Monthly Archives: July 2014

Is SWOT enough?

Strategic Planning, Strategy

SWOT: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. A tool used in developing options when it comes to strategic planning.

But is it enough? Does it cover all of the scenarios that you could face in the time ahead? What are you reference points for asking the questions?

For there are limitations when is comes to using the SWOT tool. Are you using it simply to press home a point? In defending an already defined set of goals and objectives?

The original intent of the tool, which was developed by Albert S. Humphrey around 1970 (he was a management consultant for Stanford Research), and further strengthened by Dr Heinz Weihrich 10 years later (a management consultant associated with the University of SanFrancisco), was to diagnose why strategic planning was failing corporations.

And so, its a diagnostic tool. A method for evaluating the internal and external environment for the downside and upside.

And yes, SWOT can be enough. It can illicit important answers.

But, what are you using it for? What are the frames of reference within which you will be asking questions? Of what area are you seeking insights about?

 
For more, visit Dellium Advisory, follow on Twitter, connect using LinkedIn, or review my IT-centric blog.

Strategic Planning is Essential for Better Performance

Cognitive Strategy, Cultural Strategy, Design Strategy, Entrepreneurial Strategy, Environmental Strategy, Planning Strategy, Positioning Strategy, Power Strategy, Strategic Planning, Strategy

Over the decades of the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s there were a mixed bag of academic studies regarding the usefulness of strategic planning. Some studies poured cold water on the notion that strategic planning could improve the performance of a firm, others were hearty in their endorsement.

But time and again in recent years, analysis has shown that indeed bringing direction to an organisation through the process of strategic planning has indeed brought benefits.

Aspects improved include:

  • sales
  • profit
  • productivity
  • returns on investments
  • employee engagement
  • even the success ratio of new product development

The long-term implication from each of these studies is that if an organisation (whether for-profit or not-for-profit) thinks about its future and puts some resources into planning its direction (where it is, where it wants to go, and how it will get there) it will not only survive but thrive.

For more, visit Dellium Advisory, follow on Twitter, connect using LinkedIn, or review my IT-centric blog.

Facing the future

Futures, Strategic Foresight, Vision

How do you face the future?

How do you think about the potential directions you or your organisation could take?

How should you respond to potential risks and opportunities?

One way is to use the Futures Triangle. A framework for looking at what has happened and what could happen.

The first set of questions are about your past:

  • what is the weight of the past?
  • what is holding you back?
  • what are your burdens and responsibilities?

The second set of questions are about the drivers of change:

  • what factors are causing you to change?
  • what are the changes you should resist?
  • what are the changes you should embrace?

The third set of questions are about the images of the future:

  • what attracts you about the future?
  • what repels you about the future?
  • what will success look like?

By thinking through these can you make the case for change, or make the case for staying as you are?

 
For more, visit Dellium Advisory, follow on Twitter, connect using LinkedIn, or review my IT-centric blog.