Strategic Planning Frequently Asked Questions and Answers

What Is The Most Common Reason Strategic Planning Fails?

There are two organizational processes that are most abused in today's organizations. One is performance management. The other is strategic planning. It's pretty safe to say that both processes offer great potential for payoff, but that most of they time, they do not pay off. So, what's the most common reason that strategic planning fails?

The answer doesn't involve rocket science, but it's a bit surprising. As with any planning, whether for organizations or individuals, the development of a plan is not going to be very valuable unless the plan is implemented, or used for what it's intended to do.

Unfortunately, what often happens with strategic plans in organizations is that the organization develops a plan, let's say at a retreat, commits it to paper, perhaps circulates it to those who participated in the plan development, then takes the plan and shoves it into the back of the drawer, never to be looked at or considered again. Hence, the plan itself is ignored.

Organizational leaders need to understand that there is a link between leadership and implementing the strategic plan, and that without leadership and leadership commitment to keep the plan on everyone's radar, most of the value is lost.

That's not to say that the process of strategic planning isn't valuable. Simply doing it can be helpful. Not using the plan, though, once you've invested time and energy into it, results in a waste of those resources.

See also: Why Do We Need to Think Differently About Strategic Planning and Strategic Plans?