Strategic Management

for Senior Leaders:

A Handbook for

Implementation

Denise Lindsey Wells

Director, Executive Support Division

Department of the Navy Total Quality Leadership Office
The mission of the Total Quality Leadership (TQL) Office, Office of the Under

Secretary of the Navy, is to assist the Department of the Navy (DON) leaders

in their quality-focused improvement efforts. The TQL Office also provides

technical advice to a number of organizations inside and outside government.

The TQL Office has responsibilities in six key areas:

The TQL Office educates the DON about TQL policies and initiatives through

the TQLeader and through articles, reports, and presentations at conferences

and meetings. It has developed a computer-based quality information network to facilitate communication with DON organizations.

Systems are needed to assess and enhance TQL implementation in the DON.

The TQL Office designs and develops feedback mechanisms in support of

mission accomplishment. It also develops new approaches to improving

organizational effectiveness.

TQL Office members provide technical advice to the Under Secretary of the

Navy and other senior DON leaders on the application of TQL principles and

methods within the DON and on strategic planning. Advice may also take the

form of recommendations on implementing new laws, such as the Government

Performance and Results Act, as well as on related initiatives.

The TQL Office is responsible for ensuring the technical accuracy of the DON

TQL curriculum. Having overseen the design and development of the courses,

the staff now advises on the integration of TQL material into training pipelines.

The TQL Office continues to publish handbooks and other publications on all

aspects of organizational change and to design new courses.

The TQL Office has much to share with other organizations, both government

and private, and much to learn from them. Staff members participate in

TQL-related networks and professional organizations.

Technology can provide critical support to DON quality improvement efforts.

The job of the TQL Office is to assess new technologies related to organizational change and process improvement and translate them into applications

for the DON.

About the TQL Office

Information and

Communication

Assessment

Consultant

Services

Education

and Training

Networking

and Liaison

New

Technologies
i Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Foreword

Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation has been developed as a companion volume to A Handbook for

Strategic Planning (Department of the Navy Total Quality Leadership

Office Publication No. 94-02). These handbooks were designed to assist

Department of the Navy (DON) executives, Commanding Officers, Total

Quality Leadership (TQL) coordinators, and strategic planning facilitators

in leading the strategic management process.

Using A Handbook for Strategic Planning, the senior leadership team can

complete most of the planning work by developing the organizations

vision, mission, guiding principles, strategic goals, strategies, and objectives. The next steps are to complete the planning work, publish, deploy,

implement, measure, and evaluate the plan. Strategic Management for

Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation continues this process,

offering suggestions on these steps.

These suggestions derive from lessons learned during extensive work with

client organizations in developing, deploying, and implementing strategic

plans. This information has been supplemented by research that included

personal interviews with DON and other government leaders who have

led strategic management efforts within their organizations. Therefore,

this handbook should be considered a guideline to help leaders make

choices; it is not intended to be directive.

Each organization has its own distinctive culture and mission. However,

there are lessons learned and successful strategies that are common to

them all. This handbook brings together these strategies and lessons so

that senior leaders can apply them within their own organizations.

The ability to lead organizations into the future is a new skill for most

senior leaders. These are people who have a mission to perform and a

business to manage. Such responsibilities leave little time to think about
ii Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

the future, let alone put plans into action to reach that future. Yet, strategic management requires dedication and commitment on the part of the

senior leaders to create the vision of the future. Then they must create the

mechanisms and commit the resources to achieve that future. This handbook will help them go beyond planning and use their strategic plans to

change the way they do business.

The principal research for Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A

Handbook for Implementation was done by a Logicon Syscon Corporation team (under subcontract to K.W. Tunnell Co., Inc., contract number

GS-22F-0096B). I especially want to recognize the efforts of Ms. Kathy

Burks, whose strategic planning expertise contributed to the success of

this project. We hope readers find this handbook useful as they continue

to lead their organizations into the future.

Linda M. Doherty, Ph.D.

Director

Department of the Navy Total Quality Leadership Office
iii Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Foreword............................................................................... i

Acknowledgments................................................................. vii

How to Use this Handbook..................................................... xi

Section I: Guidance................................................................ 1

An Introduction to Strategic Management ............................ 3

Phase I Deployment: Completing the Strategic Plan ............... 9

Keys to Success .................................................................... 9

Assign roles and responsibilities ..........................................10

Establish priorities ..............................................................17

Involve mid-level management as active participants.............18

Think it throughdecide how to manage implementation...... 21

Charge mid-level management with aligning

lower-level plans ................................................................23

Make careful choices about the contents of the plan

and the form it will take ......................................................23

Phase II Deployment: Communicating the Strategic Plan ..... 27

Keys to Success .................................................................. 27

Assign roles and responsibilities ..........................................28

Communicate the plan constantly and consistently ................ 29

Recognize the change process.............................................34

Help people through the change process..............................35

Contents
iv Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Implementing the Strategic Plan ........................................ 39

Keys to Success .......................................................................40

Assign roles and responsibilities ..........................................41

Involve senior leaders ......................................................... 45

Define an infrastructure.......................................................46

Link goal groups ................................................................49

Phase integration of implementation actions with workload ...50

Involve everyone within the organization.............................. 52

Allocate resources for implementation ..................................55

Manage the change process ............................................... 58

Evaluate results .................................................................. 60

Share lessons learned; acknowledge successes

through open and frequent communication .......................... 61

Strategic Measurement .................................................... 63

Keys to Success .......................................................................65

Assign roles and responsibilities ..........................................65

Use measurement to understand the organization ................. 69

Use measurement to provide a consistent viewpoint

from which to gauge performance ....................................... 72

Use measurement to provide an integrated, focused

view of the future................................................................78

Use measurement to communicate policy

(new strategic direction) ......................................................79

Update the measurement system ..........................................81

Use measurement to provide quality feedback to the

strategic management process.............................................82
v Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Revisiting the Strategic Plan ............................................. 85

Keys to Success .......................................................................85

Assign roles and responsibilities ..........................................86

Recognize when to update the plan ..................................... 87

Modify strategic planning process to accommodate the

more mature organization ..................................................89

Incorporate new leaders into the strategic planning process ..91

Integrate measurement with strategic planning .....................93

Use experienced strategic planning facilitators .....................94

Section II: Case Studies ........................................................ 95

Case Studies: Strategic Plans at Work....................................... 97

Naval Air Station, Barbers Point ............................................... 99

Naval Air Facility Washington ............................................... 109

United States Military Entrance Processing Command ..............121

Center for Veterinary Medicine............................................... 133

Section III: Appendix..........................................................A-1

Glossary ............................................................................... A-3

Bibliography ......................................................................... A-9

About the Author................................................................. A-15
vi Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation
vii Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Acknowledgements

I want to thank the following people and organizations who contributed

to this handbook by agreeing to participate in our research. They participated in extensive interviews and provided documentation from their own

strategic management efforts. Their input, advice, and lessons learned,

both successes and failures, have been incorporated into this document

so that we may all apply better strategic management processes in our

organizations. Special thanks is extended to those who participated in

the Case Studies by sharing the details of their strategies and results.

AEGIS Training Center, Dahlgren, VA

CAPT Gary Storm, Commanding Officer

LCDR Mike Church, Total Quality Coordinator

Luke Miller, Technical Director

Branch Medical Center Oceana, Virginia Beach, VA

CDR V. M. Wilson, Commanding Officer

LT Matt Newton, Total Quality Coordinator

DASN Force Support and Families, Washington, DC

Yvonne Harrison, Former Deputy Assistant Secretary

of the Navy for Force Support and Families

Fleet Training Command, Virginia Beach, VA

CAPT Earl Fought, Commanding Officer

June Wolfe, Total Quality Coordinator

Headquarters Battalion, Headquarters Marine Corps, Washington, DC

COL Kephart, Commanding Officer

LCOL Robert Dozier, Executive Officer

Terry Adams, Total Quality Coordinator

Marine Barracks, Washington, DC

COL David Dotterrer, Commanding Officer

LCOL Mike Kessler, Executive Officer

Department of

the Navy

Organizations
viii Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Marine Corps Multi-Commodity Maintenance Center, Barstow, CA

Col. Larkin Conaster, Commanding Officer

Joann Bond, Total Quality Coordinator

Mike Burke, Total Quality Facilitator

Marine Corps University, Quantico, VA

COL Hoeft, Commanding Officer

LCOL Bud Meador, Total Quality Coordinator

Naval Air Facility, Andrews Air Force Base, Washington, DC

CAPT Randall Suratt, Commanding Officer

ATC Robert Chandler, Total Quality Coordinator

Naval Air Station, Barbers Point, HI

CAPT Edward Waller, Commanding Officer

LCDR Lou Mosier, Total Quality Coordinator

Naval Air Station, Miramar, CA

CAPT R. L. Casey, Commanding Officer

Martin (Gene) Hepler, Total Quality Coordinator

Naval Dental Center, San Diego, CA

CDR Leary, Total Quality Coordinator

Naval Facilities Engineering Service Center, Port Hueneme, CA

CAPT John Collins, Commanding Officer

Steve Smuck, Total Quality Coordinator

Naval Reserve Force, New Orleans, LA

Jan Bowen, Total Quality Coordinator

Naval Security Group, Chesapeake, VA

CAPT Sharon Peyronel, Commanding Officer

CTMCS (AW) Patricia Nolan, Total Quality Coordinator

Naval Station, Mayport, FL

CAPT Scott Cantfil, Commanding Officer

Diane Shepherd, Total Quality Coordinator

Naval Undersea Warfare Center, Keyport, WA

CAPT Dennis Gibbs, Commanding Officer

Dallas Likens, Executive Director

Mike Kelf, Strategic Plan Leader

John Ebert, Total Quality Coordinator
ix Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Program Executive Office, Surface Combatants/AEGIS Program,

