The Strategic Planning Workbook

240 Pages·2012·3.1 MB·English

by  Neville Lake

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The Strategic
Planning
Workbook
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Third EdiTiON
The Strategic
Planning
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Workbook
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Neville Lake
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Publisher’s note
Every possible effort has been made to ensure that the information contained in this book
is accurate at the time of going to press, and the publishers and author cannot accept
responsibility for any errors or omissions, however caused. No responsibility for loss or
damage occasioned to any person acting, or refraining from action, as a result of the material
in this publication can be accepted by the editor, the publisher or the author.
First published in Great Britain in 2002
Second edition published in Great Britain and the United States in 2006 by Kogan Page Limited
Third edition 2012
Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review,
as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be
reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in
writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms
and licences issued by the CLA. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside these terms should
be sent to the publishers at the undermentioned addresses:
120 Pentonville Road 1518 Walnut Street, Suite 1100 4737/23 Ansari Road
London N1 9JN Philadelphia PA 19102 Daryaganj
United Kingdom USA New Delhi 110002
www.koganpage.com India
© Neville Lake, 2002, 2006, 2012
The right of Neville Lake to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in
accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
ISBN 978 0 7494 6500 1
E-ISBN 978 0 7494 6501 8
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lake, Neville.
The strategic planning workbook / Neville Lake. – 3rd ed.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-0-7494-6500-1 – ISBN 978-0-7494-6501-8 (ebook) 1. Strategic planning. I. Title.
HD30.28.L35 2012
658.4’012–dc23
2011047305
Typeset by Graphicraft Ltd, Hong Kong
Printed and bound in India by Replika Press Pvt Ltd
ConTenTS
ConTenTS v
PrefaCe viii
aCknoWledGemenTS xi
abouT The auThor xii
Getting
a bigger brain 1
The really big questions 3
The key tactical questions 19
What are they thinking? 25
The customer from your point of view 25
Customers – from their point of view 32
Getting into their heads 38
observation 39
Talking 39
focus groups 41
Surveys 42
Who else is
out there? 45
v Customers for the products/services
you provide who are buying from your competitors 45
Customers who are not yet buying the products/services you (and others) provide 46
Customers you could have, if you developed your business in a different direction 48
What are
they doing? 51
ConTenTS Competitor relationships 51
Competitor analysis 53
Who are the potential competitors? 56
Pressure points 58
environmental analysis 60
availability analysis 65
What are we thinking? 67
Stakeholder analysis 69
Culture analysis 70
Skills matrix/talent analysis 74
financial performance analysis 76
Preface viii Psurobc-oespst ipmeirzfaotrimona nacnea l(yussiisn)g 7 7the
risk analysis 79
Acknowledgements xi resources versus outcomes analysis 80
Cause and effect analysis 82
About the author xii relative scale analysis (benchmarking) 84
absolute scale analysis (using a framework) 87
Change readiness analysis 89
building the guiderails for
the future 91
01 Getting a bigger brain: how to think like The shape of the statements 92
The mission, vision and values workshop 98
a strategist 1 reinforcing the statements every day 102
how to pick a strategy that is right for your business 106
facilitation 107
The really big questions 3 Smcaernkaerti of uotputrieo nasn aalnyasliyss is 111124
lifecycle analysis 117
The key tactical questions 19 Portfolio analysis 119
SWoT analysis 121
Concentration of effort analysis 124
The activity hedgehog 129
movement analysis 131
02 What are they thinking? Customer analysis 25 making strategy happen 133
uniting themes 133
Generic strategies 135
The customer from your point of view 25 The action workshop 144
Selling your message 153
Customers – from their point of view 32 PShuottwin agn idt itne lwl riting 115632
bringing it all together 171
a strong mandate 172
a strong purpose 173
03 Getting into their heads: how to understand your Preparation 173
The right people 175
customers 38 Teharel yr iwghint sa ction plan 117767
Communication 178
lock-in 178
Observation 39 Tricks and traps 181
Trick 1: keeping perspective 182
Talking 39 Trick 2: keeping a grasp on reality 185
Trick 3: Seeing the world through others’ eyes 186
Focus groups 41 TTrraapp 12:: ffoinlldoiwngin tgh eco snovluetnitoino ntaolo t shoinokni ng 118990
Trap 3: not focusing on outcomes 192
Surveys 42 appendix: Worksheets 195
Worksheet 1: draft agenda for the decision-making workshop 196
Worksheet 2: draft agenda for the
mission, vision and values workshop
and the measures workshop 198
04 Who else is out there? Potential customer analysis 45 Worksheet 3: draft agenda for the action workshop 200
Worksheet 4: The sub-optimization
analysis 201
Customers for the products/services you provide who are buying Worksheet 5: Tables 203
Worksheet 6: hallmarks of success analysis 205
from your competitors 45 Worksheet 7: The fear/freedom culture analysis 206
Worksheet 8: resources versus outcomes analysis 208
Customers who are not yet buying the products/services you (and Worksheet 9: market future analysis 210
Worksheet 10: lifecycle analysis 211
others) provide 46 WWoorrkksshheeeett 1112:: PTohret faocltiiov iatnya hlyesdigs ehog 221124
Worksheet 13: The path of least resistance quadrant 216
Customers you could have, if you developed your business in a Worksheet 14: The change preparation flow chart 218
Worksheet 15: The force field analysis 219
different direction 48 index 220
05 What are they doing? Competitor analysis 51
Competitor relationships 51
Competitor analysis 53
Who are the potential competitors? 56
vi Contents
06 Pressure points: understanding the driving forces in
your industry 58
Environmental analysis 60
Barriers to entry analysis 63
Availability analysis 65
07 What are we thinking? understanding what is
happening in your organization 67
Stakeholder analysis 69
Culture analysis 70
Skills matrix/talent analysis 74
Financial performance analysis 76
Process performance (using the sub-optimization analysis) 77
Risk analysis 79
Resources versus outcomes analysis 80
Cause and effect analysis 82
Relative scale analysis (benchmarking) 84
Absolute scale analysis (using a framework) 87
Change readiness analysis 89
