Business Builders Podcast
Strategic Planning - Where do we want to be?
Today's episode is part three of the Demystifying Strategic Planning series. Our hosts Brenton Gowland and Ron Tomlian talk about where to begin your strategic planning.
The topics covered in this first part of the series are:
- The process to determine where we want to be in the future
- Step 1 - Establish company values
- Step 2 - Establish the purpose of the company
- Step 3 - Establish the vision of the company
- Step 4 - Establish company objectives
- The level zero process and its relevance in establishing direction
Helping businesses find their new shape.
SA Business Builders
Business leaders social group based in South Australia
Borough Markets
AI driven digital transformation company that exist to level the digital marketing playing field by
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
Today's episode is part three of the Demystifying Strategic Planning series. Our hosts Brenton Gowland and Ron Tomlian talk about where to begin your strategic planning.
The topics covered in this first part of the series are:
- The process to determine where we want to be in the future
- Step 1 - Establish company values
- Step 2 - Establish the purpose of the company
- Step 3 - Establish the vision of the company
- Step 4 - Establish company objectives
- The level zero process and its relevance in establishing direction
Helping businesses find their new shape.
SA Business Builders
Business leaders social group based in South Australia
Borough Markets
AI driven digital transformation company that exist to level the digital marketing playing field by
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
Welcome to part three of our series about demystifying strategic planning. In today's episode, we're talking about how to answer the question, where do we want our business to be in the future? Ron talks about the level zero process that every business should have. And we talked about the all too common complaint that strategic planning workshops are often the cause of headaches. So welcome to this week's episode of the Business Builders podcast. I am Brenton Gowland.
Ron Tomlian:And I'm Ron Tomlian.
Brenton Gowland:And it's great to see you yet again. Ron, have you been since the last episode?
Ron Tomlian:Oh, wonderful. Absolutely. Wonderful.
Brenton Gowland:Good. I think you've run a couple of TEC sessions since then.
Ron Tomlian:Yep. Yep. Well, I've always enjoyed my TEC days and interfacing with the tech members. So yeah, life is good.
Brenton Gowland:It feels like the years getting off to a much better start than it did last year. It feels like business is starting to have its wheels firmly in motion.
Ron Tomlian:Well, it's interesting you say that, because I think a lot of people were side, blindsided by the Omicron. And felt that this year was a lot more difficult than last year.
Brenton Gowland:Is that so.
Ron Tomlian:Yeah, but I think, yeah, we starting to emerge from that. So I'm hopeful. And I think a lot of other people I that we're, we're in a good business position to start making things happen now.
Brenton Gowland:Yeah, exactly. Well, it seems to feel like in South Australia anyway, that we coming out of the restrictions slowly, and business is starting to get back to a place where it's meant to be. I think as you're saying a lot of businesses have challenges, but everyone that I'm coming across is really wanting to get stuck into it and get fighting.
Ron Tomlian:Yeah, absolutely.
Brenton Gowland:Okay. So just before we get cranking into things, it's probably worth mentioning our sponsors. They are Borough Markets. So Borough Markets do a great job of helping you find clients on any device anywhere they are and marketing to them. Their website is www.boroughmarkets.com.au. That is B-O-R-O-U-G-H Markets. And we say thank you to them for our studio space. Who else have we got Ron?
Ron Tomlian:SA Business Builders. And I think and we've gotten to we're talking about having an event coming up soon. So yes, watch this space for SA Business Builders.
Brenton Gowland:We've got our first planning meeting tonight. So that's very exciting. Now that the restrictions are coming to an end, we can actually start meeting people face to face again.
Ron Tomlian:Back to networking.
Brenton Gowland:I'm looking forward to very much I've been on a networking hiatus, and this is going to be great.
Ron Tomlian:You're networking withdrawal symptoms.
Brenton Gowland:Correct. And then we've got adapt CO which is me. And I come in and help people with strategic sales and marketing with strategy around their business. But the reason I am a sponsor is because I'm doing all the editing and sound engineering for this podcast. And we are seriously looking for someone to help us. So if you know anyone that's interested in helping with this great podcast in terms of sound engineering, and I think we've had some suggestions that people want us to video ourselves Ron.