Washington, DC

John Kuesters, Deputy AEGIS Program Manager

CAPT Grey Glover, Chief of Staff

Shore Intermediate Maintenance Activity, Portsmouth, VA

CDR Paul Clausen, Jr., Commanding Officer

MRCS (SW) Elvis Jefferson, Total Quality Coordinator

Shore Intermediate Maintenance Activity, San Diego, CA

CAPT Gary Bier, Commanding Officer

Joyce Ward, Total Quality Coordinator

Deputy Secretary of Defense, Personnel Support, Family, and Education,

Washington, DC

Carolyn Becraft, Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for

Personnel Support, Families, and Education

Military Entrance Processing Command, North Chicago, IL

COL Wanda Wood, Commanding Officer

LTC Dave Bartlett, Jr., Total Quality Coordinator

Center for Veterinary Medicine, Rockville, MD

Stephen Sundlof, D.M.V., Ph.D., Director

Dave Lynch, Total Quality Coordinator

Department of Agriculture, Organizational Development, Riverdale, MD

Dan Stone, Co-Director of Organizational and Professional

Development

Department of Education, Washington, DC

Alan Ginsburg, Director of Planning and Evaluation Service

Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Energy, Science, and

Technology, Germantown, MD

Howard Rohm, Deputy Director, Planning

State of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT

John Cannon, Research Analyst, Office of Legislative Research

and General Counsel

Lee King, Director, State and Local Planning, Governors Office

of Planning and Budget

Department

of Defense

Organizations

Other

Government

Organizations
x Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation
xi Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

How to use this Handbook

There is no great tradition or heritage for strategic thinking

in many organizations; the skill to set and implement strategy is

sometimes missing; and there are barriers to strategy . . ..

All this makes strategic thinking and action a tough challenge . . ..

The first step requires finding the motivation to begin.

(Tregoe, Zimmerman, Smith, and Tobia, 1989)

Strategic management is not a clean, step by step process. It is not linear,

but a messy, iterative process that requires hard work and dedication

from most people in the organization to move it toward the future. It

represents a new focus for the organization; a focus on a compelling

vision of the future. This handbook is designed to help organizational

leaders take steps to begin a strategic management process.

This handbook has been organized in three main sections. Section I

provides guidance on the processes which comprise strategic management. These are: pre-planning, strategic planning, deployment, implementation, and measurement and evaluation. A model is presented in An

Introduction to Strategic Management and this model is repeated in each

chapter, highlighting the process being addressed.

The Keys to Success and Facts of Failure provide an overview of each

chapter. These Keys are determinants of successful strategic management

and while they apply to the entire system of strategic management, they

are best addressed in the chapter in which they are presented. Questions

following the Keys are those frequently asked of strategic planners. Their

answers are intended to help the reader understand who, what, when,

why, and how to be successful. The first Key in every chapter is Assign

roles and responsibilities, because roles and responsibilities change as

the organization moves through the various phases of strategic management.

How is this

handbook

organized?
xii Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Facts of Failure are not addressed directly in the handbook because they

are simply the Keys to Success stated conversely. Failure to adequately

consider and act upon the Keys generally in the process in which they

are presented can diminish successful implementation of the strategic

direction.

Both the Keys to Success and the Facts of Failure have been gleaned from

the management research literature combined with and validated by the

experiences of the participating organizations and of the author. Words

of Advice and Caution are interspersed to highlight main points. The

decisions made at these junctures can lead to success or failure.

Section II presents case studies from four of the organizations interviewed

as part of the research effort for development of this handbook. The case

studies follow the key processes of strategic management. Each one

contains a summation of the organizations vision, mission, and guiding

principles, and an overview of its strategic management process. The

case studies illustrate four different approaches to strategic management

and how these organizations handled the various phases of their strategic management effort.

Section III contains a glossary of terms used in this handbook, a bibliography of the books, articles, reports, and papers reviewed to provide

background for the handbook, and a short biography about the author.

As you begin your strategic planning process, use this handbook as a

source guide to become familiar with the overall concept of strategic

management. Then, as each aspect of strategic management is introduced into the organization, refer back to the relevant chapters in Section I for additional guidance . This handbook was designed as a companion to A Handbook for Strategic Planning; it picks up where the

previous handbook left off. Therefore, you may want to familiarize

themselves with this earlier handbook. However, a brief overview of the

DON strategic planning process is provided in the first chapter of Section

I, An Introduction to Strategic Management.

How should

this handbook

be used?
1 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Section I:

Guidance
2 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation
3 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

What is

strategic

management?

An Introduction to

Strategic

Management

What we think, know, or believe in is, in the end,

of little consequence.

The only consequence . . . is what we do.

(Haines, 1995)

Strategic management as a term and concept is not new. The term was

first used in the 1970s, and it meant that a staff of strategic planners

more or less thought up strategic programs and then tried to sell them

to decision makers. In the 1990s, the view of strategic planning and

strategic management is much different. Goodstein, Nolan, and Pfeiffers

definition of strategic planning takes us away from the notion that strategic planning is a staff job and focuses us more on a process that requires

the senior leaders of an organization to set its strategic direction.

... the process by which the guiding members of an organization

envision its future and develop the necessary procedures

and operations to achieve that future.

(Goodstein, Nolan, and Pfeiffer, 1992)

The concept of strategic management builds on this definition of strategic

planning, recognizing that although planning is the prelude of strategic

management, it is insufficient if not followed by the deployment and

implementation of the plan and the evaluation of the plan in action.

Pre-Planning

Activities

Organizational

Assessment

Pre-Planning

Mission

Vision

Guiding

Principles

Strategic

Foundations

Gap

Analysis

Strategic

Goals

Objectives

Strategic Planning

Develop Measurement Plan

Phase I:

Complete

the Plan

Phase II: Communicate the Plan

Deployment

Communicate

Progress Track Status Take Action Develop

Action Plans

Implementation

Measurement

and Evaluation

Communicate Results

Analyze and Evaluate

Collect

Data

Resource

Allocation

Strategies
4 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Strategic management is a systems approach to identifying and making

the necessary changes and measuring the organizations performance as

it moves toward its vision. It has been defined as a

  . . . management . . . system . . . that links strategic planning and decision

making with the day-to-day business of operational management.

(Gluck, Kaufman, and Walleck, 1982)

The following model depicts the five processes of strategic management

which are pre-planning, strategic planning, deployment, implementation,

and measurement and evaluation.

The Strategic Management Model

Pre-Planning

Activities

Organizational

Assessment Mission

Vision

Guiding

Principles

Strategic

Foundations

Gap

Analysis

Strategic

Goals

Strategies

Objectives

Pre-Planning Strategic Planning

Develop

Measurement

Plan

Phase I:

Complete

the Plan

Phase II:

Communicate

the Plan

Deployment

Track Status Take Action Develop

Action Plans

Communicate

Progress

Implementation

Communicate

Results

Analyze

and

Evaluate

Collect

Data

Measurement

and Evaluation

Resource

Allocation
5 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Strategic management goes beyond the development of a strategic plan,

which included the pre-planning and strategic planning processes.

Strategic management is the deployment and implementation of the

strategic plan and measurement and evaluation of the results. Deployment involves completing the plan and communicating it to all employees. Implementation involves resourcing the plan, putting it into action,

and managing those actions. Measurement and evaluation consists not

only of tracking implementation actions, but, more importantly, assessing

how the organization is changing as a result of those actions and using

that information to update the plan.

It is the responsibility of senior leadership to strategically manage the

organization. Strategic management is a continuous process rather than

a one-time event. Therefore, the senior leaders must become strategic

thinkers and leaders of the organization and its culture, changing it as

necessary.

 To be the most successful, leaders need to be facilitators, coaches, consultants, and consensus-builders. Transformational leadership is described

by Bernard Bass as, superior leadership performance that occurs when

leaders broaden and elevate the interests of their employees, when they

generate awareness and acceptance of the purposes and mission of the

group, and when they stir their employees to look beyond their own selfinterest for the good of the group. Acquiring transformational leadership traits requires hard work and dedication, willingness to take some

risks, and internalizing the organizations vision and guiding principles.

When an organization is practicing strategic management, thinking

becomes more visionary, which is characterized by:

4 Breakthrough thinking about the future; organizational boundaries

are more flexible

What is the

role of the

senior

leadership

team?

What are the

benefits of

strategic

management?
6 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

4 A shift in focus from the inputs that are used to run the business to

the outputs and outcomes the organization desires to achieve

4 A focus on optimizing organizational performance and process

quality as keys to delivering quality products and services

4 A move toward an organizational culture that adapts easily to

change

With practice, patience, dedication, and hard work, the organizational

learning that takes place through the application of strategic management will bring the organization closer to realizing its goals and vision.

With each update of the strategic plan, senior leaders will become better

able to deploy the plan, implement changes, and measure organizational

performance.

The first step toward strategic management is to develop a strategic plan

for the organization.

A Handbook for Strategic Planning provides guidance on how to conduct

the pre-planning activities to prepare for strategic planning. It outlines a

process whereby the senior leaders of an organization can envision its

future and begin to develop the necessary procedures and operations

to achieve that future through goals, strategies, and objectives.

The pre-planning activities are typically conducted by strategic planning

facilitators, assisted by an organizations TQL coordinator. After the

completion of the pre-planning activities, the senior leadership team can

begin the strategic planning process. This typically occurs at an initial

strategic planning workshop. During the workshop, the senior leadership

team, in facilitated sessions, establishes the foundation for its organizational improvement efforts by:

What is the first

step toward

strategic

management?

How do we

develop a

strategic plan?
7 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

4 Creating a vision of the organizations future

4 Developing a set of guiding principles (behavioral norms necessary to achieve that vision)

4 Clarifying the mission, or core purpose, of the organization

4 Developing strategic goals (what must change to achieve the

vision)

In the process of developing the goals, the team may also begin to develop some of the strategies and objectives for achieving the goals.

