The strategic planning process requires a significant investment of time, effort, and resources to prepare for the future, yet health care organizations’ planning efforts do not always produce desirable results. The following four factors are commonly linked to failed strategic plans:
- Loss of energy and focus
- Lack of management
- Disconnect from operations
- Lack of resources
As Dallas/Fort Worth’s Healthcare Daily stated in an article last week, organizations “don’t clearly link the plan to decisions,” stalling momentum, as well the plan’s potential effectiveness. The article, entitled 8 Ways to Fix Strategic Planning, supports the four items listed above as reasons for why strategic plans ultimately do not reach their potential and cites emphasis on people and culture as primary mechanisms to help organizations realize the benefits of their strategic plans.
Honing in on the people component to alleviate strategic planning fatigue is a useful practice to prevent plans from failing during implementation. Selecting execution leaders wisely (and ensuring that the proper tools are readily available to them), marking the completion of strategic planning in a celebratory manner, building implementation tasks into performance incentives, and communicating the plan clearly throughout all levels of the organization can aid in reducing strategic planning fatigue and contribute to successful implementation.
How does your organization plan to use your staff to avoid fatigue as your strategic plan is implemented?