Strategic planning can provide the geometry for organizational alignment, the blueprint for sustained brilliance. In a polarized world, we need the discerning wisdom possible in strategic plans that promote productive human connection while encouraging diversity and alignment with human brilliance.
Mission: The mission states the difference the organization intends to make in the lives of those it serves (i.e., all stakeholders, especially customers). By its nature, the mission is simple, directional, differentiating, and relational. It often states a distinctive competence that is highly valued by stakeholders.
Vision: By its nature, vision is generative, aspirational, and inspirational. Vision is developed with “future perfect” thinking, and it serves as a check on mission clarity. A vision statement can be a set or summary of stakeholders’ descriptions that express how the world will be when the mission is fully and competently operating. The most instructive descriptions may be formed by uniting the perspectives of the various stakeholders.
Strategic Goals: Strategic goals clarify the mission and identify the high-level achievements required to fulfill it. As form follows function, organization design generally reflects the strategic goals. Strategic goals may be presented as phrases clarifying the mission statement. Performance objectives are subsets of the strategic goals. Performance objectives identify developmental opportunities for culture and operational gaps that merit resources when the strategic plan is conceived. These are priorities for special investments, projects, or other initiatives that increase performance capacity. When stakeholders effectively address these performance objectives, strategic goals might be achieved, and the organization may transcend “best.”
Universal Core Human Values: The principles or standards of behavior deemed to be essential throughout the organizational culture for furthering its mission. Core virtues serve as guidelines for personal behavior, leadership, and teamwork, inside and outside of the organization. Leadership is fundamentally about pursuing intrinsically worthy goals with actions and investments correlated with the mission, vision, and goals. Without universal core virtues, there is a high probability of disproportionate and unfair treatment of certain individuals and groups and erosion of the equality of We. Organizations without constant adherence to universal core virtues may emulate superficial authority but lack meaningful leadership.
Guiding Strategies: Strategies express how the organization should operate in alignment with the mission. Strategies are wise guidelines, keys to success, rules to live by …wisdom for creating the desired future (e.g., vision). Guiding strategies are developed for the priority activities needed to achieve the mission (e.g., customer relations, quality of service, training and development, communications, teamwork, recruiting, compensation, marketing, product development, performance measurement, financial resources, public relations, and decision-making). Strategies are implemented – strategic goals are achieved, and the mission and vision are fulfilled – through a series of tactical actions.
Tactics: These are the specific investments, action steps, projects, or programs that the organization chooses to take to accomplish its goals, in accordance with the strategies, in pursuit of its mission and vision. Exceptional leadership, project management, and teamwork are required to translate a list of priority tactics into an accountable, implementable endeavor.
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One of the power secrets of strategic leadership is this: Once the stakeholders understand the universal core virtues, mission, vision, strategic goals, performance objectives, and guiding strategies, the organization and its entire stakeholder community consciously employ this knowledge in action, dialogue and decision-making daily.
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