Ron Tomlian:It's a nice idea. But good, Lord, that could be scary.
Brenton Gowland:We've both got faces for radio?
Ron Tomlian:Absolutely.
Brenton Gowland:Cool. So if you are interested in helping with a podcast in terms of audio and potentially video, then please hit us up. We would love to have a chat with you.
Ron Tomlian:Yes. Okay.
Brenton Gowland:So this week we are following on in our series about demystifying strategic planning. Last week, we spoke about question number one. So there were four questions. What were the four questions Ron? Just as recap,
Ron Tomlian:Where are we now? Where do we want to be? How do we get there? And how will we know when we've arrived?
Brenton Gowland:And so those are the four key questions that make up strategic planning at a basic level. And there was one further question wasn't there that was inspired by Simon Sinek?
Ron Tomlian:Oh yes, why are we doing this?
Brenton Gowland:Right.
Ron Tomlian:So what is our why?
Brenton Gowland:So last week, we explored, Where are we now? And this week, we're looking at where are we going? So run at a very high level? What does it mean, as a business to start answering question number two, looking at where are we going?
Ron Tomlian:Okay, at the basic level, it's it's saying Where do we want to be at some point in the future? What hill do we want to climb? And it is very, it's about deciding, firstly, the time horizon. The strategic time arising for your ambitions, and it will depend on the context of the organisation the situation that you're in. Strategic time horizons can differ according to the situation the organization's is in.
Brenton Gowland:So its almost like saying Where do we want to go and by when?
Ron Tomlian:Exactly!
Brenton Gowland:Right okay. So in ranking the questions in order, and I understand that all questions are important. Would you say this is one of the most important questions to answer for strategic planning?
Ron Tomlian:Absolutely, because it's the one that people often neglect is the one that will just assume.
Brenton Gowland:How can you neglect where am I going if you're wanting to create a strategic plan
Ron Tomlian:Because people assume that they know where they want to go and everyone in The organisation knows where they're going to go. It's an assumption that yeah, we are forward, of course, but where is forward? And if you want to go left, other people want to go, right.
Brenton Gowland:Yeah. So for instance, if the CEO or the management having their head that they want to go a certain direction, but they haven't communicated that to the staff, you've still got people trying to pull in all sorts of other directions. And that means you don't get anywhere quickly. Yes?
Ron Tomlian:Yes, correct. So there has to be one of the important things is making sure that the process of determining where you want to go comes up with a shared vision for the future, a shared destination for the organisation, within a certain timeframe.
Brenton Gowland:So rather than just throwing a dart at the wall and going, that's where we want to go, you're saying that there's a distinct process?
Ron Tomlian:Yes.
Brenton Gowland:For working out where it is, we want to go.
Ron Tomlian:Yeah, and, you know, the, I don't want to talk too much about the process. But there are elements that need to be determined, as part of this process. First one is what are the values of the organisation.
Brenton Gowland:Interesting.
Ron Tomlian:And they don't change very often.
Brenton Gowland:So the vision first, the values for values,
Ron Tomlian:It's kind of the context, it's what's important to us, and why are they important? Why are these things important to us? Because they'll determine the type of things that you're comfortable doing and the type of things you might not be comfortable doing?
Brenton Gowland:Interesting, because a lot of companies that I deal with put values right down the bottom of the list, I know that that is not, you know, people think okay, well, values. Yeah, that's something I got to do, what does it mean, but they don't put a lot of stock in it, as companies mature, they really do. And there's reasons for that, as we talking about now. So what's your experience in seeing people actually come to value the values?
Ron Tomlian:It's a good question, because as you say, organisations in their infancy just assume the values because they're the values of the leader of the organisation. As organisations grow it becomes important to identify those because it will determine the type of people we want to be working here. And who will want to work here, and the type of things we're good at doing and we're comfortable doing and the type of things we don't want to do. So it sort of frames the ethics and the morals of the organisation. And it's worth having that discussion at this time.
