Focused Telescope

Your Strategic Plan Is All About Focus

“80 percent of what I do on a daily basis is not included in this strategic plan.” – an Executive Director

Yes, that is a real quote from a real Executive Director.

The planning committee, including the ED, had met monthly for a year to analyze the vision, mission, strategies, objectives. Detailed actions were then assigned and this was the third quarterly oversight meeting.

The statement stopped the meeting cold. Everyone sat in silence for about a minute. The statement meant one or more of the following:

  1. He was wrong and his activities did support the plan.
  2. He did not understand the plan, especially the objectives and strategies.
  3. He did not understand what a strategic plan is used for.
  4. He was incompetent.
  5. It was a “bum” plan.

We knew #4 and #5 were wrong. He had been there for a couple of decades and continued to do great work. We had carefully developed the plan.

After some briefing discussion, we determined that it was a combination of #’s 1, 2, and 3.

He had the ratio wrong. 80% of his daily activities did support the plan. He just lacked understanding…understanding that the vision is the reason the organization exists. If you are expending resources, including the ED’s work time, on activities that do not support the strategy, you are wasting those resources.

Upon reflection, the problem was probably a little deeper. A number 6 and a number 7, if you will. #6. He had been ED for many years before the planning was started and had committed to a lot of daily activities that were good things to do, but were not focused. #7. He liked doing those things and resented change (a refocus). This was not really rebellion; it was just resistance.

He is a good ED. I am confident that this problem will be resolved to everyone’s satisfaction. It was just a reminder that the strategic plan is all about focusing daily activities on outcomes and not just on outputs. It is also a reminder that we all live and work in a world with real people and not everyone will understand the logic and flow of planning.