Strategic Awareness-A Primer

Why Strategic Plans Don't Work

Strategic plans often do not work due to issues with Strategic Planning as a process. For example:

Many nonprofit organizations have the perception, or have had the experience, where a proper planning process is viewed as too costly, but feel the obligation to do a plan anyway because, well.. it is expected of them. They then create something that is often worse than nothing.

Board members are not willing to give the time to do traditional planning, and sometimes we are unwilling to ask for that time- “after all, they are just volunteers”. (“five hours, Saturday next month, and I'll try to make it but get started without me”).

Often leadership of the planning process by both Board and senior executives is lacking, and it is not seen as a priority for the organization. It is sometimes just left up to the staff to develop.

The planning process gets pushed back, and back, because other things come up.

People either want to talk about "pet" ideas instead of focusing on strategic outcomes – or, conversely, come up with marvellous ideals but there is no operationalizing of how and when they need to be achieved (resulting in a marvellous a wish list).

The environment in which the organization operates is changing rapidly, leaving the organization with a plan made months or years ago that is no longer relevant.

Possibilities and innovation are ignored due to the linear nature of the strategic planning process, with any creativity is not welcomed “because it is not in the strategic plan”.

There are also issues with strategic plans as documents

Many strategic plans do not have mechanisms to assess the progress against the timelines and the success measures. When new Board members or staff look at the strategic plan, they do not like components and therefore do not support or actively work against the plan.

It is not constantly reviewed and tested.

Timelines are not established and monitored.

Success measures have nothing to do with the achievement of the overriding Vision and Mission.

It is full of “yada-yada” (a technical term we use for interesting but useless information).

What is Strategic Awareness?

• Strategic Awareness is the process of fusing Awareness to Strategy, and incorporating real world knowledge of industry, global trends and possible futures.

• Awareness is the key to perceiving and receiving unlimited possibilities and to seize new opportunities; analysis alone will never be adequate.

• Strategically aware leaders are open to the possibility that the existing strategy and the current organization’s mission itself may need to change.

• Continuously ‘Being the Question’ expands your zone of awareness by helping create a more accurate picture of a problem, or phenomenon and a wider range of alternatives. By asking the question, you come up with different ways of interpreting problems and novel solutions to them.

Awareness without strategy often results in being mesmerized in the potential possibility realm, bouncing from idea to idea almost at random without the need or strategy to carry it through in physical reality. Strategy without awareness leads to dangerous practices that are not fluid and do not take into account the changing environment.

“There is only one thing worse than not having a strategic plan- and that is having one that does not change”-Steven Bowman

Developing a Culture of Strategic Awareness at the Board level

A strategic plan is worse than useless if the Board is not willing to function from strategic awareness. Here are some tips for designing meetings to facilitate strategic thinking and strategic awareness.

• Structure the Board agenda so it reflects the strategic plan.
• Add the vision statement to the agenda.
• Staff reports aligned to strategy.
• Professional development of Board to provide new perspectives on strategic issues.
• Staff presentations to Board on strategic issues in the area of that staff person’s responsibility.
• Changes to strategic environment section where Board members and staff are encouraged to discuss any changes they have heard or observed.
• Dashboard reporting where key indicators are monitored, not reams of paper that all have to be reported on.
• Briefing materials prior to meeting that present multiple options and present questions for the Board to consider.

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About the author: Steven Bowman is an international speaker, best-selling author and global leader in providing practical frameworks and comprehensive approaches to assist Boards and Senior Executive Teams to reach higher levels of conscious awareness in governance, leadership, strategy and risk. Authors of Conscious Leadership-the Key to Success, and Leading Yourself to Money with Consciousness.

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