So – you’ve defined your strategic plan for the coming period, now you are starting to think about indicators to let you know if you are on track.
When I say to people that a visioning process can help them find their indicators I often hear “but we did visioning when we were defining our strategic plan”. To which I reply:
Yes! And yes, visioning is still a great way forward.
Whilst strategic planning may well involve blue sky visioning in one way or another, once you have defined your strategic directions, you can use a new type of visioning – which goes something like this…
- Take one of your defined strategic directions
- Close your eyes and imagine yourself stepping 5 years into the future (you can even physically take a step forward to give your imagination a helping hand)
- In this imagined future you (or your organisation) have been extremely successful in moving in this strategic direction. Take a look around in your mind’s eye and notice what you see, hear and sense.
- Write down what you have experienced
- From what you saw, heard and experienced, start thinking about which of those things you want to keep tabs on to let you know if you are heading in the right direction.
- Bingo! The things you want to keep tabs could be your indicators.
- Repeat for other strategic directions.
Whilst you still need to apply some checks and balances to ensure you are coming up with a practical, useful and comprehensive set of indicators, you are now well on your way with a suite of ideas for potential indicators for your strategic plan! Congratulations!
If you would like to learn more about how Wicked Elephants can help with your strategic planning, take a look here.
