Da Plan, Da Plan!

There was a very good discussion on Strategic Planning today on HPR's weekly program, Business of the Arts. Listen to this discussion here.

It was one of the better discussions and explanations of Strategic Planning that I've heard. The program's focus is non-profit arts organizations, but business is business and many of the topics are relevant to any business. Especially so with today's discussion.

I would have added a few points, but the only thing I felt was really lacking was a discussion of a Performance Measurement System that will keep the plan on track and keep everyone aligned with the goals defined in the Strategic Plan.

A very good show, though, and well worth a listen.

Learning from the best

I went to business school (still going, actually, working on my MBA), have read many books on management and business, have years of management experience, and now I advise and consult with businesses. So I probably know a few things about management and business. I find, though, that I have new teachers now, and it’s the best learning experience I’ve had.

I’m finishing up my next book, and part of what I’m doing is interviewing business owners and executives for inclusion in the book. I’m not a professional interviewer. I don’t do any real research on the people I interview and I don’t have a list of prepared questions. I’m not a researcher, so I don’t have any prepared surveys or questionnaires. What I do is let the person know what the book is about, what topics I cover, then just ask them to describe how they’ve become successful and how they manage their business in relations to the Operations side of things.

The first thing I’ve learned is that these successful executives and entrepreneurs are very passionate about their business and how they’ve achieved their success. This is without ego, just passion for what they do and how they’ve achieved it. It’s very inspiring. And because they are so passionate, they have plenty to say. So instead of trying to think up questions, I just let them go in whatever direction they lead themselves, the areas that they find most important or are most proud of. I do pick up on particular things and ask them to expand on that or to tell me more about how they do that, but in general, they lead the conversation.

I find this method to be much more educational and eye-opening than if I tried to control and direct the questioning to particular topics that I’m more interested in or that fit in better with a particular section of the book. Asking pointed questions will get you pointed answers, but that might not reveal the real reasons for the success of the organization. The real reason for success comes from the passion and the leadership at the top.

The second thing I’ve learned is that these leaders have a very clear vision for the culture of the organization, and it reflects their personal beliefs. But the culture is fostered, not forced, and well-defined steps are taken to promote and develop the culture that allows the organization to succeed. Plans are made, guidance is given, but the people are given latitude and are encouraged to grow and develop within the cultural framework.

To learn more, you’ll have to read the book. I’ll be learning more as I continue to conduct these interviews. If you know of a successful organization that shows excellence in their Operations, please provide me a contact so I can talk to them and we can all learn from them.

Winding Down, stage 1

Finished stage 1 of this tour. I gave a presentation to the Mission Peak Chapter of APICS (that's in Silicon Valley) tonight, titled Lean & Six Sigma: Working Together. They had a good turnout, and I got to meet a few new people. If anyone has a work history of process improvement and Lean and Six Sigma, I met someone who's looking for a Continuous Process Improvement Manager, so let me know I and I can send you the contact info.

I broke one of my cardinal rules. I had a wonderful conversation with a young woman (I can say "young woman" 'cause I'm old), but I didn't get her card. She's looking for work in the Operations or Supply Chain field, in Silicon Valley, so if anybody is looking for an entry level person, she is someone you should seriously consider. Hank thinks highly of her, and if Hank recommends her, that's all I need. Again, if you need an entry level Operations/Supply Chain person in Silicon Valley, let me know and I'll send you the contact info.

If I haven't said this before; professional organizations = learning + networking = career success. Get involved!

