The following is an excerpt of a blog post reprinted with permission from AchieveIt.
By nature, planning takes on a top-down approach, as the senior-most executives gather together to discuss the future direction of the organization. While decisions are generally grounded in well-constructed data, the collective perspective of these senior leaders carries tremendous weight. As organizations search for tools to help answer the question, what is strategic planning, one such tool is executive interviewing.
The danger in a top-down design to address what is strategic planning is that many senior leaders have similar perspectives. The reason they have risen to such positions in your organization is that they share common styles, ideas and beliefs. They work together, collaborate on a variety of initiatives and may even socialize beyond the normal workday.
Even though you may have upwards of a dozen senior executives in your organization, the question remains, are they able to see the entire horizon line? And are they able to answer the question, "What is strategic planning?"
Executive interviewing expands the peripheral vision of the organization by engaging front-line staff, middle managers, board members and other stakeholders in the planning process. This additional insight often uncovers information that wouldn't have been identified otherwise.
How executive interviewing works
Very simply, the members of [your] strategic planning team interview several stakeholders each using a structured interview guide. They record the verbatim responses of those interviewed for future analysis. The purpose of executive interviewing is to identify trends in perceptions of various stakeholder groups that could benefit the strategic planning process.
To start, determine what questions you want your planning team to ask. The recommended number of questions is four to six. Questions should be broad enough that all stakeholder groups are able to answer them, but not so broad that the answers provide no real value to your company. Here are sample questions that are included in the executive interviewing guide included in ExecuteIt, AchieveIt's […] execution management and strategic planning application:
• If you were in charge of this organization, what two things would you change immediately that would improve overall effectiveness, and why would you change those things?
• What opportunities exist for this organization that you think we should take advantage of, but haven't?
• What is happening in the marketplace that makes you nervous? What are you afraid of regarding our competitiveness?
Once you have developed your interviewing guide, determine who on the planning team will conduct interviews. Ideally, everyone on the team should participate. Depending on the size of your team and the size of your organization, it may not be feasible to engage every member on your team. Next, determine the number of stakeholders each participant will interview. A good number is three, but it also depends on the size of your team. Assign a stakeholder group to each of the participating members. For instance, one team member will interview middle managers, and a second will interview three front-line staff members.
Instruct your team to conduct interviews individually, not in a group. This prevents a "pack mentality" from developing and ensures that each stakeholder voice is heard. Once interviews are completed, responses should be recorded verbatim. Do not alter the original responses in any way. The power of this tool in helping to answer the question, what is strategic planning, is that you analyze raw responses, not responses altered by the perceptions of those conducting interviews.
What to do with your responses
If you have 15 people interview three stakeholders, using a six-question interview guide, you will have 270 verbatim responses. Classifying these responses by the question asked is the first step to uncovering strategic business intelligence within the mass of stakeholder thinking. Once you have organized the responses by category, look for commonality between responses. Sometimes it is helpful to create an affinity diagram to help identify themes among the respondents.
Affinity diagramming is an effective technique to handle a large number of ideas, especially when trying to effectively determine what is strategic planning. It is typically used when:
1. Large data set is to be traversed, like ideas generated from brainstorming and sieve for prioritization.
2. Complexity due to diverse views and opinions.
3. Group involvement and consensus. [i]
What is strategic planning?
Strategic planning and the answer to the question, what is strategic planning, begins with the establishment of mission, values and vision, and then works through the identification of goals that will create both long- and short-term sustainability. It includes tools such as executive interviewing, as well as others, including a SWOT analysis, PESTEL Analysis [ii], and strategic change agenda. Once the strategic blueprint is developed, strategic planning uses a traditional structure of goals, objectives, strategies and tactics to provide the organization with a unified direction for ongoing operational planning. All of these tools and methods combine to answer the question, what is strategic planning?
