Strategic Planning Framework For Executive Excellence
By Alan Chaffee and Rich Stillman
In working with great companies and talented executives, I’ve learned how mission, vision, and values can drive a culture of accountability and high performance. I’ve also had the opportunity to incorporate some particularly effective tools to create a framework for reaching these standards. One of the best tools I’ve encountered comes from Kalabra CEO Rich Stillman. It’s one that, with Rich’s permission, I’ve successfully implemented at several companies and am always looking to pass on when I can. Thus, I’ve invited Rich to share his concept with us here:
“In my 30-plus-year career, I’ve had exposure to various different ways of planning and implementation. What I found is that many techniques are complicated and are designed for large organizations. When applied to a business, these practices might be used by a few people at the top, but they aren’t embraced by the full company. As a result, people end up working hard day-to-day on things that aren’t driving to the objectives of the company. That’s wasted effort by definition. I was looking for a strategic framework to propel a business forward that easily could be shared with everyone. What I developed was The Six Blocks Strategic Grid.
To start, take a single piece of paper and divide it into six sections. The sections on the left are “Things you want to make happen.” On the right, “How are we going to do it?” The top of the page will contain the most macro concepts (like Mission and Vision) with the most granular toward the bottom. With this tool, you should be able to see how activities pay off toward your long-term goals. See the chart in the lower left.
Often, this plan exists only in the head of the CEO. They’re left wondering why everyone else doesn’t get it. I try to have everyone in the company participate in this process in some way, and I like to put a copy of this plan in the hands of every employee. This gives leadership the opportunity to explain to every employee how they’re going to make their contribution, resulting in a group of people completely aligned with where the company is heading.
When you work with Turning Point to implement solutions to help drive cash flow and profitability and put something like Six Blocks in place from an operational standpoint, now you have the best of both worlds. You have an organized way of guiding day-to-day activities and all of those activities should result in the accomplishment of revenue and profit goals. When you put the two together, you should have a solid, growing enterprise.”
Turning Point Consulting is a Seattle-based group of strategic financial and business advisors that have, for more than two decades, honed a proprietary methodology of consulting. Under founder and CEO Alan Chaffee’s, Turning Point has established itself as a top CFO consulting practice in the Northwest and also specializes in mergers, acquisitions, and business valuation services. Find out more at turning-point.com.
Kalabra works with company leaders and teams to dramatically increase sales through a growth management suite of tools that includes software, templates, online courses, and individual executive coaching. The Kalabra Growth Management Suite has been developed over the past 25 years working with over 100 companies from startups to Fortune 500.