At the end of the workshop, the team identifies the steps needed to complete its planning and prepare for deployment and implementation.

It takes about one month to complete the pre-planning activities. The

strategic planning facilitator will typically need about 20 days of effort,

the TQL coordinator about 4 days of effort, the senior leader about 4

days of effort, and the other members of the senior leadership team

about 2 days of effort to engage in these pre-planning activities.

The initial strategic planning workshop requires an investment of 3 days

by the senior leadership team, the strategic planning facilitator, and the

TQL coordinator.

The length of time required to complete, deploy, and implement a strategic plan differs by organization because of each ones unique circumstances and culture. Some of the factors are the:

4 Degree of commitment to the effort by the senior leaders, strategic

planning facilitators, and TQL coordinator

4 Level of Total Quality (TQ) knowledge among the senior leadership team

4 Level of employee involvement in plan completion

4 Deployment methodology

4 Organizations readiness for change

How long will

it take us to

complete the

planning

process?
8 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

It usually takes about 6 months for an organization to complete its first

strategic plan and be ready to publish it. During this period, the organization can expect the senior leadership team and TQL coordinator, with

some support effort, to spend at least 20 days completing the plan and

preparing to deploy it.

The process to this point is fairly structured and facilitated. However,

after the initial strategic planning workshop, the process is much more

flexible and is dependent on the choices made by the senior leadership

team.

Caution: Do not begin strategic planning unless the senior

leadership team is committed to carrying through to deployment and implementation. If there is no follow-through,

confusion arises at the operational level. This result could

lead to cynicism about any improvement efforts.
9 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Phase I Deployment:

Completing the

Strategic Plan

A comprehensive, long-term, horizontally- and vertically-linked strategy

needs to be developed. [It] will have to cover the entire organization with

all its systems and procedures . . .. Long-term improvements will not be

accomplished without permanent changes in the level of employee

involvement; without changes in the points of authority, responsibility, and

decision-making; without changes in management philosophies, styles, and

relations; and without changes in climate and culture.

(Metz, 1984)

Deployment has two phases. In Phase I, the plan is completed and published; in Phase II, it is formally communicated. Following are actions that

are key to successfully completing Phase I and actions that guarantee

failure.

Pre-Planning Strategic Planning

Implementation

Measurement

and Evaluation

Resource

Allocation

Deployment

Phase I:

Complete the

Plan

Phase II:

Communicate

the Plan

Assign roles and responsibilities

Establish priorities

Involve mid-level management

as active participants

Think it throughdecide how

to manage implementation

Charge mid-level management

with aligning lower-level plans

Make careful choices about

the contents of the plan and

form it will take

Keys to Success Facts of Failure

No accountability for deployment

Too many goals, strategies, or

objectivesno apparent priority

Plan in a vacuumfunctional focus

No overall strategy to implement

Make no attempt to link with

day-to-day operations

Not being thoroughglossing

over the details
10 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Who does what

to complete the

strategic plan?

Senior

Leadership

Team

Goal Groups

Mid-Level

Managers

Budget

Officer

TQL

Coordinator

Assign roles and responsibilities

The following are suggested roles and responsibilities:

4 Reaches consensus on final strategic plan

4 Strategizes deployment and implementation methods

4 Chooses what gets published

4 Complete development of strategies and objectives

4 Share draft plan with mid-level managers

4 Accept and incorporate appropriate feedback from mid-level

managers

4 Brief senior leadership team on changes

4 Share draft plan with employees

4 Provide feedback to senior leadership team during facilitated

feedback sessions

4 Plans ways to incorporate strategic plan resource requirements

into the budgeting process

4 Assists the goal groups in their independent work by facilitating

their strategy and objective development meetings

4 Assists the senior leadership team by being the central point of

contact for the strategic planning effort

4 Handles the logistics associated with senior leadership team

meetings
11 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Whose job

is it to

complete

the planning?

What is

consensus

and why is

it necessary?

Where can

the senior

leadership

team get

help?

The organizations senior leadership team is responsible for completing,

deploying, and developing the implementation mechanisms for the strategic plan. They are responsible for involving employees in these steps and

for committing the time and resources necessary to achieve success. As

they outline roles and responsibilities for others, they must clearly articulate the decision making process that will be used.

Advice: To the extent possible, consensus should be

reached. However, sometimes consensus cannot be

reached. That is the time for leadership to make the decision.

Consensus is a decision by a group that is acceptable to them, but is not

unanimous nor arrived at by a vote. All members support the decision,

even without universal agreement. Consensus is necessary to promote

acceptance and ownership of the decision and for people to be willing to

work toward common aims.

The TQL coordinator can assist the senior leadership team with the next

phases of the strategic planning process. The strategic planning facilitator, who conducted the initial strategic planning workshop, may also be

available to help.

Caution: During deployment, it is important for the senior

leaders to continue to focus on the good of the whole organization, rather than just on their own functional areas.

Advice: Maintain open and candid communication with

each other so that real issues are surfaced and dealt with

constructively.

Since assisting the senior leaders in developing a strategic plan is probably a new undertaking for the TQL coordinator, the senior leaders

should ensure that this individual has attended the DONs Team Skills
12 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

How is the

strategic plan

completed?

What are

goal groups?

How are the

goal groups

formed?

and Concepts, Fundamentals of Total Quality Leadership, and Methods

for Managing Quality courses.

By forming goal groups.

Goal groups are cross-functional teams established to work on the development and implementation of the goals and their associated strategies

and objectives. They are cross-functional because each strategic goal

touches on many aspects of the organization. Goal groups are subgroups of the senior leadership team. As we move into implementation,

these goal groups may link with existing teams such as Quality Management Boards (QMBs) and Integrated Product/Process Teams (IPPTs), etc.

Advice: Choose the membership of each goal group with

great care since these groups need to remain intact to

manage implementation efforts. Remember, the organization should be focused on meeting its mission and the new

goals. This may involve working on processes currently in

place or working on implementing new processes which

may require rechartering existing teams to give them new

direction in accordance with the strategic plan.

The goals developed at the initial offsite should be cross-functional.

Therefore, cross-functional teams are needed to work on developing the

strategies and objectives for accomplishing the goals. If subgroups of

the planning team were formed to work on the goals at the workshop,

then those goal groups may continue their work as intact teams. If goal

groups were not formed at the workshop, they should be established at

this time.
13 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

What will

they do?

Can a goal

group obtain

assistance

from other

members of the

organization

during the

development of

the strategies

and objectives?

Goal groups help the senior leadership team develop the strategies and

objectives needed to accomplish the strategic goals. Their job is to develop ideas and alternatives about how the strategic goals can be

achieved and to brief those recommendations to the senior leadership

team. At this point, they are neither solving problems nor implementing

the strategies.

Advice: Remember the definitions:

Strategic goals define the changes required to move the

organization toward its vision. They are long-range change

targets that guide an organizations efforts in moving toward

a desired future state. Achieving the strategic goals requires

a substantial commitment of resources and the successful

completion of supporting plans.

A strategy explains how the goal will be attained.

An objective is a specific, measurable, short- to mid-term

action necessary to make a strategy work. An objective

describes who will do what by when.

Yes. A goal group may need the assistance of others when the senior

leadership team is small in size or the members need to obtain the assistance of subject-matter experts and process owners to further develop the

strategies and objectives. For example, if a strategy is being written to

revamp the rewards and recognition system, a personnel specialist might

be a subject-matter expert.

Advice: If goal groups enlist the help of others to complete

the planning, they should make it clear that the plan is still in

draft form until consensus is reached by the entire senior

leadership team.
14 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

How do

goal groups

get their output

back to the

senior

leadership

team?

Should

cross-briefings

be done at

regular staff

meetings?

The goal groups can meet independently. When that work is done, the

senior leadership team reconvenes so the goal groups can brief them on

the strategies and objectives they have developed, incorporate feedback,

and present their work for consensus.

The term cross-briefing is used to describe the process whereby the

goal groups report to the senior leadership team on the progress theyre

making on developing the strategic goals, strategies, and objectives. In

the cross-briefing process, the goal group leader presents the goal

groups work and then fields questions and comments from the senior

leadership team. The recorder takes notes on the senior leadership

teams comments for use by the goal group to improve what it has developed. The cross-briefing process is used as a way to build consensus

among the senior leadership team members on the strategies and objectives developed by the goal groups. Therefore, those giving the crossbriefings need to guard against responding defensively to the feedback

received from the senior leadership team.

No. This is future-focused thinking that is best accomplished by having

the senior leadership team get away from the office and dedicate one to

two days to completing this phase of its strategic planning work. By

looking at all the goals, strategies, and objectives together,

suboptimization of any one goal can be avoided.

Advice: If the planning team cannot go to an offsite

location, the team should impose and strictly adhere to the

100-mile rule, whereby team members think of themselves

as 100 miles away from their respective offices, staffs,

phones, and day-to-day issues. This helps everyone stay

focused on the task of planning for the future rather than

doing todays business.

How do goal

groups develop

strategies and

objectives

after the initial

workshop?
15 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Should

cross-briefings

be facilitated?

How can

the senior

leadership

team

determine

whether the

strategies and

objectives will

meet the goal?

Yes. Cross-briefings should be run by a strategic planning facilitator. It

is during this process of reaching consensus on the strategies and objectives that unresolved issues and hidden agendas may surface. Development of the strategic goals was a rather lofty undertaking; development

of the strategies and objectives brings the strategic plan into reality. All

of those involved are now presented with a clear picture of the changes

required of the organization. When these elements of the plan take

shape, the impact of the plan on current organizational systems, processes, functions, rules and regulations, and the power structure becomes

evident. A strategic planning facilitator can keep the senior leadership

team focused, help raise hidden issues, assist in not retreating on the

strategic plan, facilitate resolution of those issues, and assist the group in

making quality decisions.

