By Mike Cline, VP Operations, Venturist Inc.
On Sunday, Andrew Taylor of the Miller Park Neighborhood Association (Seattle) published a blog post entitled: Parks-Strategic Plan- Somebody Goofed
I was intrigued. What might that goof have been? It seems the Seattle Parks Department was holding public meetings on their draft Strategic Plan but forget to tell the public about them. Seems a bit like that line from “Cool Hand Luke” – “What we have here is a failure to communicate!” There are many reasons why Strategies and Strategic Plans fail to achieve expectations, but one of the most cited is the failure to properly communicate the plan to those who must support and execute it.
And why might that occur? The Seattle Parks Department Strategic Plan is a pretty impressive 37 page document.
It was apparently put together between August 2007 and March 2008 by members of the Parks Department. It clearly represents a lot of hard work by [maybe] a lot of people. Hard work is another way to say Tactics. The group that put together the Seattle Parks plan executed a whole series of tactical actions to gather data, formulate and document the plan. Unfortunately, an old Chinese general once told us:
Strategy without Tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without Strategy is the noise before defeat—Sun Tzu
Did the Seattle Parks Department have a strategy for development of their strategic plan? Don’t know, but probably not. The genesis probably went something like this:
Superintendent: Joe, we need a five year strategic plan. Put together a team and let’s try and get a draft plan ready for final review this Spring. You know what the issues are. Ensure we are supporting the Mayor’s plan and make sure we get some public input.
With that type of charter, almost any strategic planning tactics would suffice. The planners could set off working very hard and produce the 37 page document linked above with confidence that they were meeting the Superintendent’s charter.
On the other hand, had the Superintendent said something like this with Joe and his team agreeing, strategic planning could have proceeded with a clear strategy:
Joe, we need a five year strategic plan that is clear, concise, measurable and compelling. It must clearly describe what the Seattle Parks Department looks and functions like in 2012. The plan must be developed, documented and agreed on with the direct involvement of community leaders, community members and all our other stakeholders, suppliers and customers. The plan must be ready to begin execution on June 1st, 2008 and be executable within our resource constraints. It must be easily understood and communicated to all those who must support and execute it. It must be measurable so those that must execute it can be held accountable for progress. While it is uncertain how our strategic environment will change in the next five years, the plan must include Exit strategies to deal with tactical failures and drastic changes in the external environment. Some of the things we want to do are just not going to work and the strategy needs clear guidelines on when and how we get out of failing initiatives.
Joe, this plan must paint a picture of the Seattle Parks Department in 2012 that is so compelling, yet practical within resource constraints that everyone in Seattle wants to support it and help make it happen. When execution of this plan begins in June 2008, I want every Seattle Parks Department employee to believe that executing this strategy is their Day Job!.
Now that’s a clear Strategic Planning Strategy. It clearly spells out what Joe and his team must accomplish, while not telling Joe how to do his job. Whatever tactics Joe and his team chose to develop the Strategic Plan, with strategic guidance like this, I doubt Andrew Taylor or anyone else in the Seattle community would be saying—Parks Strategic Plan – Somebody Goofed!
If you are responsible for Strategic Planning, do you have a Strategy for your plan?
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Mike,
A ggod article. I agree with you that most companies do strategic planning with very little thought as to its “implementability”, and that is usually because of not having clarity from the powers that be upfront.
I also wonder how much involvement the rest of the organization had in developing their plan.
Jim