TABLE OF CONTENTS
Purpose of “60 MINUTES”
1. STRATEGIC ISSUE
2. ASSUMPTIONS
3. VALUES
4. VISION
5. CUSTOMER BENEFIT
6. OTHER BENEFICIARIES
7. OBSTACLES
8. VITAL SIGNS
9. STRENGTH, WEAKNESSES, OPPORTUNITIES
10. STRATEGIES
11. ACTIONS
12. TITLE
13. IMPLEMENTATION
Purpose of “60 MINUTES”
Why Plan?
To direct choices vs. random decisions.
To give hope vs. tyranny of the urgent.
To shape your future vs. having it shaped for you.
To prosper vs. day-to-day survival.
That’s why you plan!
Why Plan quickly?
At today’s rapid pace of decision making strategic planning must become a process rather than an event – compressed in time, simplified in format, quickly completed and easily communicated – rapid response planning to rapid-fire change.
Is there a magic plan?
YES – any plan that leadership is passionate about is a magic plan. You can make group IQ genius by unifying and harmonizing employee purpose. Common accord lasers group energy and demolishes barriers. Focus is magic.
What is the “60 Minute Strategic Plan”?
People learn best visually, with hands on, while seeing how the parts fit the whole. So “60 Minutes” borrowed design elements from crossword puzzles, jigsaw puzzles and paint-by-numbers. Self-information is gathered and sorted to form a visual pattern of clues leading you to conclusions, directions and action. The plan you need, to get to the results you want, grows increasingly obvious with each completed step. Planning time is compressed, planning process is simplified and planning output is visualized.
It’s simple, it’s quick and it works.
1. STRATEGIC ISSUE
(create new alignment)
Stephen Covey claims you are perfectly aligned for the results you are getting. So the first question in selecting a strategic issue is – do you have a major result you want changed? If not, then answers to the following questions may surface your strategic issue.
EXERCISE
1. Customers want higher quality and lower prices. What would you have to do to achieve that?
2. What move could you make (legally) that would strike fear into the hearts of your competitors?
3. How is your productivity currently, or in the future, going to be limited by:
capital, assets, time or money?
4. What management competencies are missing?
2. ASSUMPTIONS
(this I believe)
Assumptions are what we believe to be true and we act on what we believe to be true.
Three reasons for this exercise:
1. To determine if you have the passion, thus the heart and stamina to finish what you start.
2. To fortify your convictions in anticipation of challenge and opposition.
3. To determine the potential return on investment as rationale for committing current resources.
EXERCISE
• Name 3 consequences of not solving this issue
• Name 3 consequences of solving this issue
• Dollar value of solving this issue?
3. VALUES
(why we make a difference)
Only one asset cannot be competitively duplicated – your people and their shared values. So any strategic scenario, if it is to be successful, must be built on the foundation of existing shared values. This is not a wish list. Consider only the values currently in place.
EXERCISE
- – Name 3 things you do really well that actually matters to the customer.
- – How do you measure these things?
4. VISION
(s-t-r-e-t-c-h)
Vision means aspiring to something greater. Reaching for levels of performance never before attained. The human spirit thrives on hope and getting better. Vision draws from the bottomless well of human potential.
By definition, what you envision is currently impossible, otherwise you would be doing it. Therefore Vision creates tension by being in conflict with current reality and the defenders of the familiar. Use the energy in this tension to propel performance toward expectations.
EXERCISE
- – Envision absolutely fabulous big hairy audacious goals for your strategic issue.
- – The bigger the vision the longer the time frame.
5. CUSTOMER BENEFIT
(pay off here to get paid)
Customers, you can’t live without ‘em. Unfortunately they can live without you. The customer puts every Vision on trial for its life. A favorable verdict depends on evidence that the Vision you espouse provides a great return-on-investment to the customer.
You don’t make money, you make products and services. The customer supplies the money, but only in exchange for the best available solution to their needs. They key question to ask is-how does this Vision contribute to my customers’ success?
EXERCISE
- – How does your customer define success?
- – How does this Vision contribute to that success?
- – What is the customer’s $ROI in your Vision?
