After all of the meetings among the leadership team and the board of directors, the strategic plan is ready for the entire organization and the world to see.
The marketing department has worked diligently, creating a spectacular layout. The boxes comeback from the printer, and the smellof fresh ink permeates the room as the booklets are handed out and the employees thumb through the pages. You begin your presentation, explaining how the mission, vision and purpose have been updated.
Your presentation is flawless as you walk your employees through the highlights of the five-year plan. You leave the room to sounds of applause and high-fives from the employees in the front row. It is an exciting new adventure, and the team, you believe, is charged-up, motivated for success.
But what are your employees doing? Sure, some of them are excited about the new direction and possibilities the strategic plan provides, but most of them go back to their desk and settle into their routines. As the months pass, the printed plan goes into a drawer. Or, it’s deposited in the recycle bin.
It’s been over a year. Now, what do you do to sustain progress?
Leaders, you must realize thata strategic plan is a living, breathing document. In order to achieve the goals and objectives within the plan, you have to implement, what I call, the three C’s of strategic planning:Communication, Connection and Commitment. The planning is the easy part. Executing, on the other hand, requires the three C's.
It is easy for thesenior level of leadership and the Board of Directors to understand the relevance, but everyone with a cubicle, office, or on the production line must understand howthe planrelates to them.
Leaders and managers, need to constantly communicate the expectations and how each person’s day-to-day activities connect to the strategic plan. By communicating that direct connection, the commitment level of the entire organization will improve.
Communication
Communication must be clear and concise. If you have ever played the communication game, where you have a circle of people and ask each person to relay a sentence around the room, you understand how difficult it is. As the sentence is whispered fromone person to the next, the participants hear what is pertinent to them. The filters each person applies to retain and subsequently relay the informationdistorts the original message.
Now, think of the organizational chart of your company. How many layers must the mission-critical messages pass through? How often will the message be “filtered” and changed as it works its way from the vice presidents to the department directors, team leaders and, finally, to the ground-level employees? Even if your company is small, say 5-15 people, and your organizational structure is relatively flat, each person willhear and apply only what they believeis important to them.
That is why the message must be clearly communicated and repeated.
Connection
During thevarious phases ofany plan,directors, managers and supervisorsmust take the time to explain how each person fits into the plan. One-on-one meetings, where short-term goals can beestablished, provide the connection each employee should have to the plan. Your team membersneedto knowwhy their work is essential to the success of the company.
The interpersonal connections count, too. One-on-one goal-settingsessions help leaders get to know their team members better. Understanding their individualmotivators and desiresare essential. Oncea leader knowswhat drivesa person, the easier it istomotivatethat individualtoaccomplish goals and objectives.
Commitment
During those one-on-one meetings, allow your team members (with some guidance)to establish their own personal goalsto measure and track. When people are allowed to set their goals, they are more likely to attain them. When goals are dictated, buy-in decreases.
Another way to increasecommitment is to letyour team set the benchmarks. A scoreboard can be used to trackthe progress of the group. Updated daily, weekly or monthly, the team knows where it stands and exactly what needs to be done to achieve success.
So the next time your company goes through the strategic planning process or even sets its annual or quarterly goals, keep in mind that momentum wanes over time. That is when leaders step in to communicate with employees, connectindividual efforts to the plan through a goal-setting process, and earntheemployee'spersonal commitment toaccomplish each objective in the strategic plan.
