| COURSE OUTLINE
Writing the future…
 The future is a mere story—albeit a powerful one.
 You are either writing the story of the future or you are
living inside the story of another. There can be no other
possibilities.
 The entrepreneur has no choice but to anticipate the future,
to attempt to mold it, and to balance short-range and longrange goals.
 To accomplish this, the entrepreneur needs to think
strategically—and this is the domain of strategic planning.
SmallBizU
™
Strategic Planning and Execution
Slide 1 of 184
| COURSE OUTLINE
Strategic planning is…
 A tool for organizing the present on the basis of
projections of the desired future.
 Determines where an organization is going over the next
few years, how it is going to get there and how it will
know if it got there.
 A road map to lead an organization to where it would like
to be in five to ten years.
 Measuring the results of these decisions against the
expectations through organized systematic feedback.
SmallBizU
™
Strategic Planning and Execution
Slide 2 of 184
| COURSE OUTLINE
It doesn’t deal with future decisions…
 Strategic planning deals with future-aspects of
present decisions.
 Decisions exist only in the present.
 The question that faces the strategic decisionmaker is not what his/her organization should do
tomorrow.
 It is, “What do we have to do today to be ready for
tomorrow?”
SmallBizU
™
Strategic Planning and Execution
Slide 3 of 184
| COURSE OUTLINE
It doesn’t attempt to eliminate risk…
 It is not even an attempt to minimize risk.
 Economic activity, by definition, commits present
resources to the future.
 While it is futile to try to eliminate risk, it is
essential that the risks taken be the right risks.
 The end result of successful strategic planning
must be the capacity to take greater risks, for this
is the only way to improve performance.
SmallBizU
™
Strategic Planning and Execution
Slide 4 of 184
| COURSE OUTLINE
The devices of strategic planning…
 Each device in strategic planning is meant to answer one
fundamental question about your plan:
– Vision: Answers the question of “what.” What will our future
look like? What will we accomplish? What is our dream with a
deadline?
– Mission: Answers the question of “why.” Why do we exist? Why
is our vision important?
– Goals: Answer the questions of “who and when.” Who will do
what? When will they do it?
– Strategy: Answers the question of “how.” How will we achieve
our goals? How will our vision bring our mission to life?
SmallBizU
™
Strategic Planning and Execution
Slide 5 of 184
| COURSE OUTLINE
Knowing Your Vision And Mission
SmallBizU
™
Strategic Planning and Execution
Slide 6 of 184
| COURSE OUTLINE
Mission and Vision…
 Though the terms are often used interchangeably,
there is a vast difference between a mission and a
vision.
 While the two concepts play-off of one another,
they work in very different ways.
 It is important to examine exactly what makes
mission and vision different and to demonstrate
why you need to have both.
SmallBizU
™
Strategic Planning and Execution
Slide 7 of 184
| COURSE OUTLINE
Clarity about mission and vision…
 Clarity about mission and vision is both an operational and
spiritual necessity.
 Vision provides a guiding star, a long-term purpose that
allows you to balance the inevitable pressures between the
short-term and the long-term.
 Mission translates vision into truly meaningful intended
results—and guides the allocation of time, energy, and
resources.
 It is only through a compelling vision that a deep sense of
purpose comes alive.
SmallBizU
™
Strategic Planning and Execution
Slide 8 of 184
| COURSE OUTLINE
The dynamic interplay…
 Vision is about preserving the core…
–
–
–
–
Provides continuity and stability
Fixed stake in the ground or the horizon
Limits possibilities
Conservative act
 Mission is about stimulating progress…
–
–
–
–
Urges continual change
Impels constant movement
Expands possibilities
Revolutionary change
SmallBizU
™
Strategic Planning and Execution
Slide 9 of 184
| COURSE OUTLINE
The eyesight metaphor…
 Mission and Vision are like your eyes.
 Each is independent of one another, yet each works
together to provide both depth and breath ultimately
coming together to make one in sight.
 The absence of one or the other (or both) is akin to looking
at your organization with one only eye…or less.