Brenton Gowland:Yeah, okay. So even before we get to vision, mission, and objectives, values is the first port of call because that kind of sets a framework for setting a direction for what the vision mission and objectives are going
Ron Tomlian:It's a context in which we'll do stuff and it sort to be. of it helps answer that question, why are we doing this in the first place, as well? Importantly, I don't know what other people's values are, we can talk about them till the cows come home. So I always like to put, if we're going to talk about values, what can I see? What are the behaviours that I'll see if these are our values? Yeah, so it's worth talking about one of the things I will see around here, if we have the value as an example of honesty, and what won't I see around here, if we have the value of honesty, getting down to behaviours is critical.
Brenton Gowland:And you go through that with the staff, as a group so that they have a shared value proposition.
Ron Tomlian:That's right.
Brenton Gowland:So without going into the process too deeply, to get to actually establishing the values, you got to look at the behaviours you want within an organisation? Is it the behaviours you want? Or the behaviours that should exist?
Ron Tomlian:Should exist, right. If we have those sort of behaviours, so we get an agreed way of operating within the organisation.
Brenton Gowland:Right, and we engage everyone to determine
Ron Tomlian:Yeah, I would say that that's something that's those values. should be done throughout the organisation. Some people keep it at the higher levels, it is dependent on what the organisation wants to do. But I think those values need to be disseminated throughout the organisation on a continual basis, the strategic planning only gives you the opportunity to talk about that.
Brenton Gowland:So values is not a set and forget values is a constant monitor and update.
Ron Tomlian:Absolutely.
Brenton Gowland:Okay, and how often in your experience, do values actually change within an organisation?
Ron Tomlian:Not very often. No, should they? I mean, their the enduring thing that keeps the organisation together.
Brenton Gowland:Great. So once you've got your values established, where to next?
Ron Tomlian:I think it's important to establish the purpose of the organisation. Now...
Brenton Gowland:Not the vision?
Ron Tomlian:Well, no, because some people call this a mission, I hate jargan terms. So I'd like purpose. What do we do for whom, as an example, we provide accounting services for Australian businesses. That's a purpose statement.
Brenton Gowland:Yep.
Ron Tomlian:It gives you the scope of the organisation
Brenton Gowland:And I find a lot of companies make a purpose statement, their vision statement and would not know necessarily the difference.
Ron Tomlian:That's because of the words. Vision mission sound the same. I suspect they were rolled out as, we, I can remember that, but purpose clearly articulates that this is why, or what the organisation does. It should be clinical, okay. It's not, it's not inspirational. It's clinical. Just as importantly, it identifies the things we don't do. Okay, so If I come to you as the head of an accounting firm and say, I've got this great idea for a new hospitality service, you can quite rightly say, That's a great idea, but not for this organisation, because there is our purpose statement. Okay, so it sets the scope, the next step beyond that has to be the actual statement of by a certain time, this is where the organisation wants to be. That's the vision statement. And it is just that it's a vision, it's a guess.
Brenton Gowland:The vision is therefore what you see in the future, based on a certain timeline?
Ron Tomlian:Yeah, based on a certain date. So by "x", by the 20th of June 2025, we want to be at this point. And it's a good idea, in my opinion, in getting to a statement of that to paint a word picture as a first first point of call, okay, get ideas up on the board, what's this place going to look like? Who are we serving? What markets are we going to be in? What does that customer look like? What does that product or service look like? You know, how big are we? How many employees? Give as much detail to this idea of a word picture of that point in the future.
Brenton Gowland:And that in a sense starts to form a brief for what the vision will become.
Ron Tomlian:Because once you've got those ideas, all those those concepts on a board, and you write them down. So it's a brainstorming, you can start to clump them together into common ideas with those common ideas, you can probably get a theme that comes out of that. And hence you come up with one or two sentences that form your version of what this organisation is going to be like, at some stage in the future.
Brenton Gowland:Yes.
Ron Tomlian:Your strategic time horizon using the jargon of strategic planning.
Brenton Gowland:Great.
Ron Tomlian:Okay, so now you've got a hopefully inspiring vision of the future, it's time to put meat on the bones.
