Strategic Planning Best Practice 1 – Make the Mission Measurable

StrategyDriven Strategic Planning Best PracticeAn organization’s mission statement defines its purpose, its reason for being. These statements, however, tend to be broad and somewhat vague; making it difficult to identify the specific products, services, initiatives, and people that will most directly enable the organization to achieve its purpose.

Making the mission measurable provides the added clarity needed to focus decisions and drive actions toward achievement of the organization’s purpose. The mission is translated into a time-bound measure of performance rather than a specific goal. The value of competing alternatives can then be evaluated against the measure; offering executives and managers a mission contribution basis for the selection and pursuit of specific business opportunities.


About the Author

Nathan Ives, StrategyDriven Principal is a StrategyDriven Principal and Host of the StrategyDriven Podcast. For over twenty years, he has served as trusted advisor to executives and managers at dozens of Fortune 500 and smaller companies in the areas of management effectiveness, organizational development, and process improvement. To read Nathan’s complete biography, click here.

Horizontally Shared

StrategyDriven Organizational Performance Measures Best PracticeWell-constructed performance measurement systems provide a means of comparison between various products, services, and business units by ensuring relevant measures are horizontally shared across the organization.


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Vertical Cascading

StrategyDriven Organizational Performance Measures Best PracticePerformance measurement systems should be anchored on the single measure of organizational success (defined by the organization's mission) and vertically cascaded down through the organization  Each successive measurement tier becomes more specific than its predecessor with the lowest tier describing individual contributor behaviors and resulting outcomes.


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StrategyDriven Strategic Planning Forum

StrategyDriven Strategic Planning IntroductionA company’s true value is largely determined by its long-term performance potential as shaped by management’s decisions made today. These decisions guide the translation of the company’s mission, its purpose for existing, into the products and services it provides and hopefully the market wants.

Strategic planning is an iterative, ongoing process consisting of:

  • Analysis: assessment of the internal and external factors effecting the organization’s ability to achieve its mission
  • Alternative Development: detailed assessment of the costs, benefits, and risks associated with strategic alternatives including both major, ongoing and newly proposed activities
  • Alternative Selection: identification of the current portfolio components and proposed activities that will be pursued and the time frame for execution
  • Resource Projections: aggregation of the personnel, financial, physical, and technological needs including an assessment of the ability to acquire these resources within the needed time frame
  • Plan Development: final validation of the organization’s mission and compilation and approval of its long-range and annual business plans

Execution of these iterative processes takes place throughout the year with a frequency dictated by the pace of market change.

Focus of the Strategic Planning Forum

This forum will focus on the principles, best practices, and warning flags associated with the leading practices of companies that successfully execute strategic planning processes to define objectives, drive alignment, and enhance performance. The following articles, podcasts, documents, and resources cover those topics critical to an exceptional strategic planning program.

Articles

Principles

Best Practices

Warning Flags

StrategyDriven Expert Contributor Articles

StrategyDriven Podcasts

StrategyDriven Podcast

StrategyDriven Podcast – Video Edition

StrategyDriven Podcast – Special Edition

Documents

Whitepapers

  • Analysis    [StrategyDriven Premium Content]

Models

Resources

Books

StrategyDriven Organizational Performance Measures Forum

StrategyDriven Introduction to Organizational Performance MeasuresPerformance measures serve to align an organization’s efforts to the achievement of its mission. As part of a company’s evaluation and control program, they quantifiably monitor important characteristics of the company’s products and services and the performance of the individuals and processes creating them. Performance measures support managerial decision-making by providing useful information regarding:

  • how efficient and effective are the company’s processes and the individuals implementing them
  • if product or service improvements are necessary
  • if the company’s customers and stakeholders are satisfied
  • if the company is meeting its stated goals

Performance measures best serve an organization when they are understandable, broadly applicable, uniformly interpreted, and economic to apply. They should cascade through and organization’s hierarchy such that achievement of lower tiered performance goals support higher tiered goals that in turn ultimately support achievement of the company’s mission.

Focus of the Organizational Performance Measures Forum

This forum will focus on the principles, best practices, and warning flags associated with the leading practices of companies that successfully use performance measures to drive organizational alignment, accountability, and operational performance. The following articles, podcasts, documents, and resources cover those topics critical to a strong performance measurement system.

Articles

Principles

Best Practices

Warning Flags

StrategyDriven Expert Contributor Articles

StrategyDriven Podcasts

StrategyDriven Podcast

StrategyDriven Podcast – Video Edition

StrategyDriven Podcast – Special Edition

Documents

Whitepapers

  • Alignment    [StrategyDriven Premium Content]
  • Types    [StrategyDriven Premium Content]
  • Selection    [StrategyDriven Premium Content]
  • Construction    [StrategyDriven Premium Content]

Resources

Books


StrategyDriven's organizational performance measures catalogEnterprise Performance Measurement

We can work with you to assess and improve your performance measurement system; yielding metrics and reports that are operationally relevant, organizationally consistent, and economically implemented. The resulting system helps improve managerial decision-making, organizational alignment, and individual accountability. Learn more about how we can support your implementation and upgrade efforts or contact us for a personal consultation.