[i] http://www.discover6sigma.org/post/2009/02/affinity-diagram/
[ii] http://pestel-analysis.com/
Strategic Planning Framework: The Importance of Vision
Strategic Planning Framework: The Importance of Mission
By nature, planning takes on a top-down approach, as the senior-most executives gather together to discuss the future direction of the organization. While decisions are generally grounded in well-constructed data, the collective perspective of these senior leaders carries tremendous weight. As organizations search for tools to help answer the question, what is strategic planning, one such tool is executive interviewing.
The danger in a top-down design to address what is strategic planning is that many senior leaders have similar perspectives. The reason they have risen to such positions in your organization is that they share common styles, ideas and beliefs. They work together, collaborate on a variety of initiatives and may even socialize beyond the normal workday.
Even though you may have upwards of a dozen senior executives in your organization, the question remains, are they able to see the entire horizon line? And are they able to answer the question, "What is strategic planning?"
Executive interviewing expands the peripheral vision of the organization by engaging front-line staff, middle managers, board members and other stakeholders in the planning process. This additional insight often uncovers information that wouldn't have been identified otherwise.
How executive interviewing works
Very simply, the members of [your] strategic planning team interview several stakeholders each using a structured interview guide. They record the verbatim responses of those interviewed for future analysis. The purpose of executive interviewing is to identify trends in perceptions of various stakeholder groups that could benefit the strategic planning process.
To start, determine what questions you want your planning team to ask. The recommended number of questions is four to six. Questions should be broad enough that all stakeholder groups are able to answer them, but not so broad that the answers provide no real value to your company. Here are sample questions that are included in the executive interviewing guide included in ExecuteIt, AchieveIt's […] execution management and strategic planning application:
• If you were in charge of this organization, what two things would you change immediately that would improve overall effectiveness, and why would you change those things?
• What opportunities exist for this organization that you think we should take advantage of, but haven't?
• What is happening in the marketplace that makes you nervous? What are you afraid of regarding our competitiveness?
Once you have developed your interviewing guide, determine who on the planning team will conduct interviews. Ideally, everyone on the team should participate. Depending on the size of your team and the size of your organization, it may not be feasible to engage every member on your team. Next, determine the number of stakeholders each participant will interview. A good number is three, but it also depends on the size of your team. Assign a stakeholder group to each of the participating members. For instance, one team member will interview middle managers, and a second will interview three front-line staff members.
Instruct your team to conduct interviews individually, not in a group. This prevents a "pack mentality" from developing and ensures that each stakeholder voice is heard. Once interviews are completed, responses should be recorded verbatim. Do not alter the original responses in any way. The power of this tool in helping to answer the question, what is strategic planning, is that you analyze raw responses, not responses altered by the perceptions of those conducting interviews.
What to do with your responses
If you have 15 people interview three stakeholders, using a six-question interview guide, you will have 270 verbatim responses. Classifying these responses by the question asked is the first step to uncovering strategic business intelligence within the mass of stakeholder thinking. Once you have organized the responses by category, look for commonality between responses. Sometimes it is helpful to create an affinity diagram to help identify themes among the respondents.
Affinity diagramming is an effective technique to handle a large number of ideas, especially when trying to effectively determine what is strategic planning. It is typically used when:
1. Large data set is to be traversed, like ideas generated from brainstorming and sieve for prioritization.
2. Complexity due to diverse views and opinions.
3. Group involvement and consensus. [i]
What is strategic planning?
Strategic planning and the answer to the question, what is strategic planning, begins with the establishment of mission, values and vision, and then works through the identification of goals that will create both long- and short-term sustainability. It includes tools such as executive interviewing, as well as others, including a SWOT analysis, PESTEL Analysis [ii], and strategic change agenda. Once the strategic blueprint is developed, strategic planning uses a traditional structure of goals, objectives, strategies and tactics to provide the organization with a unified direction for ongoing operational planning. All of these tools and methods combine to answer the question, what is strategic planning?
[i] http://www.discover6sigma.org/post/2009/02/affinity-diagram/
[ii] http://pestel-analysis.com/
More Articles on AchieveIt:
Process of Strategic Planning: Importance of Core ValuesStrategic Planning Framework: The Importance of Vision
Strategic Planning Framework: The Importance of Mission