Advice: As the amount and difficulty of the work associated with the plan becomes evident, some may want to

rethink the goals. Resist the temptation. Deal with the issues

in strategies and objectives.

Sometimes the strategies and objectives needed to accomplish a goal are

evolutionary. Goal groups dont always have all the solutions or all the

answers about how to accomplish the goal. Sometimes more study or

research is needed. The first step may be to put together a team to do

this research or to conduct additional study. The results of the research or

study effort will determine what strategies and objectives will be needed

to meet the goal.

To determine whether their efforts are properly focused toward achieving

the organizations stated vision, goal groups should consider whether the

strategies and objectives they develop adequately address the following:

4 Does achieving the strategic goal require design of new processes

or redesign of existing processes?
16 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Can other

people such

as staff, key

customers, or

stakeholders

attend the

cross-briefings?

4 Do internal and external rules, regulations, policies, or standards

need to be changed to successfully implement the strategy and

achieve the goal?

4 What needs more study before a strategy can be developed?

If the answers to these questions are inadequate, then the goal groups

need to consider additional alternatives or ideas in developing the strategies and objectives.

It is usually best not to invite other people to attend the cross-briefing

sessions. Since the senior leadership team has not yet reached consensus

on the strategies and objectives, the presence of people who are not part

of that team may inhibit the process of surfacing and resolving issues,

and it may discourage a candid dialogue among the team members.

Customers and stakeholders should not participate in the strategic planning sessions at this point in the strategic planning process. Their participation should be delayed until the senior leadership team is comfortable

with the planned direction of organization.

Caution: If people other than the senior leadership team

attend the cross-briefings, their roles must be made clear.

Are they there as observers or as participating members

with an equal voice in the consensus process? Consider the

effect their presence will have on the quality of group decisions. Is the senior leadership team confident enough with

itself to be able to air differences in front of others?

Advice: When deciding whether to include others in the

cross-briefing process, weigh the value of having them there

against the possible inhibiting effect their presence will

cause. Is the buy-in of mid-level managers at this stage so

important that including them is crucial? Or are there still so

many unresolved issues that it would not be possible to have

an open discussion with others present?
17 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Should the

goals and

strategies be

prioritized?

Should the

objectives be

prioritized?

Advice: If input from customers and stakeholders is desired, they should participate in the interviews conducted

during the pre-planning phase of subsequent iterations of

the strategic planning process.

Establish priorities

No. Prioritization should not occur at the strategic goal or strategy level.

All of the goals must be achieved to reach the vision. Singling out a few

might suboptimize the effort.

Yes, the objectives should be prioritized. Since all of the objectives

cannot be worked at once, the senior leadership team needs to determine

which objectives can be accomplished based on money, people, time,

and current workload. The senior leadership team needs to do an initial

schedule of all of the objectives based on what it thinks is most important.

Keep in mind that this is an iterative process, so the schedule may need

adjustments. In establishing the schedule, consider whether or not implementation of one objective needs to occur before others can begin, and if

and when resources will be available.

Advice: This is an initial attempt at time-phasing the

objectives. Firming the schedule and identifying the critical

processes involved will occur when the mid-level managers

are asked to review the draft plan and provide input and

feedback.
18 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

The senior

leadership team

has reached

consensus on

the goals,

strategies,

and objectives.

Whats next?

Caution: This is a strategic plan; it may take 5 to 10 years

to implement fully. With this in mind, dont begin all of the

objectives in the first year or two. There are never enough

resources to do that, and it is important not to neglect the

organizations current mission-sustaining work.

By creating a schedule, the senior leadership team can get a picture of

the overall implementation effort, where adjustments are needed, and

which objectives will require implementation first. This schedule provides

a view of a vision-directed effort that can be used in the annual budgeting process.

Involve mid-level management as active participants

At this point, it is important to ensure that mid-level managers get involved in the planning process for two reasons. Getting feedback benefits the senior leadership team because they may discover that they have

left out an important issue that the feedback will highlight. By making

them participants in the plans development, they are more likely to

support implementation actions. Their perspectives and insights can

make a better, more executable plan. Their involvement will also dispel

the perception that the strategic plan is a document created by those in

charge and thrust upon the organization. For this reason, it is vitally

important for the senior leadership team to establish a process for obtaining feedback from mid-level managers. The strategic plan should not be

finalized until their input has been considered.

Advice: Keep in mind that it is the senior leadership

teams responsibility to set the strategic direction, guiding

principles, mission, and strategic goals of the organization.

Mid- and lower-level employees typically dont have the

broader systems view of the organization needed to establish or change its strategic direction. Therefore, the senior
19 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

leadership team may want to get feedback on the clarity of

the vision, guiding principles, mission, and strategic goals;

but not on the strategic direction.

Many senior leadership teams identify key objectives and let the employees complete the action plans because they tend to be more knowledgeable about their processes. The senior leadership team should ask for indepth feedback on the strategies and objectives because they lay out how

the organization intends to achieve the vision. It is within the strategies

and objectivesand particularly the objectivesthat the changes required of the organization are explicitly expressed.

Senior leaders should choose an approach that fits with how the organization best deals with new information.

4 Hold an offsite to present the plan to the mid-level managers and

solicit their feedback. If possible, use the same strategic planning

facilitator who conducted the strategic planning team offsite to

ensure continuity.

4 Hold facilitated focus groups.

4 Use the chain-of-command. Have each member of the senior

leadership team share the draft plan with their respective mid-level

managers, asking them to review the plan, get input from their

employees, and provide feedback to the senior leadership team in

a facilitated session.

Caution: Strategic planning is about change that leads the

organization toward a better future. Therefore, dont ask for

feedback on the plan by sending it out with a cover letter

and asking for comments by a certain date. This will be

perceived as business as usual and will not set the strategic

plan apart.

Advice: To foster ownership of the plan, develop a feedback process that actively involves mid-level management.

What are

some ways

to get feedback

from mid-level

managers on

the draft plan?
20 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

What about

union leaders?

How do we get

them on board?

Should

customers be

invited to

give feedback

on the plan

before it is

published?

The senior leadership team may want to solicit feedback from all employees on the strategic plan. Feedback can be collected by:

4 Mid-level managers holding sessions with their employees

4 Holding an all-hands meeting followed by a question and answer

session

4 Distributing the draft plan via e-mail and requesting comments

It is important to get employees involved early in the process so that they

are informed of the new direction of the organization and to help them

understand how they can contribute to the organizations success.

In some organizations, union members sit on the Executive Steering

Committee or on a Partnership Council and, therefore, participate in the

planning process. If not, union leaders can participate in the planning

process by providing feedback on the plan along with the mid-level

managers. When asked what encouraged the union leaders to get

involved in quality and process improvement, one recent winner of the

Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award said: We could continue to

fight management and see our company disappear or join with management in fighting the competitors. We chose the latter!

Advice: The decision on involving union leaders should

be based on the relationship that the union has with senior

management, and the unions current or potential participation in and influence on the organization.

Probably not. It is the sole responsibility of the senior leadership team to

set the strategic direction of the organization and map out how the

organization will get there. While the senior leadership team must be in

tune with the needs and desires of the organizations customers to address them adequately, being customer-driven does not mean that customers dictate the strategic direction of the organization.

Should the

senior

leadership

team solicit

feedback from

all employees

on the strategic

plan?
21 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

When should

customers be

involved?

How should

the feedback

be incorporated

into the

strategic plan?

What else

should be

considered

before

finalizing the

strategic plan?

Customers input should be gathered at the beginning of the strategic

planning processduring the pre-planning and assessment phases.

Customer interviews and other types of surveys can be used to gather

customer input and reveal customers desires and expectations. The key

is to focus on what the customers expect as a result of using your products

and services. Share the plan with your customers after it is completed.

(Some methods for sharing your plan with your customers are discussed

in the Phase II Deployment chapter of this handbook.)

The senior leadership team is responsible for considering all of the feedback and incorporating what is appropriate. The senior leadership team

as a whole should carefully consider the comments on the vision, guiding

principles, and mission. The goal groups should address goal-specific

comments. After the senior leadership team has reached consensus on

any updates, it should let the employees know how their input was used.

Explaining why some feedback was not incorporated may be helpful,

especially if a key issue had been raised by many. This helps employees

understand why some actions can occur and why others cannot.

Think it through - decide how to manage implementation

The senior leadership team should begin developing implementation

strategies before publishing the plan. The following implementation issues

should be considered:

4 Do lower-level plans need to be created?

4 How do we establish oversight and accountability for implementation actions?

4 Do the current process improvement teams, working groups,
22 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Is a separate

budget needed

for

implementing

the strategic

plan?

Why do we

have to think

about

measurement

before we

even publish

the plan?

committees, etc., link with the plan? Do they need to be refocused

to align with the plan? Do they need to be eliminated?

4 How does the plan link with the budgeting process?

4 How will we measure and evaluate progress?

The senior leadership team should outline who is going to be responsible

for implementation efforts, i.e., who is the point of contact for the plan,

who manages the implementation actions, who manages the resources.

A sample checklist, used by the United States Military Entrance Processing Command, follows in Section II: Case Studies of this handbook.

No. The senior leadership team should not establish a special budget for

implementing the strategic plan. Because most organizations operate

under budgets that are developed one to two years in advance, the

budgeting process is always one step ahead of current work. The strategic plan needs to become an integrated part of the budget development

and resource allocation process. For information on resourcing the

plan, see the Implementing the Strategic Plan chapter of this handbook.

The senior leadership team should decide which key top-level performance indicators will be used to measure progress. Part of measurement

and evaluation comes from tracking the goals, strategies, and objectives.

