The Drivers Model

Leadership Strategies has developed the Drivers Model, a method for taking a strategic approach
to addressing a business situation. The model provides a simple communication tool for helping
organizations construct a strategic plan. The model is fully scalable and applies to Fortune 500
companies, non-profit organizations, a field office, an individual department, a work team, etc.

VISION
Where We
Want To Be

ers
riv
BARRIERS
e D
Th •________________
•________________
CSFs •________________
•________________
•Monitor/Reassess

CURRENT CSFs
Where We
Are Today

There are four major steps in our standard Drivers Model. What follows is a brief overview of
the four steps. We have also attached a sample deliverable, a sample of the action plan format
and a list of terminology definitions.

Typical Activities Typical Activities

Step 1. Customer Surveys Step 3. Success Factor Analysis

Focus Groups Barrier Analysis
Where How do we
Internal Surveys/Interviews Strategy Development
are plan to get
Review of Existing Plan Prioritization
we now? Competitor Analysis
there? Action Planning
Industry Trends
Step 2. Visioning Exercise Step 4. Monitoring Status
Mission Statement Grading of Performance
Where do How will
Goal Development Adjustments to Strategies
we want we monitor
Objectives Development Refinement of Objectives
to be? Guiding Principles
progress?

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Sample Plan
VISION
The Place Where
Meeting Planners Meet
MISSION
To provide a forum for furthering
the growth and professionalism of
the meetings industry with a
commitment to excellence and high
ethical standards. We perform this
mission through programs which
promote education, community
involvement and networking.
GUIDING PRINCIPLES
Education is our fundamental
focus. We offer programs that
improve the industry skills of our
members.
We believe it is our responsibility
to use the resources of our
industry to help improve the local
community.
We will implement policies that
ensure that a suitable member-
ship balance is maintained
between planners and suppliers.
GOALS
Education
Provide educational opportuni-
ties for our members, at
various levels to enhance
professionalism and stay
abreast of industry trends.
Community Outreach
Provide funds and services to
support the local community
and provide a vehicle for
organization recognition.
Membership
Maximize membership growth,
retention and involvement.
Organization
Maintain sufficient organiza-
tional and financial resources
to support programs.
Professionalism
Promote meeting management
as a viable and worthwhile
career with an emphasis on
the professional certification
of members.
Networking
Provide an atmosphere for the
sharing of ideas with peers,
planners and suppliers.
Meeting Planners Organization
CRITICAL SUCCESS
FACTORS
Dynamic presenters with
timely, substantive topics to
increase meeting attendance
High awareness of association STRATEGIES
by meeting planners to attract - Utilize assessment
new members survey and industry
referrals to select quality
OBJECTIVES speakers and topics
- Revise new member reg-
- Increase net membership
to 650 istration process to ask
- Achieve avg attendance desired committee
- Hold quarterly committee
of 250/meeting
- Achieve 10% committee fairs after meetings
involvement - Distribute new member
list to committee heads
- Implement PR program
BARRIERS
to report activities to the
Inadequate process for getting
local media
new members involved results
in burn-out of a few and low
retention
High membership turnover
hinders consistent growth
ACTION PLANS
Assemble new PR Committee (Exec, 2/1)
Develop PR objectives (PR, 3/1)
Develop Promotion program (PR, 3/15)
Hold Board presentation (PR Chair, 4/15)
Implement Promotion (PR, 5/1)
Assess Promotion effectiveness (PR, 6/1)
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Step 1: Where are we now? (Situation Assessment)
Understanding the current situation is vital to identifying the approaches needed to drive success.
A full understanding of the current situation includes an analysis of several areas. The list below
shows a sample list of assessment areas and one or two of the key questions to be answered for
each.

Customer Views
Communications
Plan
Employee Views
Strategic
Industry Trends
Planning Strategic Plan
Process Document

Competitor Info

Monitoring
Current Situation Plan
-Initiatives, Performance

• Customers – What are their current and future needs? What are their perceptions of our
performance?

• Employees – What are their perceptions of our organization and how we can improve?
How can we make them more effective in their roles?