Last night I gave a presentation to the Sacramento Chapter of APICS. I did my Effective Strategic Planning presentation. It's always interesting, because the topic really involves the top level management of an organization, but the people who attend the presentations represent all levels of management. It's important for everyone to understand Strategic Planning, even if they're not involved in developing it. For one, some people will rise to the top, and they need to understand Strategic Planning. For many people, they won't be directly involved with much of the planning, but they are an important part of the Strategic Planning process. Because it is a process. It's not something you "do" once a year then pull out the next year and review. But I digress. What I was going to say was that I met one gentleman who works as an inventory manager and has been having some ongoing frustrations. This talk has nothing to do with inventory management, and is at a much higher level than some ongoing inventory issues. But he got a lot out of the talk and said I gave him some things to think about. Hopefully this will help him down a path that will get rid of some of those frustrations. It just goes to show you that sometimes, instead just trying to fix a problem that has been going on and on, you should step back and look at the big picture. It just might give you a different path to explore.

So tomorrow I'm back to Hawaii, for about a week, then I'm off to Tucson. I've still got some work to do for that trip, so I'll be busy.

I didn't make any tour t-shirts for this tour. Last time a did a tour like this I made up some t-shirts. I figured if the Rolling Stones can have tour t-shirts, so can I. I made a few up myself and gave them out as "gifts". I'm sure most of them are cleaning up oil stains, but I thought it was fun. This was going to be my "Joey Bag of Doughnuts Tour". I guess I can still print up some shirts.

Well, it's way past my bedtime, and I've got to get up and catch a plane in the morning....

Strategic Planning

Since I'm on tour giving presentations on Strategic Planning, I'll share some of it with you. One of the things I talk about are the four elements of the Strategic Plan:

Products & Services

Markets

Financial

Structure

Products & Services are the products and services that you're going to offer to you customers. For most organizations you're probably talking about broad product lines or service offerings, but for smaller organizations you might be more specific, defining individual products or services.

Markets defines the markets where you're going to sell your products and offer your services. These might be geographic markets, types of customers, demographics of customers, or however you segment your markets.

The Financial element is one that is often confusing to people. In the Strategic Plan, we're not talking about the budget or sales or revenue forecasts. What we're doing is defining the financial structure of the organization over the planning time period. We're setting financial goals, defining where we're going to be. This is different than what most organizations do, and requires a different mind set. Set the target, then we'll work on how we're going to get there.

The fourth element is Structure. This is defining what the organization will look like, how it will be structured, so we can reach the other goals we've defined. It might include things like new plants or facilities, new departments, a re-structuring from what we look like now, or even individual positions that need to be added and filled.

As an example, let's look at what might be included in a Strategic Plan for the Hawaii State Rugby Union. The first thing that has to be decided is the time frame fro the plan. For a small, fledgling organization, a two-year plan is probably appropriate. So let's use two years.

What you want to do is define what the organization will look like two years from now. Products & Services for the Union include a variety of things. The weekly games are an important part, so we'll include them. We have one tournament each year, but maybe two years from now we'll have two tournaments. One might be the local tournament, with all the local teams, and the other might be an international tournament, like the one the Harlequins used to put on. Services might include annual coaching and referee clinics, so that we can train new people and keep the current people up-to-date with their skills. Maybe we want to add some sort of fitness training clinic for everyone in the Union who wants to attend.

For Markets, the Union might want to expand so that it includes teams on all the islands. It might include adding some games on the mainland. Remember, these are goals we're defining over the time period of the plan. We'll talk about how we get there later in the process. Our goals must be realistic, but they should also be stretch goals.

The Financial element defines our financial structure. Maybe we say that one of your goals is to have total revenue of $50,000 annually at the end of year two. That would include team dues, tournament fees, sponsorships, sales of Union merchandise, and anything else we come up with. We might set goals for the profitability of the tournaments, or total sales of merchandise.

Finally, the structure. We've got a structure now, but what will it look like at the end of year two so that we can achieve the other goals we've defined? Maybe we need a marketing director to help get the word out about rugby, to advertise the tournaments, and just raise the level of awareness to the general public. If we've defined two tournaments as a goal, maybe we need a dedicated tournament director to act as the project manager for both of them. We might need to formalize the structure that includes the referee committee, the Hawaii Youth Rugby organization, the select side selection committee, and the disciplinary committee. We might need to add a coaching committee to address the needs of the coaches and run the training that we defined as a goal.

