The Reasons Why Strategic Planning Fails
Why does planning fail when it is usually people with the brightest brains who will come together to put these plans together?
There are several reasons why planning fails:
Overly delegative to the wrong people
Very typical of these important strategic planning exercises is a big parade of management consultants telling the top management what is wrong with the company and what should be done to fix it in order to move it forward. Equally bad is to delegate this important planning exercises to internal staff who don’t exactly have much direct stake in this entire exercise e.g. frontline managers, customer service department etc.
Too Rigid and Routinised
Planning never succeeds if it is just viewed as an annual template filling exercise. Most of the time when planning cycle has arrived, there would be a flurry of forms and templates to fill and key performance indicators to consolidate. In this fashion, there is never really true debate of where the company should be heading strategically and what should be done to reach there.
Only Static Analysis
Strategic planning is about a longer term view and sees into the far horizon. Hence, analysis should always be taken with a broader, long term view. Sadly, many organisations are too bogged by planning by numbers and they tend to be very myopic and static. They analyse issues of today, when in a strategic sense, they should be looking at issues of tomorrow. Only so, would they be able to see how the organisation can stand in the times of tomorrow.
Garbage In, Garbage Out
This is the most common reason why planning fails. If there is no good inputs towards the plan to start with, then the output can never be expected to be robust and insightful.
Not Linked to Operations Or Implementation
The real value in a strategic plan is the successful implementation of that plan. Many great plans fail to take off as it does not link to operations or implementation. Great plans only remain as great in paper and writing and does not contribute value unless successfully implemented.
Resistance to Change
People are typically resistant to change and prefer to stay in their comfort zone. With people who are anti-change, it would be hard for the organisation to successfully push through their strategy. Hence, it is important that communication of the plans be handled carefully, as well as the proper managment of such resistors.
Find more thoughts at http://360strategyleadership.blogspot.com/