Can Strategic Planning Enable Clarity In The Face Of Adversity?

 

Many hours in the C-suite are spent poring over difficult decisions. Whether it’s a problem with personnel, the incomings and outgoings of capital, or even an issue with the business’ service, crisis talks in some form are by no means a rarity.

The answer to dealing with such problems is centred on sound strategic planning that provides clarity in the face of issues.

The race for clarity

However, many companies struggle to get everyone on the same page. Research collated by Deloitte and published by The Wall Street Journal suggested that between 30 to 40 per cent of North American organizations fail to properly frame or adopt pre-planned strategies.

Naturally, in the face of a serious business issue, this trend can only exacerbate problems.

Providing context

So, how can businesses ensure that everyone within the organization is ready and prepared to follow a strategic plan when problems arise?

Entrepreneur contributor and CEO of software company Infusionsoft Clate Mask explained that the best way is to make sure that all of the employees who need to follow the company’s strategic plan have the context to do so.

This can be as simple as holding quarterly meetings, or even using strategy software to allow all employees a top down view of what the company needs to do and why.

A path for growth

As touched on, having all employees unified when it comes to a strategic plan is particularly important in the face of tumultuous times, but it’s also good practice in general.

In fact, Positioning Systems explained that setting business priorities and communicating them across the enterprise is critical to long term growth. After all, it’s much more likely that objectives will be met – and issues solved – if the parties who have to do the work towards end goals know the stance of the wider company.