Decouple Strategic & Planning To Avoid Failure

Strategy and planning are often viewed as one cohesive unit in business. However, it is worth questioning whether this approach is truly beneficial.

In my upcoming book release, I assert that there is great strength in separating these two crucial components, detaching strategy from planning.

Think of strategic planning as a carefully planned road trip. Your strategy determines where you will concentrate your energies to reach your objectives. Strategy is “where you play the game and how you win.”

Company executives often engage in strategic planning only to come out of these meetings without a cohesive overall strategy, resulting in disjointed efforts. When viewed only through the lens of strategic planning, this paint-by-numbers method is ineffective and becomes a yearly planning event with little impact or benefit.

Many strategic planning frameworks require long documents with objectives, goals, tactics, and spreadsheets forecasting costs and revenue well into the future. While you may find good planning documents, these frameworks come up short on strategy.

That’s why we are untethering strategy from planning to avoid the pitfalls of online frameworks or what you may have learned in school. The problem is people who commit to a strategic planning process get so caught up in planning that it replaces actual strategy. Strategy involves making a cohesive and coordinated set of decisions that puts your organization in a winning position, while planning focuses on outlining specific projects with timelines, goals, budgets, and responsibilities.

Strategy and planning are closely connected, but by focusing on strategy before diving into the details of planning, you will engage in strategic thinking that will ultimately make your planning process smoother. These two components will create an effective strategic plan when they merge.

The oldest and most essential aspect of strategy is the ability to focus. In military terms, this means directing all forces towards an enemy’s weakness. It involves coordinating resources and efforts towards a significant but achievable goal. Strategic focus requires harnessing sources of power and aiming them at a specific target. Without enough power, nothing can be accomplished. No meaningful progress can be made if power is dispersed across multiple targets. And no positive results will occur if power is directed at the wrong target. However, breakthroughs become possible when power is focused on the right target.

So, ask yourself: What is our strategy? Are we actively utilizing our strengths to gain an advantage or moving our resources into action to overcome a significant challenge that will lead us to victory?