The other part of measurement and evaluation is the more formal system

of data collection and analysis. Refer to the Strategic Measurement

chapter of this handbook for more guidance.

How are

oversight and

accountability

for the

implementation

actions

established?
23 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

How should

the senior

leadership

team determine

if lower-level

plans are

needed?

What should

be included in

the published

document?

Charge mid-level management with aligning lower-level

plans

The corporate senior leadership team should encourage suborganizations

to create lower-level strategic plans if:

4 The corporations size is large enough to support

suborganizations that act as separate business entities

4 There is a diverse product or service line among the

suborganizations

4 The creation of a strategic plan at the lower level will not perpetuate a stovepipe culture that the senior leadership team is trying to

change

Suborganizations that are smaller and whose products and services result

in the same output as the corporate organization should have a plan that

includes strategies and objectives that contribute to the corporate vision,

mission, guiding principles, and goals. In this case, representatives from

the lower organizations should have been included in the original strategic planning process. If the senior leadership team decides that lowerlevel plans are needed, strategic planning guidance should be developed

for the leaders of the suborganizations. Training and facilitation support

is also needed.

Make careful choices about the contents of the plan and

the form it will take

Typically the published strategic plan includes the vision, guiding principles, mission, strategic goals, strategies, and objectives. By publishing

to the objective level, the intent of the strategic plan is explicitly laid out

for everyone in the organization.
24 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

What about

sharing the

strategic plan

externally;

what should

be included?

Sometimes organizations choose to publish only to the strategy level since

objectives change over time, outdating the published plan. The weakness

in this approach is that the implications for action are not readily apparent and the plan may be perceived as a lofty document with no real

application to the organization. If the senior leadership team chooses

not to include the objectives, it should consider publishing them as an

accompanying tactical plan.

Caution: Employees may have difficulty understanding the

need for action in a plan that only publishes the vision,

guiding principles, and mission, and possibly the strategic

goals.

Advice: For internal use, include the objectives in the

published plan so that the workforce will be able to see how

work gets done. It is possible to publish the plan in a format

that is flexible enough to include updates. The plan can be

arranged with changeable inserts, packaged sectionally in a

three-ring binder, or transmitted in an editable electronic

form.

In addition to sharing the plan within the organization, consider sharing

the plan outside of the organization. For external audiences, a separate

plan may be needed that displays only the vision, guiding principles,

mission, goals, and strategies. The amount of detail chosen to be included in the plan for external purposes needs to be tailored to each

audience. Refer to the Phase II Deployment chapter of this handbook for

ideas on sharing the plan externally.
25 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Does anything

else need to be

included in the

published plan?

What should

the strategic

plan look like?

The senior leadership team might consider including:

4 The rationale for creating the plan

4 The process used to create the plan

4 A glossary of terms

4 Strategic planning team membership

4 Implementation roles and responsibilities

4 An overview on how current TQ efforts tie into the plan

4 An overview on how progress will be measured and evaluated

There is no standard format. How the final document looks is not as

important as what it says, how it says it, and how it influences and motivates people. For example, it may be necessary to publish the plan in the

organizations formal policy system (i.e., as an instruction, directive, or

order) to foster credibility.

Advice: Keep the intended purpose and audience of the

published plan in mind in deciding how best to produce it.

For some organizations, it is important to have a slicklooking publication; for others, a simple, high-quality copy is

appropriate. Some organizations may need both documents. Rememberwhile high cost production may reflect

importance and seriousness, it can also imply that the plan

represents a finished product when the work is actually just

beginning.
26 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation
27 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Phase II Deployment:

Communicating

the Strategic Plan

Pre-Planning Strategic Planning

Implementation

Measurement

and Evaluation

Resource

Allocation

Deployment

Phase I:

Complete the

Plan

Phase II:

Communicate

the Plan

Strategic planning, in order to be effective, must be accepted

by all those personnel who will ultimately be expected to

implement, monitor, and be held responsible for results of the plan.

(Rolf E. Royers, source unknown)

In the last chapter, we talked about sharing the strategic plan with midlevel managers and members of the workforce in order to refine the

strategies and objectives, ensure their understanding of the plans intent,

and gain their support for implementation. This chapter of the handbook

deals with communicating the strategic plan to all members of the organization to ensure their understanding of the organizations strategic direction so they can take action on the goals, strategies, and objectives.

Following are actions that are keys for successfully communicating the

strategic plan and actions that guarantee failure.

Assign roles and responsibilities

Communicate the plan constantly

and consistently

Recognize the change process

Help people through the change

process

Keys to Success Facts of Failure

No accountability

Never talk about the plan

Ignore the emotional impact of

change

Focus only on task accomplishment
28 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Who does what

to communicate

the strategic plan?

Assign roles and responsibilities

The following are suggested roles and responsibilities:

4 Provides overall leadership and guidance to the organization

regarding the strategic plan

4 Formally and informally communicates the published strategic

plan to the workforce, customers, and stakeholders

4 Champions the change that the plan represents

4 Works with the budget officer to plan for resource allocation to

implement the strategic plan

4 Develops the best method for formally communicating the plan

4 Champions the strategic plan within own area of responsibilities

4 Communicates with employees about progress, lessons learned

4 Aligns own department, division, etc., with the strategic plan

4 Guides senior leadership in communication strategies

4 Serves as a sounding board for questions

4 Works with mid-level managers to build commitment

4 Coordinates communication mechanisms

4 Support the plan

4 Present employee briefings or hold Q&A sessions on the plan

4 Translate strategies and objectives into action implications for

employees

4 Align current work activities with the strategic plan

Senior

Leadership

Team

Mid-Level

Managers

TQL

Coordinator

Senior

Leader
29 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Budget

Officer

4 Supports the plan

4 Plans ways to incorporate strategic plan resource initiatives into

the budgeting process

Communicate the plan constantly and consistently

The method by which the senior leadership team chooses to communicate

the plan is extremely important. On the following pages are matrices of

printed, oral, and technological communication tools that can be used,

their benefits, and how to use them.

Advice: The formal communication of the published

strategic plan should be handled as a special event to mark

a new beginning, a focus on the future. Choose a combination of methods that will most effectively demonstrate to

employees that this plan is real and will be implemented.

None of the printed or technological tools should be used

without personal involvement from the senior leadership

team. Remember that strategic management is a continuing

process, therefore, keep these methods in mind throughout

the implementation process.

Caution: If the organization had a previous strategic plan

that was unsuccessful, employees may express cynicism

toward the concept of strategic planning. If this is the case,

it is important to build acceptance and support for the plan

during the plan completion phase (Phase I Deployment). If

this is not done before formally communicating the plan,

cynicism may deepen.

How should

the plan be

shared with the

organization?
30 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Brochure  Conveys the strategic plan to the

organization without a lot of detail

 Distribute to all employees at a

special all-hands session and at new

employee orientations

Printed Tools Benefits How to Use

Binder

 Educates the workforce in detail

about the strategic plan and planning

process

 Keeps the workforce informed of

strategic plan accomplishments

 Shares progress reports

 Emphasizes commitment

 Shows the plans link with everyday

work

 Keeps the focus on the plan

 Flexible

 Accommodates plan updates

 Distribute to each employee down to

objective level

 Should be regularly updated

Letter/Memo  Explains the strategic plan in the

words of the senior leader

 Distribute to all employees to communicate the plan and its progress

 Do no use alone or without a formal

means of distribution

 Are portable

 Help employees focus on the plan

 Convey the strategic plan to the

organization without a lot of detail

Laminated Cards  Use to focus on basics of plan

Posters  Remind employees of the plan  Display in common areas in the

organization

Strategic plan/

quality newsletter

 Use the first issue to communicate

the plan and the process

 Use subsequent issues to communicate progress, results, lessons learned,

and new strategic initiatives

 Distribute to all employees

 Educates the workforce about the

strategic plan and planning process

 Keeps the workforce informed of

strategic plan accomplishments

 Shares progress reports

 Emphasizes commitment

 Shows the plans link with everyday

work

 Keeps the focus on the plan

Strategic Plan

column in the

organizations

newsletter

 Establish a special section devoted

to strategic planning

 Shows senior leader commitment

 Keeps employees informed and

focused on the plan

Senior leaders

article in the

newsletter

 Senior leader writes about strategic

planning and provides updates in the

organizations newsletter

 Explains the plan

 Allows the new employee time to

review the planbefore reporting

 Shows commitment to the plan

Letter accompanying

new employee orders

 Mail plan, with a letter of explanation, with new employee orders

Internal Communication Tools
31 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Internal Communication Tools

All-hands meetings  Encourage Q&A on the part of

employees

 Reinforce senior leader commitment

 Senior leader calls an all-hands to

introduce and explain the plan

 Discuss strategic plan and progress

Oral Tools Benefits How to Use

Briefing materials

with a script

 Involves all employees and leaders

directly

 Educates and provides direction on

the plan

 Encourages employees to participate

 Ensure consistency of message by

leaders

 Show commitment to the plan

 Distribute to each department head

and mid-level manager to explain to

their employees

 Must be regularly updated

 May require a brief training session

Department

meetings

 Show senior leader commitment

 Relate plan to everyday work

 Keep employees informed on a

regular basis

 Department heads hold departmental

meetings to communicate the plan and

share progress reports

 May require briefing materials so

that all department heads convey the

same information

 Hold meetings after plan review

sessions with the senior leadership team

 Offer open forum for ideas and

questions

Focus groups  Hold focus groups to answer questions about the plan

Q&A sessions  Allow employees to ask questions  Hold after a department or allhands meeting at the subgroup level

Special kick-off

event

 Refer to Section II: Case Studies to

learn how the Center for Veterinary

Medicine deployed its plan

 Familiarizes the new employee with

the plan

 Shows organizational and senior

leadership commitment

 Allows them time to figure out how

they can contribute

New employee

orientation

 Establish a special section devoted

to strategic planning
32 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

There are external people with whom the senior leadership team may

choose to share the plana parent organization, customers, suppliers,

stakeholders. If the senior leadership team wants to share the plan

externally, it needs to be clear about its desired outcomes. The level of

detail provided may be different from what is needed for an internal

audience. Following are reasons to share the plan with various external

organizations.

