Strategic Planning and Management Insights

In any organization, efficient communication internally is a driving factor of success and employee morale. When employees are able to understand each other, they’re able to work better together and therefore create a better experience for the customers as well. A strong communication flow allows a message to go from top to bottom, laterally, and even diagonally across departments. However, having an effective communication flow is easier said than done.

In today’s business landscape, companies have two choices — embrace innovation, or fade into obscurity. As a result, many companies are striving to develop a culture of innovation, where unconventional ideas are welcome, risk-taking is encouraged, and teams communicate openly.

Art Kleiner is the Editor in Chief of Strategy and Business and a PWC Global thought leader. Art has an interest in the link between neuroscience and leadership, especially when it comes to decision making, influencing others and achieving long-term goals. To dive into these areas, he co-authored the book: The Wise Advocate: The Inner Voice of Strategic Leadership with Jeffrey Schwartz and Josie Thomson. 

Once you’ve had your strategy meeting and have developed your organization’s strategic plan, you might be wondering what comes next. 

The strategic planning process doesn’t end once a document is created. To successfully execute your strategy across the organization, careful attention needs to be paid to the next steps: communication, implementation, monitoring and tracking.  

Carlos Valdes Dapena is the managing principal at Corporate Collaboration Resources and the Author of Lessons from Mars. Carlos spent 17 years working for MARS incorporated, a global food and pet care industry. During his time with MARS, his career focus was around improving corporate collaboration within the organization, eventually leading the development of the Mars Framework for High-Performance Collaboration. After moving on from this role in 2017, Carlos continues to share his insights and best practices for team collaboration and leadership development through his book and consulting work.  

In this episode of our Strategy & Leadership Podcast, we were joined by Carl Cox who is the CEO for for Cascade Strategy North America. Originally an accountant and CFO, Carl started off as a client of Australian based Cascade Strategy. As he developed in his executive roles, he became deeply involved in strategy work and eventually opened Cascade’s US office.

While each part of the strategic planning process is important, a little extra attention may be needed when developing your key performance indicators (KPIs). By this stage in your strategy development, you’ve already revised your organization’s vision, mission and values; you’ve worked through your SWOT and PESTLE analyses; and you’ve discussed scenarios and risks that your organization or industry may encounter in the future. You’ve done a lot of great work, but it doesn’t end there.