An Executable Strategy

for Every Employee –

Only a Few Days Away

By

Francis Wade

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publicly displayed, or used to create

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Framework Consulting Inc.

3389 Sheridan Street #434

Hollywood, FL 33021

954-447-4412

www.fwconsulting.com

© 2003 Framework Consulting Inc.

Executable Strategy for Every Employee

©2003 Copyright Framework Consulting, Inc. 2

Perhaps you have heard some of the following questions from those you supervise, from

your colleagues, or even in your own thoughts: “Where is the company going? Why are

we all operating from different pages? How can we be successful with everyone doing

their own thing? If these questions are familiar, then the odds are that your company does

not have an executable strategy .

There may be a strategy somewhere, but it exists in a form that no-one but the executives

can understand, or it exists in a book on a shelf that no-one bothers to read. Even worse,

it could be a secret that only the executives are privy to, and no-one else in the company

is allowed to see.”

Whichever one, it clearly is not the kind of strategy that could inspire the great majority

of employees to make different choices, or to change their behaviour, or to create new

projects for themselves to fulfill the strategy. Yet, that seems to be what employees are

requesting: a new kind of strategy that involves them and calls them to take actions that

are unpredictable, yet at the same time create an impact.

At this point, many managers’ eyes glaze over, not from a lack of wanting this kind of

strategy but because their past attempts have been so… lacking . What is lacking is the

very ingredients that they and their employees want.

Here is the problem as it faces the manager.

1. We need alignment among ALL employees: “It’s not enough that I know in my

head where the company is going. I need a strategy to guide the company (in fact

my employees need it as much as I do). We have way too much untapped

potential.

2. I have a short time-frame: “We don’t have a lot of time to do this – 4 days at the

most.” And, we need to start within the month!”

3. We have limited resources: “We can’t afford to develop a strategy that requires

a great deal of research, either conducted by ourselves or by outsiders. We need

to build on and use what we already know, and cannot not spend the time to have

outsiders learn the nuances of our business, and then tell us what to do.”

4. We must be able to repeat the process: “The process must be repeatable – we

must learn how to do it in a way that allows us to revisit or amend the strategy

whenever we see the need.”

5. I need all participants to be fully engaged, with top quality thinking: “Our

thinking must be rigorous, as weak logic will only set us back. Each executive

must be fully engaged, and share their point of view. No-one owns a monopoly

on the strategy – not even the CEO.

Executable Strategy for Every Employee

©2003 Copyright Framework Consulting, Inc. 3

Any one of these five criteria are enough to send even the most seasoned CEO into an

anxious tailspin. In the past, strategic planning exercises have not been productive, nor

have they been successfully implemented. So reluctance to plan strategically is

understandable, given how unproductive their past efforts have been.

What does a manager or executive need to do?

Our experience at Framework Consulting tells us that the five objectives listed above are

attainable, employing the elements listed below:

• Employ a strong but relatively uninformed facilitator

4 days or less? Use a strong facilitator. Don’t even think about having an

executive team-member play the role – don’t waste their time.

The facilitator also must play a critical role that no executive can play – that of

ignorant outsider to the executive team. In this way the facilitator represents the

average employee, and listens as if they know little or nothing about the business

– in fact, they don’t. Don’t develop a Harvard PhD strategy – unless you work

there!

Strong facilitation means ensuring that every voice is heard, and that no one

person dominates.

• Produce Instant results

It is now entirely possible to create a complete strategy within 4 days (for groups

of less than 10 managers or executives) by using some of the latest techniques,

and newest technologies, namely:

a) The Strategy Mapping technique developed by Dr. Robert Kaplan and Dr.

David Norton (authors of The Balanced Scorecard and The Strategy-

Oriented Corporation) provides a powerful method of getting the strategy

down to one page that anyone could understand.

b) The use of laptops, LCD projectors and powerful software can help teams

to create a strategy that can literally be shared with an entire company the

day after it has been developed.

• Tap into the best thinking

A good facilitator can push the team to use its best thinking, employing sound

common sense and avoiding the tendency for groups to default to old habits of

relating and communicating that allow logic to be downplayed in favor of

seniority or power.

• Start from over the horizon

To break out of the box defined by today’s reality, create a vision that is “over the

horizon” using what is called “The Merlin Process,” invented by Dr. Charles

Smith. Most visions are created by extrapolating from the current state to some

future state. Instead, Merlin Visions are created from the end-point – from the

Executable Strategy for Every Employee

©2003 Copyright Framework Consulting, Inc. 4

future – and brought back step by step to today’s reality. Think about a 30 or 50

year vision for your firm, and work back in increasingly smaller increments until

you have a multi-year plan in specific detail for each year you choose to define.

What is the result of using the above elements? -- a robust plan completed within 4 days,

that can be presented to the employees and gain their alignment. In fact, the only limit to

starting the process on short notice is the availability of the executive team and the

facilitator to agree on the time to actually have the meeting. If that is truly the only

obstacle, then a strategy that engages the employees, and each of the executives, could

only be a few days away.

Note: A slightly modified version of this paper was published in the Trinidad Guardian

newspaper under the title “Connecting with Every Employee,” on Thursday May 15,

2003.

3389 Sheridan Street #434

Hollywood, FL 33021 954-447-4412

www.fwconsulting.com