4 To improve relations with customers by demonstrating a focus on

their needs

4 To gain support of other organizations who may be able to help

your organization save resources and achieve common goals

4 To gain the parent organizations support and to justify additional

resources or the redirection of resources

4 To emphasize suppliers roles in doing business with the organization

Should the plan

be shared

outside the

organization?

Technological

tools

Benefits How to Use

Videotapes/

Teleconferencing

 Provides a means of communication for an organization that has

multiple sites in remote or dispersed

locations

 Provides a consistent message

 Videotape the senior leader explaining the plan to the organization

 Distribute to each department/

division/site with copies of the written

plan and a letter explaining the purpose of the videotape

 Choose a point of contact at each site

to answer questions (the senior leader

of the site)

E-mail  Is accessible to all employees

 Easy to update

 Communicates the plan and progress

updates

 Messages should come from the

senior leader

 All employees must have e-mail

accessibility

 All employees may not read sent

messages, so this is not a substitute for

personal interface with the senior

leader

Internal Communication Tools
33 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

4 To align stakeholders with the vision

4 To gain union leaders acceptance and participation

4 To demonstrate to Congress a focus on outcomes (this aligns with

Public Law 103-62, the Government Performance and Results Act

of 1993)

Below are some tools for communicating the plan externally. The senior

leadership team needs to tailor them to the audience receiving the plan.

External Communication Tools

Brochures/

handouts

 Convey the strategic plan without

a lot of detail

 Provide potential suppliers with

understanding

 Distribution at professional meetings allows opportunity to network

with stakeholders

 Transportable method of information dissemination

 Distribute with a letter

 Personally distribute or have available in conference room or where

meetings occur with external customers

Tools Benefits How to Use

Letter and copy

of plan

 Shares the plan

 Conveys commitment from the

senior leader and the organization

 Can be used to request feedback,

supplemental plans, and resources

 Mail or hand deliver to customers,

stakeholders, and parent organization

explaining the strategic plan and how it

affects them

 Distribution method is critical

Personal meeting  Personal sharing of the plan by the

senior leader

 Allows for immediate feedback

and questions

 Senior leader holds initial and

periodic meetings with external customers
34 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Recognize the change process

As soon as the plan is formally deployed, leaders must be prepared to

answer questions and face skepticism and challenges. Employees will

realize that implementation of the strategic plan means that real change

will take place and that the organization will go through a period of

transition, meaning that initially people may need to find time to take on

additional work. Many organizations have not legitimized and practiced

planning for the future as a regular part of the senior leaderships daily

work; nor do they consider implementation as a regular part of the

employees work. However, the old work must still be done while new

work processes, methods, etc., are being developed.

When people are faced with change, many act by denying, resisting,

exploring, and then committing to the change. People may go through

these four stages of change at their own pace. Some may never accept

new roles and methods. Often these people leave organizations. The

senior leadership team needs to acknowledge and legitimize these

stages.

Denial During denial, senior leaders need to focus on the need for

change and repeatedly provide the reasons for the

change. Reasons of survival help focus everyone.

Resistance Senior leaders need to listen, empathize, and assist in

setting priorities during the resistance stage.

Exploration During the exploration stage it is important for the senior

leadership team to keep the effort energized, keep people

focused, and encourage them not to leap to action before

the ideas have been fully explored.

Commitment Once commitment is obtained from the organization, the

senior leaders should acknowledge and share the success

and prepare the organization for changes to come.

Once the plan

is published,

what happens?
35 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Help people through the change process

This begins during the first phase of deployment when the senior leadership team includes the mid- and lower-level employees in the planning

process to finalize the strategic plan. How the published plan is formally

communicated is also part of the way the senior leadership helps people

manage change.

Leaders need to focus people on what they can control and how they can

affect the change. They must give employees information to ease the

transition so they can feel some ownership in the change. It is important

to recognize that people need stability during change. Emphasizing to

everyone what has not changed can help maintain stability and leadership confidence.

Mid-level managers should:

4 Explain why change is imperative

4 Be active participants in the communication process

4 Listen and bring suggestions to top leaders

4 Help set goals, define plans, and choose team leaders

4 Manage by consensus, where possible

4 Set a positive work climate to encourage motivation

4 Ask questions related to the strategic plan

How can the

senior

leadership

team help

people through

the change

process?

How can

mid-level

managers

help manage

change?
36 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

In developing the formal communication methodology for the strategic

plan, the senior leadership might use these questions to help structure the

information communicated to employees.

4 What is the change?

4 Is it real?

4 Is it good for the organization?

4 Is it possible to do in this organization?

4 What happens if the organization doesnt do it?

4 Is it good for me?

4 Can I effectively contribute to change?

4 What is my new role?

4 What happens if I dont help?

4 What happens if were successful?

By answering these questions, the senior leadership team will help prepare employees for the change that the strategic plan represents. It

should come from the senior leader, who needs to emphasize that this is

the new direction of the organization, and everyone is expected to do

their share.

The senior leadership also needs to continually communicate progress,

results, lessons learned, new strategic initiatives, and how organizational

activity leads to the accomplishment of the strategic goals and vision in

informal as well as formal ways.

The guiding principles are those organizational values that the senior

leadership consciously chose and developed to shape the organizations

culture to achieve the vision. The guiding principles are a crucial aspect

of the newly developed plan. Therefore, as soon as the guiding principles are published in the strategic plan, organizational members will

How should

the senior

leadership team

communicate

change?

How are the

new guiding

principles

part of the

deployment

process?
37 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

begin measuring leadership behavior against them. If the leaders and

managers of the organization do not behave in accordance with the

guiding principles, then the other organizational members will lose respect for their commitment to change. Therefore, the behavioral aspects

necessary to achieve the vision must be demonstrated daily. This is why

specific behavioral guiding principles are so vital to executing a successful strategic plan.

Advice: Live the principles; be a good role model every

day. Dont underestimate the importance of this behavior.

Senior leaders must act in accordance with the guiding principles and in

accordance with the tenets of TQL because behavior is believable. This

may require new forms of behavior from the senior leadership team

members toward each other, the rest of the organization, and their

customers, suppliers, and stakeholders. If leaders are not living by the

principles, appropriate sanctions need to be enacted to emphasize the

seriousness of the principles.

A very effective way to help each other model the organizational values

is to practice open and candid feedback in both individual and group

interactions. This can be difficult and uncomfortable. The purpose of

giving and receiving positive feedback is to reinforce and encourage

appropriate behavior. Negative feedback is often avoided but is

equally important. The purpose of giving and receiving negative

feedback is to change behavior by making the individual aware of how a

behavior impacts others and the organization. Negative simply means

the behavior is not directly on course, deviating to a small or large degree. This is information, and the only way people can make informed

changes is by using this information. The idea is to remove the emotional

connotations from the feedback, while retaining professionalism and

focusing on the work in the interaction.

How can the

senior leaders

show the

importance

of the guiding

principles?

How should

senior leaders

help each other

live the

guiding

principles?
38 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Advice: The senior leader needs to set the tone for making it acceptable to give and receive negative feedback.

By creating a climate where a feedback process can occur

freely among the leadership team, leaders can help each

other live the guiding principles by sharing insights on how

each others behaviors affect the organization and its

progress toward the vision.
39 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Implementing the

Strategic Plan

Its been rather easy for us to decide where we wanted to go.

The hard part is to get the organization

to act on the new priorities.

(Floyd and Woolridge, 1992)

Implementation is taking the actions necessary to accomplish the goals,

strategies, and objectives. It requires action planning, senior leadership

involvement, commitment to the plan, resourcing (people, time, and

money), and involvement from the entire organization.

The strategic planning process that was used to create the plan is inverted

in the implementation phase. Completion of the objectives impacts

completion of the strategies, then the goals, and leads toward accomplishing the vision. To implement the strategic plan successfully, it is

necessary for the organization to have a formal implementation plan with

actions assigned to either teams or individuals who are responsible for

their accomplishment.

If the organization has been practicing process improvement using the

TQ model, managers and leaders will be familiar with the TQ team

structure. If the organization has realized successes using this structure,

they will probably want to continue it and will call their senior leadership

team an Executive Steering Committee or Group (ESC/G) and their

implementation teams Quality Management Board (QMBs) and Process

Action Teams (PATs). However, in some organizations, the strategic

planning process has led the senior leaders to the conclusion that current

QMBs and PATs need to be rechartered, restructured, or realigned with

Pre-Planning Strategic Planning

Deployment

Implementation

Measurement

and Evaluation

Resource

Allocation

Communicate

Progress Take Action Develop

Action Plans Track Status
40 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

the new strategic direction. For this reason, the senior leaders have

sometimes chosen to call the new teamsthose that are dealing with

implementation issuesGoal Groups, Strategy Teams and Objective

Teams. What they are called is not as important as what they accomplishimplementation of the strategic plan.

Following are actions that are keys for successfully implementing the

strategic plan and actions that guarantee failure.

