What's the Plan Stan Deux?

I’ve written a lot lately about the need for every Company, as well as every department in the Company, to have a Strategic Plan. Clearly, every Company needs the basic roadmap that describes, in clear and simple terms, how it is going to get from where it is to where it wants to be. And every department in the Company needs a One Page Departmental Strategic Plan – developed by the Employees in the department - that aligns what the department does on a daily basis with what the Company wants to achieve. Why so much emphasis on Strategic Planning?1. Because the business terrain has changed and will continue to change, so the Company’s Strategic Plan in place last September can not reflect the new roadmap the Company needs to be looking at to survive the current WorkQuake™ tremor.2. Because the Employees need to know there is a Strategic Plan in place. At this time, a Strategic Plan emphasizes to the Employees that Management is still in charge and knows what they are doing; That Management has a Plan; And the Plan means there is hope for the Future.3. Because involving the Employees in developing Departmental Strategic Plans indicates Employees know and understand the Company’s overall Strategic Plan and realize they can contribute to help the company get to where it needs to be by what they do in the workplace on a daily basis. This involvement generates the commitment every Company needs to survive in the Knowledge Economy 4. But Most Importantly: Because now is the perfect opportunity for the Company to develop a Strategic Plan from the perspective of becoming an Entrepreneurial Organization that is dedicated to developing Intrapreneurial Employees and creating Evangelist Customers. The Bottom Line: Why is this the perfect time to focus the Strategic Planning process on the changes needed at all levels of the organization to ensure the Company future? Because the Organizational Change Procedure takes place in three stages:

The Unfreezing Stage (overcoming resistance to change);
The Moving Stage (accepting change); and
Refreezing Stage (making the new change part of the organization).

The current economy crisis has dramatically reduced the opposition to change reflected in the Unfreezing and Moving Stages and created a unique opportunity to develop and implement organizational changes (Refreezing Stage) to reflect the needs of the Organization, its Employees and its Customers in the Knowledge Economy.

Question: Does your Company have the guts to generate a Strategic Plan that genuinely reflects where the Company needs to be in the future to thrive, and not just survive the WorkQuake™ of the Knowledge Economy?

Paul Glover, President Go go to www.trainingeverydayleaders.com for more information about Strategic Planning in the Time of the WorkQuake™.