 It can truly be said that nothing happens until there is a
vision. But it is equally true that a vision with no
underlying sense of purpose is just a good idea—all sound
and fury, signifying nothing.
SmallBizU
™
Strategic Planning and Execution
Slide 10 of 184
| COURSE OUTLINE
What is Vision?
 Vision is the purpose or reason for existence of
your organization.
 It is a general heading or direction—it is abstract.
 A vision is what you stand for.
 A vision should be timeless. It should rarely, if
ever, change. It should stand the test of time.
 Example: “To increase man’s capability to
explore the heavens.”
SmallBizU
™
Strategic Planning and Execution
Slide 11 of 184
| COURSE OUTLINE
The ground-rules of vision…
 Paradoxically, if an organization’s vision is truly
motivating it is never really achieved.
 Vision provides an orientation, not a checklist of
accomplishments.
 It defines a direction, not a destination.
 It tells the members of an organization why they are
working together and how they intend to contribute to the
world.
 Without a sense of vision, there is no foundation for
establishing why some intended results are more important
than others.
SmallBizU
™
Strategic Planning and Execution
Slide 12 of 184
| COURSE OUTLINE
Power from ideas not people…
 Vision is therefore the belief that power ultimately
flows from ideas, not people.
 Moreover, vision is inherently fuzzy and abstract.
 It is so much easier to make decisions based on the
numbers, habit, and unexamined emotions.
 To be vision-minded requires everyone to think
continuously.
SmallBizU
™
Strategic Planning and Execution
Slide 13 of 184
| COURSE OUTLINE
Now it’s time to write your vision…
 Right now on a piece of paper, write down your
vision statement.
.
SmallBizU
™
Strategic Planning and Execution
Slide 14 of 184
| COURSE OUTLINE
The vision in review…
 Remember a vision statement should be somewhat
timeless—it should apply to not only today but possibly
fifty years from now.
 It should put forth a general direction or heading stating
what it is that you stand for.
 In essence, a vision can never really be achieved—it
should be ongoing. If it can be achieved and completed
then it is a mission or goal, not your vision.
 You should think of your vision as your guiding star.
SmallBizU
™
Strategic Planning and Execution
Slide 15 of 184
| COURSE OUTLINE
Finally, check your vision…
 Your vision should…
– Provide continuity and stability
– Act as a fixed stake in the ground or the horizon
– Limit possibilities
 A good strategic plan is rooted in the vision
statement
SmallBizU
™
Strategic Planning and Execution
Slide 16 of 184
| COURSE OUTLINE
Defining A Mission
SmallBizU
™
Strategic Planning and Execution
Slide 17 of 184
| COURSE OUTLINE
What is mission?
 A mission is a specific future destination—it is
concrete.
 A mission is a dream with a deadline.
 It should change over time.
 It must say “yes” to some ideas and “no” to others.
 It’s about what the future might be, could be, and
shouldn’t be.
 Example: “To put a man on the moon before the
end of the 1960’s.”
SmallBizU
™
Strategic Planning and Execution
Slide 18 of 184
| COURSE OUTLINE
Defining a mission…
 In some ways, defining mission is easier than
knowing your purpose or vision.
 Mission—an image of the future we seek to
create—is synonymous with intended results.
SmallBizU
™
Strategic Planning and Execution
Slide 19 of 184
| COURSE OUTLINE
The ground-rules of Mission…
 Mission is a practical tool, not an abstract
concept.
 Missions can be long-term or intermediate term.
 While an organization should exist for one, single
purpose, multiple missions can coexist, capturing
complimentary facets of what people seek to
create and encompassing different time frames.
SmallBizU
™
Strategic Planning and Execution
Slide 20 of 184
| COURSE OUTLINE
Mission-based leadership…
 Leaders who lack vision fail to define what they hope to
accomplish in terms that can ultimately be assessed.
 While vision is foundational, it is also insufficient because,
by its nature, it is extraordinarily difficult to assess how we
are doing by looking only at the vision.
