Retail Banking Strategies

Almost all companies undertake a time-consuming strategic planning process, but in survey after survey, more than half of respondents believe their company’s approach could be improved. Most indicate they are satisfied that their plans accurately describe the current situation and challenges. The most frequent complaint: too much time spent on where we are now; too little time assessing strategic initiatives that will really drive the business forward.  

Drivers of success

There is a stark difference between executives who were highly satisfied with the effectiveness of their strategic planning process vs. those who felt there was significant room for improvement.  Executives reporting highly effective strategic plans incorporate five steps into their planning process.

1. They start by defining the future they want to achieve – what will “success” look like?
2. They clearly identify the most important strategic issues facing the company and they stay away from focusing on near term tactics
3. They create specific, measurable, management action plans (who will do what, when, and with what result)
4. They broadly communicate their plan to internal and external stakeholders so everyone knows where their company is going, how they are going to get there, and what their contribution is expected to be
5. They regularly monitor progress in plan implementation, and consistently re-align execution so it is consistent with strategy
    

Our Planning Model

Unlike traditional planning which starts with the current situation and looks to achieve incremental improvements (e.g. “10% improvement over prior year”), we use an Aspiration Planning Model which begins with a vision of the future we want to achieve and then “rolls back” this future goal into specific, time based actions required to accomplish these objectives.
 

We have found that by starting with a vision that is beyond the typical planning cycle, we can break free from perceived budget or personnel or technology constraints. We can then focus our gap analysis on the on the activities that will have the greatest results.
 

It’s all about execution

For all the effort spent in planning, Fortune reports that only 10% of strategies are effectively implemented. The best performing organizations recognize that a good plan that is successfully implemented is far superior to a great planning document that is not a living part of your business. Identify accountabilities for key objectives and make sure they are on track. Update your plan regularly to insure it is relevant and effective — after all, your business is not static but dynamic and your plans need adjusted to current realities. 

Focus

Finally, remember that focus is the essence of strategy. It’s not just what you decide to do, but also what you decide not to do.  In most organizations the greater problem is usually deciding which good ideas are of lesser value and should not be implemented, or which current activities should be stopped in order to re-direct resources so higher value opportunities will have the greatest chance of success.

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 3rd, 2008 at 10:16 pm and is filed under Strategic Planning. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.