Distortions & Deceptions in Strategic Decisions
Readers of this and other association-related blogs are likely familiar with electronic discussions about the pros and cons of strategic planning, thinking and related practices. These discussions serve a useful (and often entertaining) purpose, by sharing views, experiences and even provocative ideas about associations and strategy. Such discussions provide an important opportunity to exchange views on “what matters most” when it comes to association's forward-looking activities.
A recent study, published in the McKinsey Quarterly, is titled “Distortions & deceptions in Strategic Decisions.” The subheading under the title reads, “Companies are vulnerable to misconceptions, biases, and other plain old lies. But not hopelessly vulnerable”. Interested? Click on
http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/article_abstract.aspx?ar=1716&l2=21&l3=37&srid=63&gp=0
For those who are fed up with strategic planning, the Quarterly has something for you. It’s “Tired of Strategic Planning?” whose subtitle is: “Many companies get little value from their annual strategic planning process. It should be redesigned to support real-time strategy making and to encourage ‘creative accidents’ “. Click on
http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/article_page.aspx?ar=1191&L2=21&L3=37
Happy strategy!
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Comments
Amen, Virgil! I'm on vacation, but I promise to comment on the content of the articles when I get back. Thanks for posting the links.
Posted by: Jamie Notter | July 27, 2007 7:48 PM
Virgil,
As an employee of a large, if not the largest, tech company in the world for 10 years, I would agree that annual strategic planning took on a comical nature and mostly seemed to be a waste of time. I took these lessons with me when I started my own guiding business in Tahoe but I needed strategic planning tools to help get financing and my idea off the ground. Erica Olsen and her company offered invaluable support and their online software was simple to use.
My business would may have failed w/o their assistance.
Happy Planning!
Jason
Posted by: Jason | July 30, 2007 7:11 PM
Great articles, Virgil. As you may have guessed, I particularly like the second one that discusses the limited value of strategic planning processes. There are a couple of points I would highlight. First, the article points out that strategic decision making is actually done more on the fly, in real time, NOT during the formal process. I think the way the association community typically does strategic planning ignores this fact (or at best gives only lip service to it). Plans tend to be designed to REMOVE the need for decision making, rather than build the capacity of the organization to make better strategic decisions throughout the year. Second, the article stresses the importance of the link between strategy and creativity. Living systems that don’t create become stagnant, yet strategic planning often ends up as “last year plus x percent.” Room for experimentation is typically limited and rarely do associations do what the article suggests: intentionally disrupt existing organizational structures to allow for more creative dialogue. I know I am making generalizations, and I am sure there are associations who are trying to build their decision making capacity or increase creativity within their strategic planning processes. But personally I think the fusing of strategy and planning that is inherent in traditional strategic planning works against these types of changes. Thanks again for the great links. I plan on doing a more detailed post on the Association Renewal Blog.
Posted by: Jamie Notter | July 31, 2007 7:21 AM