A few weeks ago, I wrote a post entitled, How to Create a Strategic Plan – it was actually two posts. One of the comments I received was, “That’s great – how do you create an Operating Plan?” If that’s your question, here are a few thoughts for you to consider…
Category: Strategic Planning
This is the first in a series of posts to address the issues that you’ve asked me to address. The issues I write about may not be your current challenges; but if you lead long enough, I’m guessing you’ll bump in to most of them. Today, I want to respond to the challenge of defining reality.
In my last post, I outlined three critical ingredients for a great Strategic Plan. Assuming you have the right people and you allocate adequate time, the final element is a proven process to guide your journey.
Over the years, I’ve been asked a lot of questions. Questions about hiring, retention, performance, vision, even parenting. One of the more popular topics has been planning. I’m not sure why this has been the case. Perhaps there is less certainty about this topic; maybe it’s because the great management and leadership thinkers haven’t written as much about it; or maybe it’s because leaders intuitively know that planning is a big deal.
What’s the difference in a Strategic Plan and an Operating Plan? Do you need both? Many organizations seem to be unclear as to the difference between these two very different types of plans. I believe both are essential if we’re going to maximize the success of our organizations.
I recently started working on my 2013 calendar… have you? I’ve found over the years that unless I start thinking about the new year at least 6 months in advance, I spend a lot of time trying to catch up and make things work once the new year begins. My process is neither complicated nor original but it works for me.
Several years ago, my oldest son and I had the idea we wanted to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, the highest peak in Africa – 19,340 ft. That was our vision. However, the idea alone was not sufficient to get us to the top. If we’re not careful, as leaders, we can get so excited about the destination, we forget that vision alone won’t get us where we want to go.
An often undervalued and sometimes overlooked role of the leader is the creation of strategic direction. Organizations have options – perhaps more than ever before. In their quest for competitive advantage, which path should they choose?
I’m thankful to say that we’ve been able to assemble a great team at the Chick-fil-A home office. Like many of you, we’ve selected men and women of integrity with a strong work ethic, who also do amazing work. The challenge, especially if you have a team of superstars, is not that they’ll do bad work – it’s that they’ll do the wrong work extremely well!
Categories
Remember…
One of the things I love about my role at Chick-fil-A is the opportunity to learn from great leaders – both inside and outside our business. I had that chance again this week. Tuesday, our senior leaders spent the day with Don Soderquist. Don is the former Vice Chairman and COO for Walmart and the founder of the Soderquist Center for Leadership and Ethics at John Brown University. Under Don’s leadership, Walmart, became the world’s largest business.