strategic planningThe Journal Les Affaires one day published*: « Plus de stratégie, moins de planification » (“More Strategy, Less planning”).

Well, there’s something I very frequently remind my clients about: there is a fundamental difference between the strategic planning process and strategic thinking in itself. And that distinction is crucial for management to make.

In A Nut Shell
Planning – might it be for corporate or business purposes, marketing or operations or else — is a work process in itself, with phases and steps and actions, inputs and outputs, people involved, decision-makers, contributors, etc. Strategic thinking on the other hand is that element that feeds content into the process.

The Planning Process

To put it simply, let us say that a usual planning process involves several steps, involves several individuals and groups of individuals. It spreads out over time and collates and generates masses of information. It aims to state, in a very complete document, the direction adopted by a company: the what, the why and the how.

We have all read the tables of contents of these 100+ page documents: history, situational analysis, vision, mission, objectives, specific goals, action plans, etc. When properly done, a strat plan can literally become the bible with which an organization can guide itself for all its subsequent tactical decisions and actions.

Pundits, however, will have it easy: to do well, a strategic planning process takes a long time. And t is precisely this precious time that companies have less and less of. So, what do we do?

At a minimum: think strategically!

Strategic Thinking

The difference between strategic thinking and a strategic planning process is two-fold: the purpose of the task and how it is accomplished.

The objective pursued when doing strategic thinking is to arrive at a strategy, the content itself —as opposed to a document per se. The means is therefore not the end, obviously. Admittedly, a minimum of documentation is required to elaborate a strategic opinion. It does need to be communicated eventually! The essence of strategic thinking lies more in the fact that it must be kept alive at all times. It must be done on a continuous basis.

In fact, a strategy can change completely when an external factor changes the context in the very short term. Consider the impact of the exchange rate on exporting firms. It has been seen to observe 15 % variations in less than 6 months! No time to wait for the next strategic planning cycle to define a new course of action then…

So, strategic thinking is:

  • Knowing and understanding the situation —hence the need for a comprehensive dashboard;
  • Counting on the necessary creativity to anticipate and generate alternative scenarios about the future; and
  • Possessing the business acumen and courage to make the right —and sometime difficult— decisions.

I would venture to say that strategic thinking is an informed reflex that a decision-maker needs to possess in order to be agile enough to react with relevance at all times.

True Difference
The Les Affaires story stresses the notion that decisions and actions need to be more strategic in nature.

  • Know the facts and ask the right questions
  • Surround yourself with talent
  • Execute flawlessly
  • Measure —will we say it enough?
  • Reward performers

Action carried out in a bureaucratic, metronome fashion by some organizations who produce and run of an enormous and inflexible strategic plan —the only strategic part of which is often only the budget forecast. I know, I wrote several in my career! —are worthy of the past.

Today’s organizations must be resolutely more agile. They must obviously continue to plan their actions, but they must address this responsibility in a new light.

So plan to integrate strategic thinking into your daily life!

 

(*) The article was published on September 21 2007. I had then written this post that I repost here in its entirety. It’s still very relevant today. This post was translated from the French original.