That's part of what we're looking at when we do Strategic Planning. We set out defined goals, then we work to get the entire organization, and everyone in it, moving in the same direction, towards meeting those goals.

On the road

I'm currently in Santa Rosa, California. I came up here to conduct a seminar and give a dinner meeting presentation. The seminar was canceled, but the presentation went well. I gave my Strategic Planning presentation, which seems to be of interest to people. Many organizations perform something they call Strategic Planning, but they're not getting the results they want. My presentation is titled Effective Strategic Planning, where I define Effective as actually achieving the goals and objectives you've set out. Many other organizations do not perform Strategic Planning at all. Some do some sort of annual planning, but that's not really getting them anywhere. A few organizations actually do perform Strategic Planning with a fairly high level of success, so that's always nice to hear. They still might be missing a few pieces that could drive their performance higher, but they serve as a good example showing that it can be done.

From here I'm going over to Sacramento, where I'll give the Strategic Planning presentation again. Then I'm down in Santa Clara/Sunnyvale for a presentation on Lean and Six Sigma: Working Together.

I've been hauling some of my books around with me, to sell. I learned that it's always best to have at least a couple with me anytime I'm giving a presentation, or even going to a meeting. When I give a presentation or conduct a seminar, there is absolutely no sales pitch involved. That's not what the people are there for. But people always ask about my book, so I keep some with me just in case. Of course, after hauling them around with me I forgot to bring them with me to the last presentation. Doh! I really don't want to carry them back home. Besides wanting to sell them, I need to offload some weight from my luggage. For one, I bought a coupld of books at the conference in Orlando. I bought the last two books in Dr. Harrington's 5-book series, The Five Pillars of Excellence. I had the first three, so figured I should get the last two so I have the full set. Yes, I'm a book hoarder. My personal library is quite extensive. Meaning I have no more room for more books and should really try to start purging some, especially the ones that are in boxes in storage.

New links

I'm adding a couple of new links to the Rugby Owned Businesses list. For those of you who are wine lovers, check out Hooker Wines. And, I'm sure you can guess what position this gentleman played - yes - Hooker, or number 2. I probably shouldn't speculate about wine produced by one of our height-challenged brethren. Could be worse. Could be a winger :)

Next is Tor Consulting. I just met this gentleman this evening at my presentation on Strategic Planning. He consults in the area if Balanced Scorecard, which compliments what I do and what I was speaking about.

Going on tour

I'm going on tour. I'll be giving presentations and conducting seminars. Here's the itinerary:

February 21-22 - ASQ Quality Management Division Conference, Orlando, FL
Two presentations: 1) Effective Strategic Planning, 2) Selecting the Right Tools for the Job (based on my book)

February 26 - Redwood Empire Chapter APICS, Santa Rosa, CA
Seminar and dinner meeting presentation - topics TBD

February 29 - ISM Silicon Valley, Santa Clara, CA
Lunch & Learn presentation - Lean & Six Sigma: Working Together

March 4 - Sacramento Chapter APICS, Sacramento, CA
Dinner meeting presentation - Effective Strategic Planning

March 5 - ISM Silicon Valley, Santa Clara, CA
Two 1/2-day seminars - 1) Lean & Six Sigma, 2) Selecting the Right Tools for the Job

March 5 - Mission Peak Chapter APICS, San Jose, CA
Dinner meeting presentation - Lean & Six Sigma: Working Together


If you're interested in attending any of the events, please contact the organization listed (just go to their website), or contact me and I can point you in the right direction. If you'd like to have me speak to your group or conduct a training session or seminar, please contact me.

I like to hear myself talk

I gave a presentation today to the Honolulu chapter of the Project Management Institute (PMI). The topic was Effective Strategic Planning. It went well. I know I tend to talk faster than normal when I give presentations, but it seems to be OK. I usually get good feedback. No matter how many times I give a talk, I still get nervous beforehand. Not too nervous that I couldn't eat my lunch, and deserts (plural).