• Industry trends – What have been recent shifts in the industry? What shifts are
anticipated for the future?

• Competitors – How do we compare against our competitors? What are their recent and
anticipated initiatives?

• Performance trends – How are we performing by product, by market, by channel?

• Recent goals and initiatives – How are we achieving against our plan? How successful
have we been with recent initiatives?

• Organization profile – What are our strengths and areas for improvement with regard to
our organization structure, processes, technology, culture, etc.?

Often, planning teams summarize the current situation information into a SWOT: a summary of
the organizations key strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

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Step 2. Where do we want to be? (Strategic Direction)
The heart of strategic direction setting is this second step. In our Drivers Model, the information
from the situation assessment is combined with the understanding of future trends to develop the
vision statement and the mission statement.
• Vision – the organization’s preferred picture of the future
• Mission – the overall purpose of the organization (i.e., what the organization does, for
whom it does it, and the benefit)

The second page shows a sample segment of the strategic plan for a trade association of meeting
planners. While the mission speaks to “what they do, for whom, and the benefit,” the vision
describes what the future will look like if the organization achieves its mission.

Vision Mission
The place where To provide a forum for furthering the growth
meeting planners meet and professionalism of the meetings industry.

The strategic direction setting also includes the defining of goals and objectives.
• Goals – the broad, long-term aims that define accomplishment of the mission
• Objectives – specific, quantifiable, realistic targets that measure the accomplishment of a
goal over a specified period of time.

Each goal has a specific set of objectives, as shown below for the membership goal.

Membership Goal Membership Objectives

Maximize membership ‰ Increase membership from 500 to 650
growth, retention and ‰ Increase average meeting attendance to 250
involvement. ‰ Achieve 10% committee involvement

The objectives establish the bar for the rest of the planning effort. All the strategies, action
plans and investments should be focused on achieving one or more of the plan objectives.
Therefore, it is critical that you select the right objectives for measuring our success.
Establishing objectives is perhaps the toughest work in planning.

The planning effort also includes establishing Guiding Principles - general guidelines that set
the foundation for how the organization will operate. Guiding principles are more than just a
statement of values. Guiding principles also describe the actions the organization will take based
on the values.

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Step 3 – How do we plan to get there? (Implementation Planning)
Once the objectives are established, the next step is to develop the road map for achieving the
direction. For the road map to be viable, however, it must focus on three areas in particular.

Critical Success Factors

‰ Dynamic presenters with timely, substantive topics to increase meeting
attendance
‰ High awareness of association by meeting planners to attract new members

Objectives Strategies
‰ Increase membership ‰ Utilize assessment survey and industry
from 500 to 650 referrals to select quality speakers and topics
‰ Increase average ‰ Revise new member registration process to
meeting attendance ask desired committee
from 175 to 250 ‰ Hold quarterly committee fairs after meetings
‰ Achieve 10% ‰ Distribute new member list to committee
committee involvement heads
‰ Implement PR program to report activities to
the local media

Barriers
‰ Inadequate process for getting new members involved results in burn-out of a
few and low retention
‰ High membership turnover hinders consistent growth

• The barriers to achieving the goals and objectives indicate those challenges which the
organization must overcome to achieve its strategic direction. Barriers answer the
following questions: “Why haven’t we achieved our goals already? What is standing in
our way?”

• While barriers address the challenges, the critical success factors identify those key
conditions that must be met to achieve the goals. Critical success factors, typically no
fewer than two and no more than seven per goal, serve as a guide for determining the
strategies to be developed.

• The strategies that are undertaken (i.e., the road map) must drive achievement of the
strategic direction by controlling the critical success factors and overcoming the barriers.

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An important activity at this stage is the prioritization of strategies to determine the items to
focus on first. For each priority strategy, an action plan is developed which details steps,
responsibilities, costs and timetables. The action plans can then be summarized to identify
resource requirements and to develop a resource plan to meet those requirements.