 For this we need to stick our necks out and articulate “an
image of the future we seek to create.”
 Leaders, therefore, must have both a mission and a vision.
Results mean little without purpose.
SmallBizU
™
Strategic Planning and Execution
Slide 21 of 184
| COURSE OUTLINE
Now lets define your mission…
 Remember, a mission is a specific, future
destination.
 It’s your dream with a deadline.
 Therefore, the first thing we need to do is establish
a time frame that we want to look ahead.
 You will obviously choose the time frame(s) that
best fits your specific mission, but for the sake of
this exercise, we are going to look out 5 years into
the future.
SmallBizU
™
Strategic Planning and Execution
Slide 22 of 184
| COURSE OUTLINE
Ask yourself such questions as…
 What big, audacious goal(s) do you want to try to
achieve in five years from now?
 What does success look like in five years?
 In five years time, how should your organization
be different than it is now?
 Using your own measurement of success, what
must you accomplish in five years for you to
consider yourself successful?
SmallBizU
™
Strategic Planning and Execution
Slide 23 of 184
| COURSE OUTLINE
Now review what you have written…
 Remember a mission should be a description of a
specific future destination.
 It should speak to what your future should be and to
what it shouldn’t be.
 It should excite the human imagination over a long
period of time.
 It should be bold, but there must be a belief that it can be
achieved.
 Remember: It’s not what the mission is, it’s what the
mission does.
SmallBizU
™
Strategic Planning and Execution
Slide 24 of 184
| COURSE OUTLINE
Finally, check your mission…
 Your mission should…
–
–
–
–
Urge continual change
Impel constant movement
Expand possibilities
Result in revolutionary change
SmallBizU
™
Strategic Planning and Execution
Slide 25 of 184
| COURSE OUTLINE
Having a mission is but one facet…
 Having a well-defined mission is not enough by itself to
transform an organization to greatness—an organization
must also have a good handle on its current reality.
 And so, defining the current reality of the situation in all of
its gory detail is equally important.
 It sets the stage for the future story that is about to unfold.
 Truly creative organizations use the gap between mission
and reality to generate energy for change.
SmallBizU
™
Strategic Planning and Execution
Slide 26 of 184
| COURSE OUTLINE
Forming Goals And Objectives
SmallBizU
™
Strategic Planning and Execution
Slide 27 of 184
| COURSE OUTLINE
What are goals and objectives?
 Goals are your definition of what success looks
like.
 Goals are your mission in miniature.
 They specify what work of your mission will get
done, by who, and by when.
 In effect, goals pose the question, “What will I
have to accomplish by the end of this year to
consider myself a success?”
SmallBizU
™
Strategic Planning and Execution
Slide 28 of 184
| COURSE OUTLINE
The purpose of goals and objectives…
 Objectives clarify what it is you are trying to accomplish in
specific, measurable goals.
 For an objective to be effective, it needs to be a welldefined target with quantifiable elements that are
measurable.
 Whereas your mission statement is expansive and
idealistic, and the vision short, powerful, and memorable,
your objectives are designed to focus your resources on
achieving specific results.
 The purpose of well-defined objectives is to cause
meaningful action.
SmallBizU
™
Strategic Planning and Execution
Slide 29 of 184
| COURSE OUTLINE
Developing your goals…
 Think back to your mission statement once again.
 If you recall, your mission statement looked five years into
the future toward a specific destination that you want to
arrive at.
 Next, read your current reality description that you wrote.
 Now think about the activities you need to accomplish this
year in order to move from your current situation toward
that destination.
 Create 5 to 6 objectives for each goal that are critical to
arriving at your envisioned future.
SmallBizU
™
Strategic Planning and Execution
Slide 30 of 184
| COURSE OUTLINE
What do you need to accomplish?

To create a solid objective you must:
1. Describe the activity required.
Example: Introduce new products or services…
2. Describe what will happen and when:
To teach life skills such as cookery, sewing and knitting,
provide counseling services in a bid to promote self reliance,
positive attitudes and the ability to cope with life /societal
problems.