Assign roles and responsibilities

Involve senior leaders

Define an infrastructure

Link goal groups

Phase integration of implementation actions with workload

Involve everyone within the

organization

Keys to Success Facts of Failure

No accountability

Disengagement from process

Unmanaged activity

Fragmented accomplishment of

objectives leads to suboptimization

Force people to choose between

implementation and daily work;

too many teams

No alignment of strategies

Allocate resources for

implementation

Focus only on short term need

for resources

Manage the change process Ignore or avoid change

Evaluate results No measurement system

Share lessons learned; acknowledge successes through open and

frequent communication

Hide mistakes/lay blame;

limited/no communication
41 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Assign roles and responsibilities

The following are suggested roles and responsibilities:

4 Leads the implementation effort

4 Establishes clear roles and responsibilities

4 Allocates resources for action items

4 Holds monthly strategic plan meetings with the senior leadership

team to monitor the status of the plan

4 Leads by consensus, but makes key decisions when necessary

4 Incorporates brief status updates at weekly staff meetings

4 Communicates plan status, accomplishments, and lessons learned

with the workforce

4 Communicates results as appropriate to customers, stakeholders,

parent organization

4 Support the strategic plan and incorporate in to day-to-day business and processes

4 Prioritize objectives

4 Allocate resources for action items

4 Define measures for progress and mission performance

4 Sponsor assessment surveys (e.g., internal employee climate

surveys, customer surveys, etc.)

4 Provide training resources

4 Attend monthly strategic plan meetings

Senior Leader

Who does what

to successfully

implement the

strategic plan?

Senior

Leadership

Team Members
42 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

4 Give brief status updates at weekly staff meetings

4 Lead goal groups

4 Serve as linking pins on strategy-level teams

4 Charter teams

4 Guide the workforce through implementation issues

4 Remove organizational barriers to goal accomplishment

4 Create or revise policies and procedures to achieve goals

4 Communicate plan status, accomplishments, and lessons learned

with their employees

4 Create lower-level plans to support the corporate plan

4 Serves on senior leadership team

4 Identifies resource issues related to effective implementation

4 Distributes and monitors use of allocated resources

4 Ensures that budget reflects strategic plan implementation funding

needs

4 Determines how to reflect mission performance with budget

4 Serves as point of contact for the plan with the senior leadership

team

4 Provides TQ guidance and consultation to senior leaders

4 Assesses and coordinates training needs

4 Conducts assessment surveys

4 Tracks strategic plan action items

4 Handles logistics for updating the plan

4 Facilitates senior leadership team meetings and offers facilitation

to other team meetings

4 Works with senior leader to develop meeting agendas

Senior

Leadership

Team Members

(continued)

Budget Officer

TQL

Coordinator
43 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

4 Works with linking pin to choose team membership

4 Establishes team meeting schedule

4 Leads team meetings

4 Coordinates with strategic planning facilitator/quality advisor on

meeting agendas

4 Monitors plan of action and milestones

4 Briefs status to higher level teams

4 Requests necessary resources

4 Asks subject matter experts to attend certain meetings

4 Ensures distribution of meeting minutes

4 Create plan of action and milestones

4 Attend meetings

4 Implement tasks

4 Define measures

4 Develop data collection plan

4 Collect data

4 Identify implementation problem areas

Many people are familiar with the team structure for implementing TQ.

The same rationale used for establishing the team structure in a TQ

organization is valid for establishing implementation teams. Goals

should be related to current and future business processes cutting across

the major functions in the organization. Therefore, strategic plan implementation teams are similar to TQ teams (as shown on the next page).

Generally, the differences between current QMBs and new goal groups

are that existing QMBs are working on improving/reengineering current

significant mission processes; goal groups will be working on designing

new products or developing new mission areas.

Implementation

Team Leader

(for Goal

Groups,

Strategy Teams,

and Objectives

Teams)

Implementation

Team Members

How should

implementation

teams be

organized?
44 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Team Hierarchy

Objective Team

(PAT)

Objective Team

(PAT)

Strategy Team

(QMB)

Strategy Team

(QMB)

Strategy Team

(QMB)

Goal Group

(QMB)

Goal Group

(QMB)

Goal Group

(QMB)

Goal Group

(QMB)

Senior Leadership Team

(ESC/G)

ESC/G Team made up of the senior leadership of an organization (also called Senior Leadership Team)

QMB Cross-functional team that works the strategic goal

(also called Strategic Goal Groups)

QMB Team that works the strategies (also called Strategy

Teams)

PAT Team that gathers data needed to work the objectives,

develops implementation action plans, examines processes that are targeted for change, makes recommendations for implementation, and takes action (also

called Objective Teams)

Goal groups, consisting of members of the senior leadership team, can

be used to lead and monitor implementation within the goal area assigned to them. The goal groups may charter strategy teams (QMBs) or

charter objectives teams (PATs), if needed, or assign an individual to

work an objective if it does not require a team effort. Chartering of

teams depends on the priorities laid out in the strategic plan.
45 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Advice: Use an existing high-level cross-functional team

structure. If possible, dont set up new goal groups. Depending on how well the existing QMB structure addresses

work processes, consider modifying some of the charters or

team members. What the teams are called is not important;

the foundation upon which they are built and what they are

to accomplish are the essential factors. Use consistent language to reduce confusion and deflate the idea that a new

program is supplanting another.

For more information on the DON QMB structure, refer to the DON TQL

course curriculum.

Involve senior leaders

The senior leadership team is responsible for overseeing implementation.

The team continues to scan the environment to identify any additional

strategies or objectives, and discusses implications of changes. It is

responsible for making crucial decisions about the direction of the organization, adjusting the plan as necessary, and chartering teams to help it

accomplish the strategies and objectives. By keeping a customer and

mission focus and promoting communication between departments, the

senior leadership team consciously tries to combat suboptimization.

How often the senior leadership team meets varies by organization, but

during the implementation phase, periodic meetings, which may be

facilitated, are required to focus solely on the strategic plan. Senior

leadership teams find that by establishing a regular review schedule, they

are able to keep the organization focused on implementation. Some

organizations have established a process whereby one or two of their

strategic initiatives are briefed at each staff meeting on a rotating basis,

providing a status tracking of all the initiatives each month.

How should

senior

leadership

be involved?
46 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Advice: Unless these meetings are facilitated, the focus

can quickly turn to routine problem solving. To keep the

plan on track between these meetings, brief status updates

should be a standard agenda item during regular staff

meetings. Some organizations have successfully used

traditional senior staff meetings to work on strategic issues.

Most cannot, at least early in implementation. Therefore,

schedule regular senior leader implementation meetings until

the new strategic way of conducting business is incorporated

into day-to-day decision making.

Define an infrastructure

The organization needs to define the way it is going to act on the objectives targeted for implementation. Determining what type of infrastructure is best depends on the objectives themselves and the way the organization is currently organized. For example:

4 If the objective addresses changes to a process that cut across the

organization (the most likely case), then a cross-functional team

should be established to work on its implementation. A crossfunctional team is one whose membership includes those from

more than one organizational function. Each of the members has

responsibility for some portion of an identified process.

4 If the objective addresses a major change within a functional area

with no impact on another area, then the leader of that area

should be tasked to implement the objective either by assembling

a team or tasking an individual.

4 If the objective deals with a single, functionally-focused action,

then it could probably be tasked to an individual who works in

that function. If this is true, this objective may be too low a level to

be part of the formal planning process.

What type of

infrastructure

is best?
47 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Advice: If responsibility for an action can be assigned to

an individual, it may not be necessary to charter a team.

In any case, the infrastructure needs to be defined to ensure accountability and responsibility for action. Some organizations have tried to reorganize and then do strategic planning for the new organization.

Oftentimes, organizational restructuring is thought to be the way to

improve the organizations performance. Historically, reorganizations

have focused on structure, who reports to whom and who is responsible

for what. Reorganizations have not focused on the way work gets done.

Only after working on the work systems will the most logical structure

become apparent.

Advice: Do strategic planning and then, if necessary,

reorganize to accomplish the mission and strategic goals.

Teams should be formed for a specific purpose. They should consist of

members who have a direct impact on or responsibility for the accomplishment of the task. Whenever possible, they should include subject

matter experts and end-users.

Teams should be cross-functional if the goal, strategy, objective, or task

extends across organizational boundaries. However, if the goal, strategy, objective, or task does not cross over functional boundaries, the

team should consist solely of members from that one functional area.

Questions leaders might ask before establishing a team include:

4 How does the team support the strategic direction?

4 What are the specific boundaries?

4 What resources will be needed?

4 Do we have the right people on the team to analyze/design a

process and accomplish our objective?

How is team

membership

determined?
48 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

4 What people not on the team are critical to its success?

4 Who will probably support the teams efforts, and who may be

opposed?

4 What measures will be used to indicate success?

Yes. Detailed charters outline the purpose of the team, the expectations,

and the resources committed to do the task. The charter tells the team

why they have come together and what they are to accomplish. Time

limits should also be incorporated. Charter guidelines and a sample

charter for strategic plan implementation are provided in the Naval Air

Facility Washington Case Study in Section II: Case Studies.

Yes, particularly when getting started. If a strategic planning facilitator is

not available, then the organizations quality advisor is a good source for

facilitation of teams. Their role is to work with the team leader to create

meeting agendas, help with charters, and provide facilitation during

team meetings primarily with the aim to train the group to become selfsufficient. It is important for the team to achieve consensus, to get all

members of the team to speak their opinions, and to help the team leader

develop and execute a productive agenda.

Advice: If a strategic planning facilitator is not able to

facilitate your teams, dont let that stop implementation

efforts. Use quality advisors who can be particularly helpful

with analysis tools, improvement methods, and meeting

mechanics. They also understand the organizations business. As team leaders become more confident and proficient in tools, they can take full responsibility for the team,

resulting in team cohesion and progress toward goals.

Are charters

needed?

Do we need a

facilitator for

every team?
49 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Caution: Team leaders can rely too heavily on quality

advisors and abdicate their responsibilities. Quality advisors

should assist the team leader off-line with those skills he or

she is weak in and then become a consultant on an infrequent basis.

