The Free Online Dictionary defines 'strategic' as:
important or essential in relation to a plan of action (as in a strategic withdrawal)
essential to the effective conduct of war (as in strategic materials)
highly important to an intended objective (as in The staff discussed strategic marketing factors)
intended to destroy the military potential of an enemy (as in strategic bombing).
It defines 'a plan' as:
a scheme, program, or method worked out beforehand for the accomplishment of an objective (as in a plan of attack).
So, we are talking about looking ahead, seeking to accomplish an objective, and focusing on the essentials. A Strategic Plan is any plan which looks forward several years and which is concerned with massive factors only. It differs from a Business Plan in three ways:
it looks much further ahead;
it consists largely of words, with just a few figures to indicate the scale of the planners' intentions;
what few figures as are contained in a strategic plan, are tested by risk analysis techniques.
It follows that strategic decisions involve the commitment of substantial resources, their impacts are felt for several years, and they are not easily reversible. So it's worth getting them right.
“The whole point of strategic planning is to make sure that the overall design of your organization is suitable and relevant for the world as it changes over the next few years. To do this you have to look well ahead to give your organization time to make the big changes to its basic structures and processes.”
We like what Morgan Ramsay from the US Entertainment Media Council said in 2008, in response to a critic of strategic plans:
“Strategic plans are not necessary outcomes of strategic planning. The actual plans are necessities of communication. For the same reasons that we set agendas, we write strategic plans. For the same reasons that we record minutes, we write strategic plans. When we don't need to communicate, we don't need plans. When we don't need to learn from the past, we don't need plans. Communication is our business. Learning from our mistakes is vital to advancing our missions. We need plans. We need planning even more.
Everything "strategic planning" is about the process. Plan templates assist with collecting and organizing information. Facilitators are tour guides. Planners should adopt a process orientation. After all, strategic planning is the process of bringing people together to think critically about issues whose resolutions are keys to the success and long-term sustainability of organizations. Who would agree that willful ignorance of the issues central to the continued existence of their association is good for the gander?
Hollan is not mistaken though: most strategic plans really don't work! The cause, however, is not because strategic planning is a wasteful luxury, but because most attempts at strategic planning falter. Most planners simply miss the point — they fail to recognize that engaging in strategic planning for the plan is as useful as having a meeting for the minutes.”
When Michael Chaney joined the Westralian Farmers Cooperative in 1983, it was preparing to list, and had not previously engaged in any formal strategic planning. Michael saw an advertisement in the Australian Financial Review for something called the Argenti system of strategic planning, and sent off a cheque.
When listed in November 1984, Wesfarmers Limited' net profit was $10.6 million. Since then the Company has reported an unbroken succession of annual profits that reached $569.2 million in 2004 (and $1.5 billion in 2009).
Over the 10 years to 2004 Wesfarmers delivered 23% total shareholder returns, matching Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway.
Mr Chaney is on record as nominating the adoption of Argenti as one of the key factors in the Company's success:
" I think the Argenti system can be attributed with half the success that Wesfarmers enjoyed since it became a listed company in 1984.”
In September 2005 Michael became Chairman of National Australia Bank. BRW wondered if Argenti would follow him there. The answer wasn't long in coming.
There is no shortage of consulting firms offering strategic planning services. These include large and well-known multinational organisations with global reach, impressive data banks, multiple proprietary templates, and substantial commercial research resources. They excel in multi-stage industry analysis and the presentation of impressive reports. Their modus operandi, however, typically takes the bulk of the exercise away from the organisation's own executives.
There is similarly no shortage of packaged solutions for organisations which wish to develop plans for their individual business units. These vary in capability, scope, flexibility and cost, but many of them provide an excellent framework for addressing the various functional elements of such a plan.
The Argenti system was developed by a business executive who learned strategic planning through the school of hard knocks. He graduated from that experience with an appreciation of what a strategic plan is, and what it is not; and with the conviction that an organisation's own executives need to be intimately engaged in its development, both because of what they know, and because of what they are responsible for achieving.