3. You can then wordsmith these pieces into a complete objective:
– By the end of the year 2009, an establishment of a
comprehensive high quality secondary school for disadvantaged
girls, aged 12 – 20 years, in Omoro Sub county, Gulu District,
will be completed
SmallBizU
™
Strategic Planning and Execution
Slide 31 of 184
| COURSE OUTLINE
Creating S.M.A.R.T. Objectives
 Specific
 Measurable
 Attainable
 Realistic
 Timely
SmallBizU
™
Strategic Planning and Execution
Slide 32 of 184
| COURSE OUTLINE
 Specific - A specific objective has a much greater chance of
being accomplished than a general objective. To set a specific
objective you must answer the six "W" questions:
 *Who: Who is involved?
*What: What do I want to accomplish?
*Where: Identify a location.
*When: Establish a time frame.
*Which: Identify requirements and constraints.
*Why:
Specific reasons, purpose or benefits of
accomplishing the goal.
 EXAMPLE: A general objective would be, "Get in shape." But
a specific objective would say, "Join a health club and workout 3
days a week."
SmallBizU
™
Strategic Planning and Execution
Slide 33 of 184
| COURSE OUTLINE
 Measurable - Establish concrete criteria for measuring
progress
toward the attainment of each goal you set. When you measure
your progress, you stay on track, reach your target dates, and
experience the exhilaration of achievement that spurs you on to
continued effort required to reach your goal. To determine if your
objective is measurable, ask questions such as......How much?
How many? How will I know when it is accomplished?
 Attainable - When you identify goals that are most important to
you, you begin to figure out ways you can make them come true.
You develop the attitudes, abilities, skills, and financial capacity to
reach them. You begin seeing previously overlooked opportunities
to bring yourself closer to the achievement of your goals. You can
attain most any goal you set when you plan your steps wisely and
establish a time frame that allows you to carry out those steps.
SmallBizU
™
Strategic Planning and Execution
Slide 34 of 184
| COURSE OUTLINE
 Realistic - To be realistic, a objective must represent a goal toward
which you are both willing and able to work. A goal can be both
high and realistic; you are the only one who can decide just how
high your goal should be. A high goal is frequently easier to reach
than a low one because a low goal exerts low motivational force.
Your objective is probably realistic if you truly believe that it can
be accomplished.
 Timely - A objective should be grounded within a time frame.
With no time frame tied to it there's no sense of urgency. If you
want to lose 10 lbs, when do you want to lose it by? "Someday"
won't work. But if you anchor it within a timeframe, "by May 1st",
then you've set your unconscious mind into motion to begin
working on the goal.
SmallBizU
™
Strategic Planning and Execution
Slide 35 of 184
| COURSE OUTLINE
Example of well-defined objectives…
 Vision: By 2005, 50% of all revenue will occur
through our own branded product line.
 One year objectives:
– Secure trademark and other intellectual property by
February 28th.
– Establish website with e-Commerce capabilities by
March 15th.
– Complete 8 products by the end December 31st.
– Secure 10 content licenses by October 1st.
SmallBizU
™
Strategic Planning and Execution
Slide 36 of 184
| COURSE OUTLINE
Presenting Strategy As Story
SmallBizU
™
Strategic Planning and Execution
Slide 37 of 184
| COURSE OUTLINE
Presenting a strategy…
 The methods, craft, and techniques by which you present a
strategy are different from those used to create it.
 Contrary to conventional wisdom, PowerPoint
presentations, statistics, and rational argument-style
methods are not the most effective ways to communicate
your strategic plan.
 Leaders know the best way to engage listeners on a whole
new level is to toss the rational, statistical presentations
and learn to tell good stories instead.
SmallBizU
™
Strategic Planning and Execution
Slide 38 of 184
| COURSE OUTLINE
Persuasion using rhetoric…
 A big part of an entrepreneur’s job is to motivate people to
reach certain goals.
 To do that, he or she must engage their emotions, and the key to
their hearts is story.
 There are two ways to persuade people. The first is by using
conventional rhetoric, which is what most business people are
trained in.
