Why do strategic plans fail to be implemented?
By James Murchison - Principal at Murchisons
Firstly as background let’s look at some statistics:
- Various research articles show that around 80% of plans have the right strategy, but
- Only 10-20% of businesses have managed to implement them well.
From my perspective, it partially comes from the disconnect between the ‘big picture’ nature of the strategic plan, and the development and reporting of detailed corporate plans.
This may be due to a lack of resources but there are also numerous business specific issues.
If resourcing is an issue look to target the big drivers.
The corporate plan breaks down the strategic direction, stating the objectives and desired outcomes. It creates measurable goals that can be reported on during the period.
The typical time frame of the corporate plan is one or two years, with different emphasis on key issues.
The development of the corporate plan detail is implemented by the Finance Department, where outcomes can be supported through testing of assumptions and sensitivity analysis.
The beginning of the year is the perfect time to reflect on the implementation of the strategy and performance of the current year’s corporate plan.
At a recent board meeting we undertook a detailed review of the plan to ensure we were in alignment with both performance and strategy. We set a timetable for completing our review which will allow for the development of the plan for the 2017/18 year.
We called this our belated ‘New Years’ Resolution’.
