What They Help to Create".

#4 Having Only a Yearly Retreat - While some of you might shake your heads ... YES, I've seen
it many times. Executives go out to a retreat somewhere, have fun, and they might actually get
serious in Strategic Planning too. But as soon as the retreat is over, they pat themselves on the
back, assume its all done, and go back to business as usual. What's wrong with that picture?

#5 Allocating Too Few Resources to Planning and Implementation - Without resources you
can't get anything accomplished, right? Yet, the Strategic Planning exercise oftern does not
synchronize with the budgetting process. So it ends up that needed resources for
implementation are funded by some contingency fund somewhere, or taken out of an operating
budget somewhere! And don't forget that TIME is a resource too; arguably the most precious
one. Middle management and staff are told to implement the strategic plan, but are so
overworked with operations, they have the best built-in excuse -- TIME! So what commitment
(pitfall #2) is senior management showing, if they do not allocate adeqaute resources?

#6 Developing Mission, Vision, Values Statements that Lack Substance - FLUFF. Yes, fluff
seems to be so popular. Executives go after beautiful catch phrases that look good on paper,
but what do those Vision, Mission, Values statements actually mean? Furthermore, I see very
often Vision statements that are just another variation or ersion of their Mission statement and
vice versa. If these ultimate goals are not clear, what result will the Strategic Plan achieve, no
matter how well laid out?

#7 Seeing the Strategic Plan Document as an End in Itself - That's when you have the Strategic
Plan sitting On the Top Shelf (SPOTS) syndrome. A Strategic Plan in itself is not worth the
paper it is written on! Unless it gets IMPLEMENTED. Planning and Implementation go together,
in a continuous cycle. Executives should shift their paradigm from Strategic Planning to
Strategic Management.
#8 Starting at the "Wrong Place" - Yes, there is a wrong place to start. If executives begin the
Strategic Planning process by looking at their current state, they inadvertently start their people
off with a mindset of constraints. Face it, when looking at current state, people generally see
the cup half empty rather than half-full. Not ideal, but thats reality. How bright can people
envision the future and its possibilities when they already start off bogged down with constraints
they see today? The better place to start off is to discuss the future first - where do we want to
be, or where MUST we be if we are to thrive?

#9 Not Tracking Progress Effectively - Try doing a hundred mile hike through the jungle without
periodically and continually popping upn to high ground, to check that you are on the right
track!?! Enough said!

#10 Failing to Cascade Planning to All Levels of the Organization - For implementation to take
place effectively and successful, all involved (usually all supervisor level and above, plus a good
proportion of the staff) need to understand what is expected of them, what they have to do to
contribute to achieving the future vision.

#11 Lack of Focus no Customer Value Creation - Rememer, all organizations exist to serve a
customer somewhere. Creating value for customers now and in the future is the key to a
sustained relevance (and hence survival), which is what Strategic Plannig is about.

#12 Not Having Annual Reviews and Updates - There are strangely still many organizations
who think that they can do a 5-year Strategic Plan, then just stick with it without any review or
update until the 5 years are up. And this in volatile, uncertain and complex world of today.

By now, I am sure that those who have seriously occupied themselves with Strategic Planning
would be smiling to themselves, having recognized at least one, if not multiple, of the pitfalls as
something they have personally encountered.

I have intentionally left out many details, explanations, and most importantly the tips on how to
navigate these pitfalls. Including those would make this article too long for readers on LinkedIn
(if it is not already too long). If you would like me to give some ideas on how not to avoid these
pitfalls, I would gladly do so if enough readers "like" this article.