Sample Resource Requirements

Year 1 Year 2 Year 3

Prioritized
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
Initiatives
1. $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $
2. $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $
3. $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $
4. $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $
5. $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $
6. $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $
7. $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $
8. $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $

Totals $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $

Step 4 – How will we monitor progress? (Monitoring)

Many organizations benefit simply from going through the process of creating a strategy. At this
point, everyone is clear on where we are going and how we plan to get there. However, the key
value to strategy development comes in the implementation of the plan. Unfortunately, all too
often, strategic plans become space fillers on an executive’s bookshelf. To prevent this
occurrence, we recommend a structured monitoring process every three-to-six months.

The structured review involves:

• Assessing progress on strategies
• Grading the current and projected performance against the objectives
• Identifying changes in the environment, new barriers, additional critical success factors
• Making adjustments to the objectives
• Re-establishing priorities for strategies, removing strategies and adding new strategies as
needed

While often a sobering process, this detailed level of monitoring provides a method for ensuring
that the long-term strategy stays on the front burners, despite the pressures of the day-to-day
business operation.

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 Sample Action Plan
Strategy: S1. WE WILL DEVELOP A BEST-IN-CLASS PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
PROCESS BY UTILIZING AN OUTSIDE CONSULTANT.

Objective(s): C1. Achieve product development cycle time (approved concept to FCS) of 12 months for
Supported revolutionary/platform/breakthrough products; 15 months for products we start one year from now.
C2. Achieve product development cycle time variation of 10% for breakthrough products.

Owner: Engineering

Deliverables: ‰ Description of the recommended product development process

‰ Results from testing the recommendations in two pilot programs
‰ Plan for implementing the recommendations company-wide

Due Date: 12/31/XX Person Years: X Total Costs: $XXX,XXX

Action Step Responsibility Due Cost Person-Yrs

1. Identify potential consultants Marketing Q1 xxx yyy

2. Select consultant Marketing/ Q1 xxx yyy

President

3. Finalize consultant contract Marketing/ Q2 xxx yyy

President

4. Allocate people internally Marketing/ Q2 xxx yyy

Engineering

5. Develop project plan Consultant Q2 xxx yyy

6. Benchmark against other organizations Team Q2 xxx yyy

7. Implement and evaluate first pilot program Team Q3 xxx yyy

8. Implement and evaluate second pilot program Team Q4 xxx yyy

9. Perform post-mortem and go live with Team Q4 xxx yyy

recommendations

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 Strategic Plan Terms and Definitions

Vision A picture of the “preferred future”; a statement that describes how the future
will look if the organization achieves its ultimate aims.
"The vehicles of choice for a value-focused world"

Mission A statement of the overall purpose of an organization. Describes what you do,
for whom you do it and the benefit.
"Our mission is to provide the consumer with high quality, price competitive automobiles to meet
their personal, business and recreational needs. "

Guiding General guidelines which set the foundation for how an organization will
Principles operate.
"Responsiveness to consumer needs will be a first priority in our operations. Therefore we will..."

Goals Broad, long-term aims that define accomplishment of the mission.

"Profitability - Maximize net income by increasing revenues and controlling costs."

Objectives Specific, quantifiable, realistic targets that measure the accomplishment of a

goal over a specified period of time.
"Increase revenues by 12% in 1993. Limit increases in overhead costs to 2% in 1993. Achieve a 5%
reduction in management staff through increased automation."

Critical Major items or issues that must "go right" to achieve one or more objectives.
Success "Body styles that are pleasing to the public. Effective dealer network. Successful office automation
Factors project."

Barriers Existing or potential challenges that hinder the achievement of one or more
objectives.
"Inefficient northeast plant. Price competition from Japan manufacturers. Public perception of poor
quality by USA."

Strategies Broad activities required to achieve an objective, control a critical success

factor, or overcome a barrier.
"Establish partnership with Japanese manufacturer to revamp the northeast plant. Implement
program to widely promote our success as a quality producer."

Actions Specific steps to be taken, by whom and by when, to implement a strategy.

"Initiate discussions with PR firm on Quality Promotion BPC 2/1
Develop first draft of Promotion AKO 3/15
Review Promotion internally and update BPC 4/1 "

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