Brenton Gowland:Okay, so let me just recap. So in working out where we're going, the first thing we do is, is really look at the values and that forms a framework for what comes next.
Ron Tomlian:The context.
Brenton Gowland:Then it's a purpose statement is very clinical, this is what we do. But the vision statement itself, is what you see on the horizon, and where you see the business going.
Ron Tomlian:By a certain point in time.
Brenton Gowland:Great. And I would imagine that certain point in time is starting to get a lot less with our COVID environment.
Ron Tomlian:Well as the as the future becomes more difficult to predict, strategic time horizons start to contract, okay. So in a very stable environment, I can look 10 years out with some, not degree of certainty, but some confidence. In very difficult times, like we're experiencing at the moment with what's happening in Europe, with pandemics with the deteriorating situation in Southeast Asia, etc. It becomes much more difficult to predict the future or to look at any certainty with what's going to develop. Such strategic time horizons tend to contract in. Okay, but it all depends on the organisation. If your environment isn't going to change very much, you can look further out.
Brenton Gowland:Great. So values, purpose, vision, what's next?
Ron Tomlian:Objectives, okay, like I said, the meat on the bones. The Vision says this is generally broadly where we what we want the organisation to look like and what we want to be doing. Okay, now, we've got to get to the point of let's get down to brass tacks. What specifically do we want to achieve to make that vision a reality?
Brenton Gowland:Yes.
Ron Tomlian:And there are different frameworks that people use to be able to answer that question. One of those frameworks is the balanced scorecard approach, which tends to be kind of the standard nowadays. And that says financially, what do we need to achieve in order to make this vision a reality? Yes, if we want to financially achieve that, what do we have to do in the marketplace? Or what do we have to achieve in the marketplace to be able to get that type of financial return? Yes, if that's what we want to achieve in the marketplace? How do our business processes need to change what we need to achieve in terms of getting better at serving our customers, in order for us to achieve that in the marketplace in order to get that financial return? And finally, the basis of all this? What do we as an organisation need to be able to do? How do we need to learn and grow so that we can improve those processes so that we can achieve in the marketplace so that we can get that financial return.
Brenton Gowland:Well there's a lot to pack into the objectives then.
Ron Tomlian:Yes, but it gives you four areas where you need to have objectives. Okay, that is financial objectives, market and customer objectives, business process improvement objectives, and learning and growth objectives for the organisation.
Brenton Gowland:Which is the ethos of the balanced scorecard.
Ron Tomlian:For the balanced scorecard.
Brenton Gowland:And I might just highlight that's why it's so important to do what we were talking about in the last episode, is to establish where you are and part of that might be establishing your business processes, why they exist now. Where the company is in terms of behaviours and values and etc, etc. Because being able to look very clearly at that you start to see those holes and the gaps and the things that you need to improve to get to what you see on the horizon.
Ron Tomlian:And it's, again, these objectives need to be time stamped.
Brenton Gowland:Yep.
Ron Tomlian:By a certain time we need to achieve this in order to achieve our vision.
Brenton Gowland:So the only thing we haven't really talked about is mission Ron. How does that differentiate from the values? The purpose, the vision and the objectives?
Ron Tomlian:We've talked about the mission. The mission is the purpose statement.
Brenton Gowland:Oh, I say.
Ron Tomlian:I don't like the mission.
Brenton Gowland:You just changed the words.
Ron Tomlian:Purpose statement, I think, better clarifies what it's all about.
Brenton Gowland:Okay.
Ron Tomlian:That's just me. I don't like missions, because people say, well, isn't a mission about what we're trying to achieve? No. A mission is a purpose statement, is very clinically, what the organisation does? What value it provides to its customers?
Brenton Gowland:How many people do you find get confused about vision, mission values, and well not value so much, but vision and mission and how they work together?
Ron Tomlian:Just about everybody. Okay. And it's not surprising, if you pick up different texts, you get different explanations.
Brenton Gowland:Yep.
Ron Tomlian:I'm providing my version of it.
Brenton Gowland:Yep.
Ron Tomlian:To try and be very clear, you need a statement of what you do.
