Strategic Planning Best Practice 10 - Future Focus

Today’s rapidly changing business environment presents a daunting challenge to executives and managers. Gone are the days when a company’s competitive advantage could be leveraged to bring it untold riches year after year. Technology and the phenomenon of the flattening world have created a new market environment in which a company innovates one day only to see its unique creations commoditized the next.

To remain competitive in this new, flatter world, organization leaders must remain focused on the future. While crystal balls do not exist, corporate leaders must serve as the ultimate futurists; anticipating changes in both market demands as well as the availability of human, technological, and material resources. Strategic planning should incorporate these predictions while allowing for flexibility and adjustments to be made during tactical execution.

Additional information

Strategic Planning Warning Flag 2 – Near-Term Focus, highlights the process and behavioral signs of an organization that lacks a future focus. This article serves as a resource to those assessing their organization’s ability to maintain a future focus, thereby, enabling it to more easily adapt and excel in the ever increasingly competitive marketplace.

About the Author

Nathan Ives 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.