Have you ever really known where you wanted to take your business, but struggled to get your team to “get it” and deliver?
When you started your business, you likely had an idea of the future and the direction it would take. Most people’s strategic vision don’t turn out exactly as planned. But you tweak along the way and continue toward a prosperous future.
The question is: Have you adequately imparted that vision to your employees? And do they have a grasp of how the organisation is supposed to get there?
Several years ago, I was brought into a multinational firm and asked to help assist in developing their regional strategy. I wanted to know what they’d tried in the past and was named an executive who worked on that project.
I approached that executive and asked if I could get that strategy as a starting point. They opened up their bottom desk drawer and pulled out about 30 copies of the strategy. I didn’t know if someone had just overestimated at the copy machine, so I asked why they had so many.
The executive said that they had decided not to share the plan. The reason? They were afraid it was going to get leaked to competitors.
In playing into their fear of other companies in their market, they kept everyone in their company in the dark! How could they pursue a strategy that their employees didn’t even know about?
The Strategic Plan Needs to Be Tangible
I can recite the lyrics to several of my favourite 1980s songs, all of my teacher’s names from high school. And where I hope my next two or three adventures take me in the world. All of those things live in my head and I’ve not committed them to paper.
That’s OK, because those are all trivial things. When I come into an organisation and first sit with the owner or CEO and ask if they have a strategic plan, they’ll respond in the affirmative. Then I’ll ask to see it and they’ll point to their head and say something like, “It’s all up here.”
The follow-up reason I’m given? “I’ve been working on it for years. I know exactly what I want to do and, so far, it’s working.”
That’s not a reason, of course; it’s an excuse. Your strategic plan is more important than the lyrics of a Men at Work or a Midnight Oil song. It can’t only live in your head.
This isn’t to say the plan in their head isn’t working. If they’ve gotten this far, they’re probably a disciplined person with a certain amount of order. The problem is that nobody else in the company can access this data. The rest of the organisation needs to know about strategies and goals. Stuck on coming up with a plan? Check this article out for some ideas.
The Problem
Odds are, this type of leader doesn’t like paperwork. But as a company grows, it’s important to remember that not everybody understands things the same way. The opportunity to read and re-read a strategy is necessary for many people.
It’s much harder to challenge an idea when it only lives in the abstract in someone’s head. By committing it to paper, people get a better sense of what’s happening and can improve upon it. You’ll always end up with a better result.
As for the fears of espionage? They are legitimate to a degree. because somebody working for you could be with the competition tomorrow. But that’s part of the world we live in today. You can’t let that kind of fear disrupt your strategic plans.
Are you also struggling to achieve your goals? Maybe this blog will help! Check out how to achieve your goals by having 2020 vision.