The key features of the Argenti system include the certain knowledge, learned over four decades, that the first step in any strategic plan should be a definition of the purpose of your organisation, and how its performance against that purpose is to be measured.
Also, as one of the world's most experienced strategic planning consultants Argenti knows that your organisation's long term prosperity depends upon identifying the half dozen key issues that can make or break it in future years.
The Argenti system guides the chief executive and his or her strategic planning team through the jungle of data in search of these strategic elephants. The system then shows the team how to develop a set of strategies and action plans that will address them.
The key strengths of our system are:
Its simplicity - you do not need an MBA qualification to understand it.
It's easy to introduce - it is logical, sequential, and flexible.
It's non-disruptive- it is foundational, yet it builds on whatever good work has already been done.
It's inclusive - at set stages you open the process up to relevant staff.
It works - Some of the world's most successful companies (large and small) use the system.
In strategic planning, there is a relevant difference between consultants and facilitators. Argenti provides the actual system (described below) and the organisation's own executives use that system to provide process disciplines to their strategic planning task. The CEO authorises and leads the process throughout, and it is he (or she) who presents the final Strategic Plan to the board - not someone outside.
The generic benefits of using an external facilitator are widely acknowledged. These include objectivity and independence, a breadth of exposure and experience across various sectors of endeavour, and relevant skill sets in process management, including group dynamics and participative decision-making. The facilitator's task is to ensure that the system is used to best effect, and particularly to ensure that the discussion and due diligence are inclusive, robust, constructive, exhaustive, and conclusive; to make sure the questions are asked, and addressed, and even to suggest some additional options; but not to determine the final answer
There is an obvious additional benefit to using an Argenti Planning Facilitator. Our detailed familiarity with the Argenti system, and the fact that we have 'been there, done that', plus our professional credentials, provide additional confidence to the CEO that whatever arises can be taken in its stride. We also find that we play a significant role in strengthening the organisation's strategic communications during the process.
Strategic planning is so vital, and The Argenti System so powerful, that Argenti strongly recommends you use an accredited Argenti Facilitator the first time you apply the Argenti System. In fact Argenti is so convinced this is the right course that Argenti will give you The Argenti System free if you sign up with one of its accredited Facilitators (like us!) for a full facilitation. The process is so well documented that you will be more than capable of driving the process using only in-house resources for subsequent strategic reviews.
The Argenti system is provided as an HTML document with hypertext functionality. It consists of:
The System itself - which will take the Chief Executive and his team through the strategic planning process
The Planning Assistant's Guide - which shows the planning assistant how to control the process
The Knowledge - Guidance Notes which support key aspects of the process.
The Argenti system was deliberately designed to make its users self-reliant and the masters of their own destiny. It is fully self-sufficient, with additional query support available on line. The system is sometimes introduced by a senior staff member of the client firm - the 'planning assistant'. However, an outside professional can typically contribute additional value, because he (or she) brings a wider perspective and greater independence of thought. He can also serve as the "guardian" of the process, thereby freeing the planning assistant to participate as a full team member.
Where the involvement of an external facilitator is preferred (eg to run the interactive sessions, or to complete the first planning cycle), Business Generation is happy to provide that support. (We have an impressive list of referees!)
Argenti Systems Limited is based in the United Kingdom. For more background information and to order the system on line, please go to www.argentisys.com. For some local colour and testimonials, go to www.argentisys.com.au , or ring 1300 799 456.
For a confidential discussion of your organisation's specific needs, in eastern Australia please ring Adrian Dignam at Business Generation on (02) 9964 9333 or email adrian@businessgeneration.com.au
For the western States, contact John Barrington at John Barrington & Associates in Perth, on (08) 9388 9500, or email John.Barrington@barrington.com.au
