More On Strategic Planning

My colleague, Stephanie was telling me how much she hates strategic planning the other day. I do as well.

I think Stephanie and I are in the same boat. As I mentioned in my previous posts, I despise our strategic planning sessions at our organization. 

Or leadership rents out a floor at a hotel, and a meeting room and for two full days we brainstorm, future cast, and think about the future of the market and how our organization will meet the changes and stay competitive. I’m far more day-to-day oriented, and find myself struggling to find meaning or worth in these meeting as many of the other leaders do. 

That being said, lately, I’ve found that they are a “necessary” evil and compared to not doing them are quite beneficial. I’ve been a part of organizations that do not take strategic planning seriously and instead of reacting to the market demands, they drift along hoping to stay in the current. Having experienced both sides of the coin, I’ll happily force myself to brainstorm and future cast with other leaders if it means remaining relevant in our industry and being a leading organization within the market. 

Right now our organization is the clear leader of the market and the other competitors are struggling to keep up. It’s much nicer to be in the lead than being a slave to the actions that the leader takes. So, although I hear ya in your dislike for strategic planning sessions, as I read this chapter I found myself nodding and saying “yep, we do that,” and “wow! Glad we’re doing that.”