Mention the words “strategic plan” to any seasoned business executive and you’re likely to get an eyeroll. At some organizations, the strategic planning process seems to never end, especially when it serves as the starting point for the interminable iterations of the annual budgeting process. In others, the process is merely a thought exercise that serves as an expensive door-stopper and nothing more. Meanwhile, we see that most organizations have trouble understanding how deep to dive into the details; some end up with a lack of actionable conclusions while others are so deep in the weeds that they lose sight of the bigger picture.

After guiding over 100 organizations through the process of aligning around one common vision, growth strategy, and high-level plan, we’ve uncovered a few best practices that our top-performing clients typically follow:

• Less is more: The goal of a strategic plan is to make clear decisions about what your organization is going to do and what it will not do. In other words, the job of your executive leadership. We find that organizations often feel the need to include too many people, resulting in a slower process with more conflict. Instead, start by asking for input from the organization (e.g., employee surveys & focus groups, customer insights, market trends), but only include C-level executives in the actual planning process.
• Short is sweet: Focus is the key with so many distractions and urgent interruptions in our “always on” world. How to deal? Set aside 1-2 full days with only a couple of daily breaks for outside communication. An offsite setting or nearby retreat is preferred. Do NOT set up weekly or monthly meetings as the tyranny of urgent requests often prevents full, focused participation.
• Get the basics right: Before kicking off any strategic planning conversation, start with a brief homework assignment for the C-suite to revisit key assumptions. What is our mission? What are our short-term and long-term goals? What businesses and markets are in scope and which are out of scope? Why should customers choose us over a competitor? We find that there is often internal misalignment on these and other similar foundational questions.
• Foster open communication: Does your organization suffer from closed-door sabotage or does everyone speak their mind? Too often we see a cult of personality take over a meeting or a lack of full participation lead to poor decisions. If this issue is a concern, you probably need an outside moderator to ensure all viewpoints are heard and to create the optimal meeting format.
• The agenda is key: So with 1-2 dedicated days to talk it out, what on earth should you actually discuss? And how can you be sure you aren’t going to deep or too shallow? Your goal should be to assess the current state, identify points of disagreement, define success, and develop a clear list of next steps. Here is the challenge…every organization is unique and in a different stage of its life cycle. While some organizations need to create a strong foundational structure, others must expand beyond the boundaries of their current markets. To aid in this effort, we have developed a Growth Canvas that encompasses the key questions that we ask when leading strategic planning sessions.

While the guidelines above are important, always remember that the most critical challenge in strategic planning is to make informed decisions that drive future behavior. If you aren’t achieving your growth goals, there is a good chance that the cause of your stagnation starts

30- Disruptive by Definition

Despite the logo on my paycheck and the location of my desk, you can make a pretty compelling case that I don’t really work for Southern Growth Studio. I spend the huge majority of my time on three long-form design thinking projects.

Two of them are new product/service pilot programs I can’t really talk about for NDA and lawyer-inspired reasons. The third is with Church Health where I serve as the President of a partner ministry called ECHO.

With each of these three projects, I’m an outside but embedded resource, rather than a formal staff member.

Surprisingly, being an outside resource lets me focus more on disruptive innovation for our clients than if I officially worked for them. Here’s why:

Orthodoxy Immunity
Every organization has certain characteristics, beliefs, and cultural norms. In general, these are most often positive or marginal. People with Orthodoxy Immunity, however, can always identify the ones that are problems. They’re usually presented as:

“The way ORGANIZATION X has always done things”
“We can’t because of SYSTEM OR PROCESS Y”
“If we could just do THIS, it would be able to accomplish THAT.”

As an outsider with inside access, I don’t have to adhere to established orthodoxies. I couldn’t if I wanted to. I haven’t read the handbook, I’ve only been to a few all-staff meetings, my performance reviews are conducted somewhere else.

It’s a luxury in my position and valuable for the client.

Diverse Experience
I don’t focus on the same task for the same organization every day. In my career, first in advertising and now at the Studio, I’ve worked for a variety of clients in every industry imaginable on every challenge an organization might face.

While it’s important for the embedded innovator to recognize their shortcomings in category knowledge and institutional experience – and actively learn from the people who have it – the insight generated by engaging a variety of challenges in wildly different contexts is often illuminating and applicable to a client’s challenge.

Natural Boundaries
I owe it to Church Health to precede this thought by saying that, on the spectrum of large organizations, they are really good about avoiding this issue. Some clients, particularly large corporations, are not.

Because I’m an outside resource, I don’t get pulled into too many meetings. My day working on an innovation problem isn’t interrupted by another organizational issue I might help solve.

In fact, I’m innovative and disruptive at Church Health just by showing up. On the days I work out of their offices, people recognize me as the “ECHO guy.” If only for a moment, it means they’re thinking about how ECHO can contribute to their department or vice versa. Part of it is Church Health’s wonderful culture that defaults to improvement and progress, but we are able to innovate regularly because my presence is a novelty.

There’s a long list of examples of organizations that have wholly contained innovation departments that are successful. Ultimately, the Studio aims to help our innovation clients build their own department and outgrow our services.

The time between, however, can be really valuable to the process if you can recognize the opportunities presented by innovating from the outside in.

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If your goal is to do disruptive innovation within your organization, it’s really hard to do that from the inside. Even if it’s just a small step — coffee with an off-site advisor, a one-day workshop — the change in perspective can make all the difference. If you want to take that first step with Southern Growth Studio, click the link below to get in touch.