Are you happy with your life right now? Your career? Your personal life? Your relationships? Or your financial life? If you’re not completely satisfied, strategic planning can help!
Did you know that executives state 97% of the time that strategic planning is the most critical attribute for the future success of their organization? This attribute was chosen over other essential skills such as communication and innovation. Why? Because the most effective leaders are those with strategic planning skills as they are able to plan and anticipate future events. As this is an essential skill, how can you develop it?
This is great information but is it valuable to a personal life? And how can I develop it? Although this is an essential skill in business life, it is a treasured tool within a personal life. It aids a person to understand the values in their lives, create a work/personal life balance. Lastly, just as it aids an organization to achieve milestones and an individual to reach career goals, this same skill set when used in an individual’s personal life will propel them to personal successes.
Strategic planning is simply the ability to explore what may happen in the future. When a leader applies the ability to plan strategically, they evaluate the varying choices and determine the best option based on the probable outcomes. Through strategic planning, individuals can “set priorities, focus energy and resources, strengthen operations, ensure that employees and other stakeholders are working toward common goals, establish agreement around intended outcomes/results, and assess and adjust the organization’s direction in response to a changing environment” (Strategic Management).
Strategic thinking is achieved through the balance of switching between divergent thinking and convergent thinking. Divergent thinking is the thought process used to create varying possibilities, produce ideas or brainstorm. Convergent thinking, therefore, is the opposite of divergent thinking. Instead of looking at various options, convergent thinking focuses on the choice between right or wrong. It narrows into the idea of a ‘right answer’. Using each of these thinking processes is a skill of the most innovative individuals.
Do you have this ability already? If not, don’t despair. It can be developed!
Developing Strategic Planning in Self
To develop any skill or attribute, an individual needs to create an awareness of themselves. Take a few moments to ponder and ask yourself:
- Do I see many options or do I tend to focus on one solution quickly?
- Do I enjoy brainstorming and hesitate to make a choice?
- Do I prefer to use divergent thinking in some areas (or with some choices in my life) or convergent thinking in others?
Take a few moments daily to sit quietly and think. If you tend to focus more on divergent or convergent thinking, force yourself to ponder the opposing thinking skill.
Make sure that you are always looking for ways to improve yourself. Learn something new. Be curious. As questions. Try new things and be adventurous. Push yourself out of your comfort zone. Challenge yourself to learn something new daily.
- Decision-making
Strategic planning is a balance between brainstorming, thinking, learning and then making a solid decision. Take in all of the options and carefully evaluate the return on investment (ROI). What resources will each choice require? Time? Money? Personal sacrifice? Recall that every choice will require a sacrifice of resources which may also require some prioritizing. With each choice, something will fall to the back. Make sure you are willing to make that sacrifice.
- Create a Strong Team
Look at those around you in your inner circle. Who are your closest friends and associates? Make sure that those you associate with most are the kinds of people that inspire you, help you to grow, and push you to be better each day.
John Maxwell calls this the Law of the Inner Circle. In his book, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, Maxwell points out the needed attributes of those in the inner circle. Ask yourself:
- Do they have high influence with others?
- Do they bring a complementary attribute?
- Do they hold a strategic position in an organization?
- Do they add value to me and the organization?
- Do they positively impact other inner circle members?
- Do they display excellence, maturity and good character in everything they do?
Take a few moments and look at those that associate with you on a daily basis. Do they meet the requirements set forth by Maxwell?
Developing Strategic Planning in Others
If you’re in a leadership position, you may wish to develop strategic planning in others or help others to create a needed vision for your organization. There are tips and approaches you can use to develop this attribute.
- Encourage Others
You can start small by encouraging those around you to think strategically. Reinforce strategic thinking by noticing forward thinking planning. Ask them how they came to that conclusion.
Also, when you see convergent or divergent thinking, prompt the opposite type of thinking. For instance, if an employee is thinking divergently by creating a variety of solutions, applaud the brainstorming efforts and give a gentle nudge to narrow the options. Through this process, convergent thinking is being prompted.
- Share Information
To create strategic planning, be sure to share information. If you have employees that are not thinking strategically or practicing strategic planning, look to see if they have enough information. Maybe they simply are not using strategic planning because they simply do not have the information they need to be able to plan accordingly.
- Mentor
One of the most effective ways to develop strategic planning in an employee is to create a mentorship program. If your organization does not have the infrastructure to do this, create a mentor program. You can also be a mentor and unofficially mentor strategic planning skills in your employees.
- Share the Vision
Hopefully, you have developed a vision or shared your long-term goals with your employees. If not, be sure to not only share it, but post those goals where they can be seen. Utilize a community bulletin board within your office. Be sure to talk about the goals frequently. Keep bringing the attention back to what matters most.
- Encourage and Promote Proactive Thinking
Proactive thinking is simply a way to continually move forward. It is a piece of strategic planning in that it takes a smaller role. Through having a unified vision and goals associated with them, you’re promoting proactive thinking.
- Ask Open Ended Questions
Open-ended questions are questions that encourage discussion contrary to closed-ended questions which require a simple answer. For instance, a closed-ended question would be “Did you complete the expense report?” The options to that question are limited compared to the open-ended version, “How did the expense report go?” Open-ended questions encourage more divergent thinking.
Strategic planning isn’t just about envisioning a better future. It is a developed skill that improves the quality of life and future, not only for organizations and businesses but for individuals. It propels improvements in professional and personal lives.
Sources:
Harvard Business Review, Develop Strategic Thinkers Throughout Your Organization, February 2014.
Maxwell, John, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, 1998.
Strategy Management, Strategic Planning Basics, 2019.
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