- – Get customer agreement on your $ROI calculation.
6. OTHER BENEFICIARIES
(what’s in it for me?)
Co-workers, you can’t get a strategic plan implemented without them. Unfortunately they are already 100% occupied running the day-to-day business. Co-workers put every Vision on trial for its life. A favorable verdict depends on evidence that the Vision they are asked to produce will provide an above average personal return-on-investment for the above average personal effort they will be asked to expend. Strategic efforts are always superimposed on full work schedules; therefore, employees must be motivated to fight and win the battle for the Vision.
EXERCISE
- – Describe those tasked with implementing this Vision
- – Describe their personal incentive to work harder/smarter to create the Vision
7. OBSTACLES
(hard news you can build on)
Your big hairy audacious goals exposed a big hairy performance gap – the distance between what you envision and current reality. Now is the time to articulate the valid reasons why the Vision you desire is not currently possible.
These truths will set you free because they allow you to act wisely. The antidote to the “we-have never-done-that-before” anxiety is to bring those fears into the light. Each obstacle is a stepping stone to the Vision, a rite of passage. Obstacles are natures’ way of weeding out the uncommitted.
EXERCISE
- – Describe all the challenges and barriers you see facing this Vision (it shows the skeptics your vision is grounded in reality)
8. VITAL SIGNS
(knowing where you are)
If you don’t know where you are going then any path will do.
If you do know where you are going you need to know you are on the best path to get there.
Vital signs give you and your people fast factual en route feedback.
At Microsoft Bill Gates makes bad news travel fastest so corrective action can begin ASAP.
Maxim: if it can’t be measured, it can’t be managed.
EXERCISE
- – What do you need to know to track and audit progress to the Vision?
- – Describe what’s important, not necessarily easy, to measure.
9. STRENGTHS, WEAKNESSES, OPPORTUNITIES
(let’s get ready to rumble)
Know thyself. Now is the time to take inventory prior to starting the journey to the Vision. Wise leadership assesses resources – what it can and can’t do and what it has and has not, before engaging in a campaign.
EXERCISE
As it relates to this strategic issue describe the following:
- – Strengths to build on
- – Weaknesses to be made irrelevant
- – Opportunities to exploit
10. STRATEGIES
(gap attack)
When you chose the best imaginable outcomes to your strategic issue, you exposed the gap between current performance and desired performance i.e. Vision. Obstacles described that gap in painful detail. Now you must decide where to close the gap, which Obstacles or Opportunities to attack and resolve.
EXERCISE
- 1. Select 1,2 or 3 performance gaps. Use a single work to describe each.
- 2. In one word describe the strategic transition needed to close each performance gap – FROM (current state)…TO (desired state).
11. ACTION PLANS
(closing the gap)
In the previous step you decided which gap to bridge. Now decide how to bridge each performance gap. Start with easy wins. If you are uncertain how to start then begin with research. Continue actions until the gap is closed.
EXERCISE
- – List and then prioritize the activities needed to complete the strategic transition to close the performance gap for each Strategy
- – Add actions until gap is closed
- –
12. TITLE
(birth notice)
Just as your parents announced the occasion of your arrival with a meaningful birth name, so also should you announce the birth of your strategic plan with a meaningful name. The birth name represents your intentions for the future. Consider just 5 words captured and maintained national intention to “put man on the moon”.
EXERCISE
- – Capture your Vision in 3 words
13. IMPLEMENTATION
(to be or not to be, that is the question)
A hostile world awaits your newborn plan. Vision means change. Change means loss. People resist loss. Without extraordinary measures on our part this plan in DOA (dead on arrival). Create accountability. Invest and plan with incentives to motivate and celebrate each stage of accomplishment.
TIPS
- 1. Find a volunteer champion for every action (not the CEO)
- 2. Set due dates for every action
- 3. Reschedule due dates as necessary
- 4. Strategic Oversight task force to review progress monthly
- 5. Apply Pucker Factor
PUCKER FACTOR
Definition: Any incentive that greatly increases motivation – an attention getting reward for completing a strategic task.
60 Minute Strategic Plan – Instructional Manual