A company doesn’t survive in Stage 2 without having some form of regular and structured communication among its management team.
In fact, a key shift for a leader going from Stage 1 to Stage 2 is to change the company’s meetings from ad hoc assemblies to work over the gory details of problems, to regularly scheduled meetings with an agenda that just hits the highlights of important issues. To paraphrase a well-known axiom, it’s a shift to working on the issues rather than working in the issues.
The most common communication platform we run into is a weekly “huddle,” used to make sure that urgent issues are handled and coordinated (some companies prefer a “daily stand-up” instead).
At larger Stage 2 companies, even more prevalent are monthly meetings. This works better when the company has gotten big enough that each department has its own weekly huddle, and getting the department heads together monthly enables the team to coordinate at a higher level.
The weekly and monthly meetings, though, have their weaknesses, especially in dealing with mid- and long-range strategy issues. Those weaknesses are usually not evident when the meetings are first started, but they will almost assuredly become clear over time (say, a year). This is a common problem because a meeting designed for coordination is not well suited for the robust and deep discussion of long-term issues that is needed to really deal with them.
Therefore, it’s important for Stage 2 leaders to understand the different objectives of strategic planning so those leaders can use a range of meetings to have the strategy framework they need.
There are four general strategic planning objectives, which are briefly described below. Over time, all businesses need all of these objectives addressed. But each business will have different needs at different times. Strategy needs, and the designs of the meetings to meet those needs, are constantly shifting.
- Objective #1: Set Priorities. Your strategic planning should clarify priorities for the leadership team and the organization – priorities at the long-term, medium-term and even short-term levels. Some leaders don’t think their weekly meetings are part of their strategy framework, but strategy is not just about long-term issues. There is a tactical, practical level of strategy that is important to deal with – and is often the best place to start when a company is just beginning to address strategy.
- Objective #2: Learn. There is a wide range of literature that shows organizations that learn from their experiences outperform others because of their resiliency and ability to adapt. However, that learning needs to have its own space and even its own process. Many times, an organization is so focused on looking forward that it doesn’t learn from its past – and repeats its mistakes.
- Objective #3: Discuss issues. As mentioned above, most leadership teams have a way to deal with urgent issues. The question is whether they have a way to (really and actually) deal with important issues that are not urgent, and if so, are all of the important issues discussed at some point. Often times, there are areas or topics that are off-limits, but are the ones that have the most strategic impact on a company.
- Objective #4: Set direction. Strategic planning meetings should, at certain less-frequent points, set the strategic direction of the business. What do the stakeholders – owners, leadership team, employees and others – want from the business? Why does the business exist? What culture does the company have and want? What will the company look like in the future? These questions should not be considered in the same meetings that are focused on coordinating and prioritizing – direction conversations need their own space.
Even when a company is focused on the right strategy objectives and the right process to handle those objectives, there is still the question of whether it is dealing with the content effectively – whether the team has the ability to see and interpret the whole picture. This is particularly important today.
If you’ve read this and feel comfortable that you have the right form and content for your strategic planning, congratulations! Management and strategy are more important than ever, and if you are using them to make your business better, you should feel confident about your future – even if it feels more uncertain than you’d like.
