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Six Enemies of Strategic Planning

And six ways to face them

  1. A focus on means rather than ends.  Overcome this enemy by turning it on its head.  Look at the WHAT and not the HOW.
  2. The failure to recognise the three levels of results:  micro (individual), macro (organisational) and mega (societal).  Overcome this by understanding the distinctions among the three levels and linking them together.
  3. Written objectives that give destination without supplying precise criteria for knowing when you have arrived.  Overcome this enemy by preparing objectives that include measures of success.
  4. Needs that are defines as gaps in resources or methods (means).  Overcome this enemy by defining needs as gaps in results (ends), rather than rushing into premature solutions to ill-defined problems.
  5. A mission that is practical, real world, do-able, and achievable, without being focused on a vision.  Overcome this enemy by defining an ideal vision.
  6. Reliance on plans that are comfortable and acceptable.  Overcome this enemy by pushing out of comfort zones and looking at where you should be, not just where you feel comfortable.

From Kaufman R (1992)  6 steps to strategic success.  Training & Development 46(5):107-112

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Transformational and transactional leaders

Burns (1978) is credited with first distinguishing between transactional and transformational leadership. 

Transactional leadership is characterised by setting task goals, providing resources necessary to achieve goals and rewarding performance.  It is the traditional leadership concern for people and for task. 

Transformational leadership involves an emphasis on the leader activity intervening in the status quo, challenging current assumptions and understanding and encouraging others to do so as well.

Continue reading “Transformational and transactional leaders”
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Constructive “no-people” will help you succeed

We see many examples today of leaders who can’t see the reality around them.

One characteristic of these leaders is that they tend to surround themselves with people who either agree with everything they do or say, or are to scared to offer a contrary view.

The trap then is that confirmational bias risks taking you deeper into problems and messes because you don’t get exposed to alternate views and ideas. You risk not being able to see reality, and making matters worse.

So, you should not surround yourself with “yes-people”

And, a “no-person” who is just a no-person is also a no-no! 

You need constructive no-people….


“I do not wish to hire yes-men.  Yes-men come cheap . . .what we are looking for is what I call constructive no-men.  My own personal rule for very many years has been that anybody is free to criticise me, to criticise the company, to question or argue against anything that we are trying to do – provided they will satisfy the one criterion that they will tell us what I or the company should do differently.”;
Source: Harvey-Jones J (1988)  Making it happen.  Fontana, London.  P.89

And remember that recruiting is perhaps the most important task you will undertake if your business is to be successful!

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A note for the CEO: You communicate even when you are not communicating!

Here is a little story from one of my favourite leadership practitioners, Max De Pree, that reminds us that what a leader does is important. 

I often found  the CEO job a rather lonely life where every move is under someone’s observation.  But rather than letting this develop into a sense of strain or tension, it is important to remember that if your actions reflect your words (or intentions) then you are being authentic and effective.

Esther, my wife, and I have a grand-daughter named Zoe, the Greek word for “life”.  She was born prematurely and weighed one pound, seven ounces, so small that my wedding ring could slide up her arm to her shoulders.  The neonatologist who first examined her told us that she had a 5 to 10 percent chance of living three days.  When Esther and I scrubbed up for our first visit and saw Zoe in her isolette in the neonatal intensive care unit, she had two IVs in her navel, one in her foot, a monitor on each side of her chest, and a respirator tube and a feeding tube in her mouth.

To complicate matters, Zoe’s biological father had jumped ship the month before Zoe was born.  Realising this, a wise and caring nurse named Ruth gave me my instructions.  “For the next several months, at least, you’re the surrogate father.  I want you to come to the hospital every day to visit Zoe, and when you come, I would like you to rub her body and her legs and arms with the tip of your finger.  While you’re caressing her, you should tell her over and over how much you love her, because she has to be able to connect your voice to your touch.”

Ruth was doing exactly the right thing on Zoe’s behalf (and, of course, on my behalf as well), and without realising it she was giving me one of the best possible descriptions of the work of a leader.  At the core of becoming a leader is the need always to connect one’s voice with one’s touch. (my emphasis)

Reference:  De Pree M O (1991)  Leadership Jazz.  Melbourne: Australian Business Library, Information Australia. pp.1-3