Values-Driven Strategic Planning

Dr. Kenneth Majer
CEO, MajerStrategies, Inc.

Strategic planning must be preceded by establishing core values and defining the corporate culture. To engage in strategic planning prior to establishing these fundamental attributes that answer the questions of "Who We Are" (values) and "How We Do Things Around Here" (corporate culture) runs the risk of putting the cart before the horse. Brilliant strategic plans are often created that, unfortunately, are never implemented.

There are a number of reasons why strategic plans may not get implemented properly. Two of these relate to insufficient attention to corporate culture. (1) The plans are created in a vacuum without sufficient input from a broad range of significant stakeholders to get the cooperation (buy-in) for successful implementation. (2) The wrong people are in the organization and there is resistance and sometimes even actions that undermine the strategic implementation effort. As Champy and Hammer pointed out during the heyday of business process reengineering, when process runs up against culture, culture always wins. In the same way, without common purpose and an understanding about who we are and how we behave in ways that support who we are, there is no way to get everyone pulling in the same direction strategically. Culture will always win.

Values-Driven Strategic Planning circumvents these problems by providing a process that answers all four strategic questions in the appropriate sequence:

The foundation of any company is based on the personal values and work ethic of the people who run and work in the organization. Values are those principles that determine behavior. Therefore, the collective actions of the people in a company determine the character of the organization. Once these are established, strategic planning can ensue.

This paper will guide the audience through proven processes for establishing the Core Values for a company and building a Culture Matrix of expected behaviors that can be used to select and hire new employees, provide guidelines for reward, review, and recognition programs, and to lay the groundwork for establishing the corporate vision, mission, and strategic goals. A framework for Values-Driven Strategic Implementation Programs is also discussed.

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