08 building the guiderails for the future: mission, vision,
values and measures 91
The shape of the statements 92
The mission, vision and values workshop 98
Reinforcing the statements every day 102
09 how to pick a strategy that is right for your
business 106
Facilitation 107
Scenario options analysis 112
Market future analysis 114
Lifecycle analysis 117
Portfolio analysis 119
SWOT analysis 121
Concentration of effort analysis 124
The activity hedgehog 129
Movement analysis 131
Contents vii
10 making strategy happen: how to lead your business to
success 133
Uniting themes 133
Generic strategies 135
The action workshop 144
11 Selling your message 153
Putting it in writing 153
Show and tell 162
12 bringing it all together 171
A strong mandate 172
A strong purpose 173
Preparation 173
The right people 175
The right action plan 176
Early wins 177
Communication 178
Lock-in 178
13 Tricks and traps 181
Trick 1: Keeping perspective 182
Trick 2: Keeping a grasp on reality 185
Trick 3: Seeing the world through others’ eyes 186
Trap 1: Finding the solution too soon 189
Trap 2: Following conventional thinking 190
Trap 3: Not focusing on outcomes 192
Appendix: Worksheets 195
Index 220
Video material to support this book is available at the Kogan Page website:
www.koganpage.com/editions/the-strategic-planning-workbook/9780749465001
viii
PrefaCe
S
trategy. It’s a great word, isn’t it? Just put the word ‘strategic’ in front of
a project and it shines a little brighter than all others. Look at the fund-
ing for activities – those that are labelled ‘strategic’ get the largest slice. The
CEO’s projects are almost always ‘strategic projects’, and these – and all the
others that go by the same name – get first priority. But what is a strategic
project? Indeed, what is strategy?
This is a surprisingly difficult question to answer, because ‘strategy’ is
a term that means different things to different people, and too often it
becomes a business process that hinders rather than helps organizations to
take control of their future. It is difficult to get a good definition of strategy
because:
● Too many strategists focus on the grandest strategic dilemmas.
They write about how to shape a new business to take advantage
of a breakthrough market opportunity. These are serious and real
challenges. However, they trouble mid-sized and small businesses
extremely infrequently, and only occasionally affect large
multinationals.
● Many of the texts ignore the fact that there are boundaries for most
organizations. The typical business is caught in a web of past financial
commitments, current competencies and future contracts. The problem
is not to seek new places to do business, but rather to take the greatest
advantage of current opportunities.
● While there are boundaries, the amount of freedom you have within
your available options is too often underestimated. Strategy is
as much about choice as it is about analysis. I have found that
those organizations that dream the big dream, pick the seemingly
unattainable goal but also develop a great strategy are the ones that
end up dominating their industry. If you ask the questions ‘Where do
we want to be?’ and ‘What do we have to do to get there?’ and then
have the courage to do what it takes, then success is likely to be the
result. Most writers do not appreciate the blending of art, science,
passion and performance that makes a good strategy.
● Most strategy books are interesting but leave you no closer to being
able to complete a strategic planning project at a practical level.
They present strategy as a theoretical pursuit, rather than a way to
make practical decisions.
Preface ix
The consequence is that the definition of ‘strategy’ is overburdened by grand
models put forward by theorists for multinationals. The average organization
is left with an understanding of ‘strategy’ that is distorted and impractical.
Strategy should be about thinking clearly and acting deliberately, so that
you can get the most out of your current and potential opportunities. This
book provides you with the concepts you need to perform this thinking,
the tools you need to gather the necessary information, the techniques you
require to make decisions and the frameworks to translate your conclusions
into practical action plans. When you have completed the exercises, data
gathering, analysis, the two workshops and the implementation plan, you
will have a map to your best future possible.
This book uses a practical definition of strategic planning, as follows:
Strategic planning is gaining insights about where you are now, gathering the
information that identifies where you should be in the future, generating the
decisions that will give you a unique position, and then defining the actions
that will bridge the gap.
Strategic implementation is defined as:
The ongoing application of those decisions and actions so that the outcomes are
achieved.
This is a book that has been designed for managers who own/work for
organizations that are already established. It has been written in the expect-
ation that, if you are reading this, you are the person responsible in your
organization for making strategic planning happen, which means that you
are the CEO, you are in planning/finance... or you were away when the
other members of the management team voted on who should do this year’s
strategic plan.
This book is practical, eclectic and pragmatic – it gets the job done.
The tools provided in this book are a mixture of my own diagnostic and
analytical techniques and decision-making processes, along with many of
the strategic planning standards and favourites.
The book is written to show you how to generate good information for
decision making, without expecting you to take a couple of months off to
find the data. The exercises show you how to make the kinds of practical
decisions that enable you to build on your past, so that you can secure success
in the future. The workshops show you how to go about identifying what
practical strategy means for you in your organization – whether it is large
or small.
The book applies if you own the organization, run it, or manage a bit of
it. In the book I have considered customers as people/organizations that pay
money for your products or services. However, many of the same concepts
x Preface
are relevant if you are in the public/not-for-profit sector – just substitute
other outcomes for financial benefits – and the processes and messages apply.
This kind of ‘universal applicability’ is possible because the book provides
you with the key issues you need to consider so you are able to identify what
you need to know to develop a set of options, and it then gives you the
frameworks that help you to pick the right one.