Strategy-do you need one and are all your team members on board?

I am presently staying at golf resort hotel in Spain this weekend.

Yes, a couple of rounds of golf might be involved, but the main reason for being here is to help a medium size firm of building surveyors to develop a strategic  for their practice.

By accident the resorts ongoing development programme has come to a ‘screeching’ halt due to the collapse of the Spanish property market. I am surrounded by empty apartment blocks, half completed commercial buildings and the structural frame/shell of a ten storey building that once going to be a five star hotel. Not a very positive backcloth!

However, we turn our backs on all that and get down to the very serious business of addressing all the challenges involved with the intention of producing an effective strategy.

No sooner had we settled down to our task one of the team decided to unload on us!

He made us aware of his real feelings and believes regarding business planning and those who believed it could change outcomes. He told us:

             1.  Planning is no more than guessing at best and fantasy at worst

 2.  Plans never get realised

             3.  The moment they are agreed they are out of date

             4.  Most people don’t really pay attention to them

             5.  Blindly following out dated plans are doomed to failure

Well not a very positive start to the meeting!

However, following a wide ranging discussion about what had been said and why our colleague had felt the need for an outburst, we recovered and started to make some progress.

Whilst there was some validity in what had been said, the rest of the team reasoned that:

           1.  Without a ‘plan’ we were merely a ship without a rudder or in other words we would become victims rather than masters of our own destiny.   

           2.  A plan was necessary if we were to take control, determine a way forward and develop a team approach.

           3.  We also agreed that we would only address  those issues that were within our control

           4.  We would review our plan(s) regularly, at least monthly, to ensure that any changes could be evaluated; and we would be willing to amend the plan if necessary.

At the end of a very productive two days we had produced and agreed Strategic Plan. We also became a fully aligned team. Everyone is now pointing in the same direction, holds the same standards, values and principals’.

It’s a pity not more firms/teams are so far sighted and committed.