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EXECUTIVE BOOK SUMMARY:
 The
Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning : Reconceiving Roles
for Planning, Plans,
Planners
by Henry Mintzberg © 1994
Free Press
On sale. Check link for sale price.
To
order, click here.
“What
remains of strategic planning is in fact a set of three
independent approaches—a kind of portfolio of planning
techniques, if you like. On one side is a numbers game,
geared to motivation and control but not to strategy
formation. On the other is capital budgeting, a portfolio
technique to control capital spending through decision
making but not strategy making. And in between is a process
that
seems to be about strategy making, but more in name
than in content, for this remains largely unspecified. The
black box of strategy creation was never opened... .”
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After studying examples of many failed corporate and
government strategic plans and the processes behind them, Mintzberg makes this
observation in the 1994 classic, The Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning.
The Grand Fallacy, he writes, boils down to this: “Because
analysis is not synthesis, strategic planning is not strategy formation... .
Ultimately the term “strategic planning has proved to be an oxymoron.”
Culture plays a significant role as the organization’s stabilizing
force, he adds. If approaches to strategy formation and planning are not
compatible with the organization’s culture, they won’t succeed.
Mintzberg has authored or
co-authored a number of books on the subject of strategy formation and its
methods or “schools”, including a case studies approach in the frequently
revised The Strategy Process (Prentice Hall, 1996) and a survey of
methods in Strategy Safari: A guided tour through the wilds of strategic
management (Free Press, 1998). (To
order either of these books,
click
here.)
Your Organization’s Needs
If your organization...
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Is in operation, it needs to be able to envision the future through
leadership’s clear expression of mission, vision and values (visioning);
to sense and seize strategic opportunities as they emerge (strategy formation)
and channel strategic information into the planning framework (strategic
management).
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Has identified its major strategies, it needs plans to communicate and
operationalize them (planning).
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If it is just starting up, you need a business plan.
How CultureConnects can help.
Visioning and strategy
formation. “The whole nature of strategy making—dynamic, irregular,
discontinuous, calling for groping, interactive processes with an emphasis on
learning and sythesis—compels managers to favor intuition...all steps are
considered simultaneously.” Our executive coaching services facilitate
more effective visioning and strategy management. Read more about our services
at this link.
Planning. “[Effective]
organizations engage in formal planning, not to create strategies but to program
the strategies they already have.” We
can help facilitate your leadership’s planning, and other team planning
efforts. Your team brings the organizational and industry expertise to the
table, we bring the process expertise. You do NOT get one-size-fits-all
planning, because different approaches work better for different kinds of
organizations. Also, we equip you to plan as we develop the plan together, so
that the process can continue without need for extensive consultative support.
To find out more about our services and view current client cases, click
here.
Strategy, planning and culture.
Consider a CultureConnects workshop or series of workshops to help inspire
leadership throughout your organization, and develop more effective strategists
and planners in ways that fit your organization’s culture. To request
information about our workshops, contact
us. To view other leadership tools, click here.
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