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FrontMatter Stop strategic planning & start pioneering Readying yourself for the future takes new way of thinking By Jim Whitt Before you invest time and money in traditional strategic planning consider this: Only 5% to 10% of strategic plans are ever implemented. Most companies undertake strategic planning to reduce anxiety. It’s like taking a couple of aspirin for a headache. In this case, the headache is the future and the aspirin is a couple of days locked in a room putting check marks in boxes. Mission statement: check; SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis: check; long-range goals: check. Ah, that feels better. Then, like the aspirin bottle, the strategic plan goes back on the shelf. And the headaches keep coming back. This process is flawed. Think back to five years ago. It seems like a millisecond, doesn’t it? If you look no further ahead than five years, you’ll see the future as an extension of the present. And you’ll be trying to solve tomorrow’s problems with yesterday’s solutions. If you really want your company to succeed, you need a pioneering process, not just a planning process. Instead of looking ahead three to five years, you need to look ahead decades. To get started, assemble key people in your company. How many and whom you choose will depend on the size and structure of your business. Ask the following questions, giving the group time to share and record their answers. 1. What did the world and the mattress industry look like 30 years ago? This question primes the pump. Once you’ve compiled a list of the monumental changes that have taken place in the past three decades, you’ll better understand that there will www.sleepproducts.org/bedtimes be more monumental changes in the next 30 years. 2. What will the world and the mattress industry look like 30 years from now? While no one can accurately predict the future, remember that Jules Verne wrote about a trip to the moon 100 years before it happened. Don’t limit your thinking. Tell your team to be open. 3. What will your company have to be and do to succeed in the future you described? You aren’t bound by your current corporate structure. Borrow a page from Star Trek and dare to boldly go where no one has gone before. 4. What will you have to do to help the company get there? Planning for a company’s future requires collectively creating a picture of a future where we’ll find meaning and purpose—not just as a group but as individuals. The answers to these questions provide the information your team will need for the next assignment. Imagine that a major business <strong>magazine</strong> has selected your company as the “Model Organization for 2040.” Have each team member write an article describing what happened in the three decades between then and now that earned you that <strong>magazine</strong> cover. Such articles engage your team in writing tomorrow’s history today. Everything you need to do to succeed in the future is contained in that history. You’ll determine your company’s purpose, operating philosophy, business model and structure. You’ll define goals and objectives and determine the people who need to be responsible for their completion. What makes this process effective is that instead of starting at the present and trying to work your way forward, you’re starting at the future and working your way back. If you want to reduce your anxiety about the future, take the road most traveled and use the traditional “check the boxes” method of strategic planning. If you want to succeed in the future, you have to do some serious pioneering. Pioneering is for those who want to thrive instead of survive. Pioneers take the road less traveled. Which road will you choose? BT Jim Whitt calls himself “an unapologetic people provoker.” As a speaker, consultant and author for more than 20 years, Whitt has encouraged people and organizations to reach their full potential. He is cofounder of Purpose Unlimited, which is in the business of transforming lives, leaders and organizations through the power of purpose. To learn more, check www.purposeunlimited.com or call 918-494-0009. <strong>BedTimes</strong> | <strong>June</strong> <strong>2010</strong> | 7
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