Sessions

Surprisingly few strategic plans succeed and plans fall short for many reasons, but most failures stem from two causes. First, our traditional planning methods, and the plans they produce, rest upon mistaken assumptions about how complex systems behave. And second, our planning methods do not align well with human nature: here too our planning processes rest upon flawed assumptions, this time assumptions about how real people make real decisions. Knowing this, it is possible to use a different process to plan: one that works more closely with the laws of nature. Two important features of this planning process are: the development of a set of “desired outcomes” to steer everything else, and the development of a simple “campaign plan” that helps visualize what needs to be done and why—but, importantly, not how. Not surprisingly, plans developed using this process tend to succeed much more often than traditional plans, and planners who employ these techniques tend to make more timely and sounder decisions than their counterparts who do not. At the end of the session, you will be able to:

• Explain some of the most common ways traditional strategic plans fail.
• Describe the major tenets of planning and the proper sequence for employing them.
• Create a set of “desired outcomes” and corresponding “measures of effectiveness” as the basis for planning and as the foundation for assessing progress (or lack thereof).
• Develop and use a simple “campaign plan” as a powerful tool for implementation.