Brenton Gowland:Okay.
Ron Tomlian:If you've like, it's your level zero process, and all your other business processes sit below that. Your mission. And this is courtesy of the quality frameworks that talk about the level zero process being the purpose statement of the organisation.
Brenton Gowland:That's interesting. And look, the truth is, and lets be blatantly honest, it doesn't matter what you call your mission or your purpose. It's all words on a page. But as it becomes lived, that's where it starts to jump into action. And that's where what we're talking about now, establishing objectives and goals is very important.
Ron Tomlian:And that's why it's so terribly important to involve the people who are going to be making it happen in determining what this is that we're talking about in the future. That's why I use the word shared vision, you could use the word shared.
Brenton Gowland:That's interesting.
Ron Tomlian:Purpose statement as well, but certainly a shared vision. I don't know about you. But I know that if I involve you in making a decision about the future, where we want to be, you're going to be that much more engaged in actually making it happen.
Brenton Gowland:Yep.
Ron Tomlian:If I impose on you my vision for the future, yeah, I might get you there. But it's much less likely that you'll be engaged to make it happen.
Brenton Gowland:Right.
Ron Tomlian:So I want to emphasise that term shared vision for the future.
Brenton Gowland:Great. So when we're looking to establish the answer to question two, where are we going as an organisation, there is a process to go through, and that is to establish your values, purpose, vision, objectives. Correct?
Ron Tomlian:Correct. And once we've got there, we can now say, we know what we want to achieve, and where we want to be in the future. We don't have any idea how we're going to do it yet.
Brenton Gowland:So what's next?
Ron Tomlian:What's next is, how do we get there?
Brenton Gowland:Right. Well, that's next episode.
Ron Tomlian:Absolutely. And what I want to try and emphasise is you do not go to how we get there, before you understand where you want to be. Yep, people love to jump into strategy, love to get creative, love to talk about how we're going to do it. But it doesn't make any sense. Unless you can answer the question, what do we want to achieve?
Brenton Gowland:So in your experience, where's the hardest work then, is the hardest work actually in establishing where you want to go?
Ron Tomlian:Absolutely. Because almost by default, once you establish where you want to go, the the opportunities to look at how we get there becomes that much easier. And it provides the whole context for what we're going to do in the future. Right. Now, what we're going to achieve, how we get there is going to be determined to some extent, by where we want to go.
Brenton Gowland:Yep. And look, this is, well I was just talking with someone that we both know, at the TEC session the other day, and he had someone come in and run their, you know, strategic planning session. And he said it was really good, but confronting because basically, he gave them a whole bunch of homework and a bunch of different things to do and interviewed everyone, as you would expect. But the point is, the vision, the mission, the values, the future is usually locked up inside key staff within the business and so forth. And it's the unlocking of that the hard work is really taking the time to get away from your business. Because I think the strategic work is, well we've got an objective here, we can all work out how to get to that. But the actual dreaming part, or the, you know, inspired kind of building a vision part, is where you really got to dig deep and really ask questions that are really hard to answer.
Ron Tomlian:And when I help people with this process in organisations, I find that by the end of the day, they've got a terrible headache, because it's hard work.
Brenton Gowland:That's literally what this gentleman was saying to me. He was exhausted. He said it was like doing double days every day, because you're doing something you don't usually do. But it's already in there inside those people very, very often.
Ron Tomlian:And it's your job to pull it out.
Brenton Gowland:Correct. So that is really summing up. Where are we going to go? It's not just throwing a pin on the wall. It's really establishing a framework of values, purpose, vision and objectives, that everyone agrees with. Shared values, objectives that everyone can get on board with etc, etc. And that is really determining where we're going to go as an organisation. And next episode Ron is going to be all about?
Ron Tomlian:How we get there.
Brenton Gowland:How we get there. So, until next time, I will say goodbye from me.
Ron Tomlian:And goodbye for me.
Brenton Gowland:And we look forward to seeing you at the next episode of the Business Builders podcast.
Ron Tomlian:See you later Brenton.
Brenton Gowland:Bye for now, Ron.
