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      KEYZINE: An e-zine for LEADERS:
     ABOUT THE PEOPLE PART OF BUSINESS
                 Volume 48, March 2005
    Publisher: © Key Associates, 2005
              ISSN # 1545-8873
           http://www.mkkey.com

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This Issue: "The Strategic Plan"

This is a monthly electronic magazine for anyone 
who wants to be a better leader, coach, facilitator, 
or simply, to tune up their people skills.  It is a 
complimentary publication, devoted to the next
evolution of Quality Thinking.

View Earlier Issues

Contents:

• What's Hot in Leadership
• Maintaining Yourself as a Leader
• Frequently Asked Questions from Leaders
• Educational Opportunities
• Useful Websites
• Articles/Publications

"The voyage of discovery lies not in seeking new vistas 
but in having new eyes."
           -- Anonymous

"Plan or be planned for."
           -- Ghetto  graffiti 

"Be of good cheer.  Do not think of today's failures, 
but of the success that may come tomorrow.  You have 
set yourself a difficult task, but you will succeed if you 
persevere; and you will find joy in overcoming obstacles. "
           -- Helen Keller

"Plans are made to be broken."
           -- Folk Wisdom

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WHAT'S HOT IN LEADERSHIP
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COHERING A WORKFORCE THROUGH 
VISIONARY PLANNING.

ARTICULATING PURPOSE AND INTENTION.

BEING A PROACTIVE DESIGNER, CREATING 
YOUR FUTURE, RATHER THAN REACTING TO 
CIRCUMSTANCES.

BEING INCLUSIVE BY ENGAGING ALL 
CONSTITUENCIES IN PLANNING TOGETHER.

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MAINTAINING YOURSELF AS A LEADER
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For too long, the "strategic plan" has been the 
purview of the corporate planner who produces 
the tome that resides on the shelf.  We live in an 
environment too unstable to establish long-term 
plans.  Our viability, as people and as organizations, 
depends on how quickly we can learn, adapt and create.  

Soften, loosen up the process of strategy-making.   
Begin to think in terms of capacity to create structures 
that fit the moment--spontaneously emerging, 
renewing organizations (a la Margaret Wheatley).  
Organizations can exist in such a fluid fashion if 
they have access to new information, can constantly 
process data and make adjustments, but not lose 
sight of their enduring sense of purpose, 
vision and values--as governing ideas.

Dream up a future with your constituents and 
live it now.  As designer, you are the keeper of 
the future visioning and the learning processes.

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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
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I don't understand what's wrong with a five-year plan.

Russell Ackoff says corporate planning is like a rain dance 
performed at the end of a dry season, to which the rain 
that follows is attributed.  The rain-dancing has no effect 
on the weather even though it has therapeutic effects 
on the dancer.  

There are several fallacies to planning this way:

- Too often the plans are focusing on the past or the negative, 
reacting to circumstances, trying to unmake the undesirable 
aspects of the organization.  
- The rate of change in our environment is rapid and accelerating. 
- This makes accurate prediction impossible.
- Forecasting the future from the present is trying to 
figure out something you can't control, finding your 
way out of boxes.
-  Circumstances have changed by the time the document is typed.

Why not focus on something you can bring under your control?  
Start in the future you want and design it backwards to your
present, Ackoff suggests.

Who needs to be involved in the planning?

The whole system. Open system planning is holistic, proactive, 
learning-based, devoted to total systems.  Every person has a 
capacity for sensing, reflection and creativity.  Organizations are 
simply people who come together for a common purpose or aim.   
The major function of a plan is alignment--the personal with 
the organizational.  How can you achieve that without involvement?

Do you need to have a vision statement?

First, a vision is not a "vision statement."  It is a mental image.  
The mind thinks in pictures.  A good vision creates a picture 
of the best possible future, your hoped-for destination.  Good visions 
capture hearts, inspire people, uplift and bind people in a sense of 
greater good.  (Focusing on problems or limitations does not have 
this same uplifting effect.)  Because visioning is a creative act, 
it should be separated from questions of possibility.  A vision is 
values-in-action--you can see what an organization is about, 
expressed in future tense.  It is purpose expanded into a 
foreseeable future.  

Try a new format--create a "shared vision," rather than 
developing a vision and sharing it.  Through ongoing 
interactions and conversations--employee "field meetings."  
The very act of visualizing something together 
organizes the abilities to bring it about.  Ever set goals, 
put them in a drawer, and realize a year later that they happened?  
It is the process, more than the document, that counts.

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EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES
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Newsletter and courses on strategic thinking from Haines Center
http://www.hainescentre.com/stt/stt.htm

Key Associates offers large group strategic 
planning retreats http://www.mkkey.com 
and Future Search Conferences.

On-line business advice, including free articles
http://www.onlinebusadv.com/

FAQs on strategic planning
http://www.allianceonline.org/FAQ/strategic_planning

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OTHER USEFUL WEBSITES 
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Former Relevant Keyzines:
Volume 37, April 2004 - Dialogue: Thinking Together
Volume 40, July 2004 - Building Community
Volume 42, September 2004 - Convening People
Volume 44, November 2004 - Retreats

Do-it-yourself virtual strategic planning process
http://www.mystrategicplan.com/

Electronic brainstorming to reduce reams of flipcharts
http://www.audience-response-solutions.com/brainstorm.html

An international group of facilitators who focus 
exclusively on strategic planning
http://www.facilitators.com/

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ARTICLES/PUBLICATIONS                              
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Books are linked to Amazon.com descriptions.

Ackoff, Russell.  The Systems Revolution.  
Journal of the Society of Long-Range Planning.  
December 1974,7(6), 2-20.

Covey, Stephen R.  Principle-Centered Leadership.   
New York:  Fireside, 1991.

Covey, Stephen R.  The Seven Habits of Highly 
Effective People.  (Course Workbook).   Provo, UT:  
Covey Leadership Center, 1990.

Leebov, Wendy & Scott, Gail.  Health Care Managers 
in Transition.  (Chapter 6).  San Francisco:  Jossey-Bass, 
1990.

Oakley, Ed & Krug, Doug.  Enlightened Leadership.  
(Chapters 4 & 8).  Denver:  Stonetree, 1991.

Senge, Peter.  The Fifth Discipline:  The Art and 
Practice of the Learning Organization.  New York:  
Doubleday/Currency, 1994.

Wheatley, Margaret.  Leadership and the New Science:  
Learning About Organization from an Orderly Universe.  
(Chapter 2).  San Francisco:  Berrett-Koehler, 2001.

Weisbord, Marvin (Ed.)  Discovering Common Ground:  
How Future Search Conferences Bring People Together 
to Achieve Breakthrough Innovation, Empowerment, 
Shared Vision, and Collaborative Action.  San Francisco: 
Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 1992.  

Weisbord, Marvin & Janoff, Sandra.  Future Search.
San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2000.