Meeting #4 for Strategic Planning

The 4th meeting is again held off-site, as most are, for reasons previously stated.

During this meeting, the environmental scanning continues, but this time it moves from the external to the internal for the focus. Simply put, you take stock of those factors outside your organization that individually add up to influencing your success or failure.

Three processes are commonly used to assist you in identifying & discussing these outside influences:

1) Porters Five Forces - this looks at market entry barriers, customers, suppliers, & product elasticity, & their competitive relationship with each other.

2) SWOT analysis - strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, & threats. We looked at this in meeting #3, but only from the internal standpoint. During this meeting you will look especially at this outside the organization, and with your competitors.

3) PEST Analysis - political, economic, social, & technological factors that especially influence the opportunities and threats of the SWOT analysis. These are generally outside your competitors.

Finally, in the "taking stock", the team will use all or some of primarily four tools. They are surveys, questionnaires, focus groups, & open forums. In discussing these, you will: develop a common perception; identify not only strengths & weaknesses, but trends & conditions; and create honesty and openness to changing conditions. Your facilitator will be able to recommend the right tools for you.

Having outlined all of this, it is extremely important on how it's presented and discussed. As I've said many times before, the answers lie within the organization. The trick is to bring them out, especially when trust may be lacking. A facilitator is invaluable here, a third party with no agenda.

I was talking to an executive in a nonprofit recently who was charged with bringing together two "opposing" sides of the organization. One wanted to build the engine, one was charged with making it run. Without communication and focusing on the "customer", serious flaws emerged; the "disjoint" developed to the point that the future was threatened. He realized, because he was too close to it, that he needed to go outside to a facilitator to help handle the delicate situation.

As a rule of thumb, when you're hearing every thing's fine, & only positives and not problems, you're in trouble. If you check your ego at the door, keep centered on getting better no matter who's challenged, and use help when appropriate, you'll be fine. It may not be what you expected or wanted, but it'll be the right thing.