 It’s an intellectual process, and in the business world it usually
consists of a PowerPoint slide presentation in which you say,
“Here is our company’s biggest challenge, and here is what we
need to do to prosper.” And you build your case by giving
statistics and facts and quotes from authorities.
SmallBizU
™
Strategic Planning and Execution
Slide 39 of 184
| COURSE OUTLINE
A way to persuade…
 A way to persuade people—and ultimately a much
more powerful way—is by uniting an idea with an
emotion.
 The best way to do that is by telling a compelling
story.
 In a story, you not only weave a lot of information
into the telling but you also arouse your listener’s
emotions and energy.
SmallBizU
™
Strategic Planning and Execution
Slide 40 of 184
| COURSE OUTLINE
Harnessing the imagination…
 Persuading with a story is hard.
 Any intelligent person can sit down and make lists. It takes
rationality but little creativity to design an argument using
conventional rhetoric.
 But it demands vivid insight and storytelling skill to
present an idea that packs enough emotional power to be
memorable.
 If you can harness imagination and the principles of a welltold story, then you get people rising to their feet amid
thunderous applause instead of yawning and ignoring you.
SmallBizU
™
Strategic Planning and Execution
Slide 41 of 184
| COURSE OUTLINE
Humans want stories…
 Stories have been implanted in you thousands of times since your
mother took you on her knee. You’ve read good books, seen
movies, attended plays.
 What’s more, human beings naturally want to work through
stories.
 Psychologists describe how the human mind, in its attempt to
understand and remember, assembles the bits and pieces of
experience into a story, beginning with a personal desire, a life
objective, and then portraying the struggle against the forces that
block that desire.
 Stories are how we remember; we tend to forget lists and bullet
points.
SmallBizU
™
Strategic Planning and Execution
Slide 42 of 184
| COURSE OUTLINE
Telling strategic stories…
 People not only have to understand their organizations’
past, but then they must project the future.
 And how do you imagine the future? As a story.
 You create scenarios in your head of possible future events
to try to anticipate the life of your organization or your
own personal life.
 So, if a person understands that his or her own mind
naturally wants to frame experience in a story, the key to
moving an audience is not to resist this impulse but to
embrace it by telling a good story.
SmallBizU
™
Strategic Planning and Execution
Slide 43 of 184
| COURSE OUTLINE
What makes a good story?
 You emphatically do not want to tell a beginning-to-end
tale describing how results meet expectations.
 This is boring and banal. Instead, you want to display the
struggle between expectation and reality in all its nastiness.
 For example:
– Let’s imagine the story of a biotech start-up we’ll call Chemcorp,
whose CEO has to persuade some Wall Street bankers to invest in
the company. He could tell them that Chemcorp has discovered a
chemical compound that prevents heart attacks and offer up a lot of
slides showing them the size of the market, the business plan, the
organizational chart, and so on. The bankers would nod politely
and stifle yawns while thinking of all the other companies better
positioned in Chemcorp’s market.
SmallBizU
™
Strategic Planning and Execution
Slide 44 of 184
| COURSE OUTLINE
The alternative pitch…
 Alternatively, the CEO could turn his pitch into a story,
beginning with someone close to him—say, his father—
who died of a heart attack.
 So nature itself is the first antagonist that the CEO-asprotagonist must overcome.
 The story might unfold like this:
– In his grief, he realizes that if there had been some chemical
indication of heart disease, his father’s death could have been
prevented. His company discovers a protein that’s present in the
blood just before heart attacks and develops an easy-to-administer,
low-cost test.
SmallBizU
™
Strategic Planning and Execution
Slide 45 of 184
| COURSE OUTLINE
The craft of story…
 Designing story tests the maturity and
insight of the writer, his knowledge of
society, nature, and the human heart. Story
demands both vivid imagination and
powerful analytic thought.
 There is no magic formula for you to use in
crafting a story to present your strategic
plan—there is only craft.
SmallBizU
™
Strategic Planning and Execution
Slide 46 of 184