3 minutes
From our sponsor: A new approach to enroll organization-wide commitment
Imagine this: All employees in your organization have deep-seated clarity of your credit union’s strategic direction, and they know precisely how their individual actions and performance can create value in reaching strategic goals and initiatives. A heightened sense of coordination, collaboration and communication creates organizations that are high-performing, with engaged employees and proactive, long-term members.
The strategic planning team at DDJ Myers wants to share with you a new approach to strategic planning that has added immediate value to clients and new outcomes previously unimagined.
“Our entire employee group is achieving greatness in ways never before imagined,” claimed one CEO of a $200 million credit union. “The communication channels are wide open, we take less time to start and complete initiatives, and I hear reports of less stress and more creativity.”
There are various approaches to strategic planning. One of the most common is the SWOT method of identifying Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.
The SWOT methodology was developed 1,000 years ago to support military operations. Its design is structured to spend 50 percent of strategic planning time on Strengths and Opportunities and 50 percent on Weaknesses and Threats. Due to human nature, however, most of the time is spent dwelling on the Weaknesses and Threats.
“Unfortunately, the flaw in using this method is that it creates an outcome where participants leave with strategic initiatives to remedy issues with current operations rather than building for the future through creation of opportunities and incentives,” notes Deedee Myers, CEO of DDJ Myers.
The current economic environment requires a new focus on emergent opportunities that embed innovation and creative problem solving while accessing the full competency range of your internal talent force.
A CEO who ran multiple workshops to hear the voice of each employee explains: “Including both the front line and back office into strategic planning was a brilliant move in organization-wide commitment! After one day in a preplanning session, the mood shifted in the organization.”
There is a need for today’s organizations to access a strategic thinking framework and approach to quickly and smoothly guide an organization through the complex process of strategic planning. This must be done while engaging the whole system.
Appreciative Inquiry is a Better Catalyst for Effective Forward Momentum
Appreciative Inquiry, or “AI,” is DDJ Myers’ approach of constructing an organization’s future by focusing on their core strengths as the impetus for advancing.
The AI approach to strategic planning involves identifying and building on existing strengths and profitable opportunities rather than dwelling on problems, deficiencies, weaknesses and threats.
“Focusing on strengths has moved us forward in employee engagement in strategic planning with a mood of ‘can-do optimism,’” reported another CEO.
In contrast, the AI approach helps stakeholders clearly identify, understand and communicate. This allows both individual and organizational values, direction and purpose to come together in a powerful way. The result is a positive organizational environment that builds upon an organization’s positive core, and sustain its unique value offering.
The AI approach allows organizations to:
- know what happens when the credit union works at its best;
- build on strengths (the positive core);
- discover emerging opportunities from the current business;
- visualize goals and strategic alternatives;
- identify enabling objectives;
- design strategies, tactics, and execution expectations that are integrated with their most successful organization programs;
- implement a strategic plan that is a dynamic, continuous, and living document which includes the best organizational structure and systems to realize their vision;
- practice capacity building for their organization; and
- create an image and actions for “the best of what can be.”
Stop SWOT-ing and Start SOAR-ing
SOAR (Strengths, Opportunities, Aspirations, and Results) has been used in organizations worldwide to transform strategic goals into powerful and meaningful system-wide commitment and effective action in producing desired outcomes.
Successful strategic planning is an outcome of effective execution and accountability that aligns coordination, collaboration and communication. The SOAR process produces clear execution guidelines and commitments, individual and team ownership, clarity on desired outcomes, and mutual commitment.
To find out if your credit union is ready for A New Approach to Strategic Planning, call Deedee Myers, CEO of DDJ Myers at 800.574.8877, or email deedeemyers@ddjmyers.com.