Link goal groups

It is important for higher level teams to review findings and suggestions

from lower-level teams and make needed decisions in a timely manner.

Advice: It is important to have a working infrastructure,

one where the senior leadership team and higher level

teams meet on a regular basis and review the progress of

lower-level teams. This is facilitated by having a linking

member from higher-level teams to lower-level teams whose

job it is to keep the higher-level team abreast of implementation activities. By having this communications link, information can flow freely. When decisions are required, the

higher-level team will already have the background information and be able to make decisions in a timely manner, thus

demonstrating commitment to the implementation effort.

Organizations that have had team members trained in group dynamics

found that their teams were very effective. If formal training cannot be

conducted before teams begin their work, the quality advisor or strategic

planning facilitator should promote an understanding of group dynamics,

teach the team about active listening, and provide the Department of the

Navys training coursesTeam Skills and Concepts, Methods for ManagWhy are

linkages

important?

What makes

some teams

more

productive

than others?
50 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

ing Quality, Systems Approach to Process Improvement, and Implementing TQL, all of which contain team-related topics. TQL Coordinators

should be familiar with these courses.

Phase integration of implementation actions with

workload

Implementation teams should develop implementation plans to address

how they will carry out their charters. A plan of action and milestones

(POA&M) to develop implementation plans and, subsequently, to manage implementation can be used. It can provide a description of the

tasks that need to be accomplished, show responsibility and resource

requirements, expected outcomes, measures to be used, and status. For

implementation to occur smoothly, consideration must be paid to the

priority and sequencing of tasks and steps.

Below is an example of a common POA&M.

How are

implementation

plans

developed?

Tasks

and

Steps

Responsible

Individual

Due

Date

Expected

Outcomes

Measures Resources

Required

Status

Advice: Dont take on too many actions at the same time.

For short-term success, complete actions that are important,

have short time lines, and early start dates. Many objectives

do not require formal teams and action plans. Do not

overlook them, they may be easy to implement and provide early success. Implementing easy objectives needs to

be balanced with implementing objectives that have greater

impact, otherwise employees may trivialize the strategic

planning effort.
51 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

To assess what action to take, the senior leadership team should:

4 Identify current committees, working groups, QMBs, and PATs

both internal and externalthat the organization is involved with

4 Identify team membership and purpose/charter

4 Map current team taskings to strategic goals

4 Assess team accomplishments to determine if they should be

disbanded

4 Determine which teams can take on additional actions consistent

with implementing the organizations strategic plan

4 Redirect/recharter existing teams to implement the strategic plan

or abolish teams that no longer contribute to the vision

Caution: Beware of too many teams, working groups,

special committees, etc. It is important to thoroughly scrub

them so as not to duplicate effort, cause conflicting priorities

for people, overload people, suboptimize organizational

output, and dilute the organizations strategic efforts and

everyday work accomplishments.

Many corporate organizations encourage suborganizations to create

lower-level plans. The implementation actions in these plans need to

align with the corporate plan. The suborganizations can use the same

planning methodology that was used by the corporate organization (as

described in A Handbook for Strategic Planning) but they need to tailor it

to the level of planning required. For example, the same pre-planning

process can be used that entails interviewing the planning team members

of the suborganization; however, the interview questions will need to be

tailored to address the suborganizations planning outcomes.

How do we

integrate

current

committee,

working group,

QMB, and

PAT efforts

with the

strategic plan?

How do

suborganizations

support the

strategic plan?
52 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

The suborganizations plan may be targeted at one of the strategic goals

in the corporate level plan or it may include several strategic, corporatelevel initiatives that the suborganization needs to carry out. Whether or

not the suborganization needs to develop its own vision, mission, and/or

guiding principles depends on the size, complexity, and product line of

that suborganization as compared to that of the corporate level.

Advice: The guiding principles should remain intact from

one organizational level to another, with possibly an additional principle or two that may be relevant to that organizational level. The important part is to ensure that lowerlevel plans are aligned with superordinate plans to achieve

the goals. It is at these lower levels that the linkage of the

strategic plan with business plans occurs.

Involve everyone within the organization

Yes, but it is actually more important to link the day-to-day business to

the tenets of the strategic plan. It is a subtle but important distinction.

The focus is on moving the current business towards a more strategic

future business rather than make the future business fit todays business

structure. The greater the extent to which the plan sets a new and challenging strategic direction for the organization, the harder it will be to

align the day-to-day business since the extent of change required to be

successful will also be that much greater. Said another way, the less

strategic the plan, the easier the strategic management. However, the

results may be negligible.

Advice: It is crucial to make the strategic plan a living

document and ensure that the workforce feels it is contributIs it important

to link the

strategic plan

to day-to-day

business?
53 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

ing directly to the organizations success in working toward

its vision. Senior leadership can acknowledge that the more

strategic the plan, the harder it is to manage and be successful, but that it is possible with everyone working together.

Leaders can start by using the language in the strategic plan

and by asking questions about how daily work relates to the

plan. This will help everyone focus on how their work integrates with the strategic direction.

As the organization begins to work on implementing its priority objectives, the actions may translate into additional work. The organization

needs to effectively manage getting the product out and responding to

fires while acting on the organizations strategic priorities. It will take

time to institute new processes, to think and act on ways to do things

differently in daily work. Implementing the strategic plan must take on

the importance of a fire drill for the future.

True. The organization exists in a world that is constantly changing,

applying pressures from all sides. In order to survive and succeed, leaders need to be aware of these external forces and anticipate the changes

they bring. Examples of these forces are higher authority strategic plans,

emerging technologies, demographic changes, social forces, economic

issues, the federal budget, changing customers, and the changing needs

of existing customers.

Caution: While leaders must try to anticipate change in

their environment and be proactive in their responses, they

should resist the urge to make impulsive, unilateral changes

in the strategic direction of the organization.

How does

implementation

impact the

day-to-day

business?

But there are

external forces

we have no

control over . . .
54 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

No, certainly not in the first year of strategic planning. But employees

can look at their own work based on where the organization is going

and what it is trying to achieve. They can examine the way they approach their work and change the things they control to align with the

vision and guiding principles. Because they know the intricacies of the

processes involved in their jobs, employees can make recommendations

to their managers about needed changes in the day-to-day business to

help achieve the vision.

The degree to which decisions are linked to the plan depends to a large

extent on the usefulness and specificity of the plan. If the plan is truly

strategic, it provides direction for the organization. Everyone in the

organization can see where he or she fits into the organization and can

align both their day-to-day and strategic decisions on how they will

conduct business with the plans goals and strategies. In this scenario,

decisions are closely tied to the tenets of the plan. Remember that the

plan is the means for communicating and achieving alignment and

direction in the organization. However, while it is important to link

decisions with the intended outcomes, the plan should not be prescriptive.

Decision-makers must be flexible so they can respond appropriately but

in a coordinated way to changes in the environment.

Advice: Some managers and employees may need to be

guided by quality advisors in how to use the plan for decision making since this may not have been the traditional

way business was conducted.

The plan needs to become an outline for decision making because business decisions are related to allocation of resources. If those decisions

are made in the context of the strategic plan, then resource allocation

becomes aligned with the plan.

Is everyone

involved on

a team?

How are

decisions

linked to the

strategic plan?
55 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Allocate resources for implementation

Resourcing a strategic plan involves providing the people, money, and

materials to ensure successful implementation. Many organizations link

the strategic plan with the budgeting process at the initial strategic planning session or soon afterward when they create implementation teams.

Some choose to have implementation teams identify resources and

present them to the senior leadership team for approval. This helps the

senior leadership team prioritize implementation actions and allot resources to move the organization toward achieving its strategic goals.

There are at least four resources that are critical: the support of the comptroller (or budget officer), the support of the human resources manager,

support for the implementation teams, and a viable program for achieving the strategic initiatives. One way to ensure the support and commitment of both the comptroller and the human resources manager is to

include them on the senior leadership team and, therefore, in the strategic

planning process. Too often, these very important people are relegated

to adjudicating the competing plans of others and are not included in the

planning process itself. This is an opportunity to ensure their understanding of the vision and goals and solicit their ideas about how to develop

strategies that will succeed. If not done during the development of the

strategic plan, they should be involved as soon as possible in the deployment phase.

Too often, implementation actions flounder because implementation

teams are not given adequate support. Earlier in this section, requirements for team training, tools, time to meet, and charters were described.

Because the teams are often cross-functional, there may be no single

person in the organization who is responsible for providing them with

these resources. This is where the comptroller and the human resources

How is the

strategic plan

resourced?

What resources

do we need?
56 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

manager can intervene. If they have a thorough understanding and are

committed to accomplishing the goals of the strategic plan, they can

assist in providing the resources for the implementation teams.

Without a program for achieving the strategic initiatives, departments will

spend their program dollars on achieving short-term departmental results. And why not? If they dont spend the money, they will lose itnot

only this year, but probably in the future as well. With a strategic focus,

however, some departments have found that they can combine allocated

monies and thereby achieve a synergistic effect for the dollars spent while

accomplishing the organizations strategic initiatives.

New budget requirements can become an issue if the plan calls for

training, equipment, etc., to support development and implementation of

a new way of doing business or perhaps a new mission area. A plan

that is truly strategic represents changes to how the organization executes

its current business. Some successful organizations have chosen to

integrate their planning and budgeting processes by timing strategic

planning events so that they will feed into budgeting events such as

Program Objective Memorandum (POM) development and the mid-year

review process. In fact, strategic planning is an excellent way to make

the planning process explicit in the Department of Defenses Planning,

Programming, and Budgeting System (PPBS).

This question, although frequently asked, is too simplistic. In the beginning, the strategic plan drives budget formulation. Strategic plans help

the organizations leaders know their requirements so they can budget

for the people, the programs, the equipment, etc., they need to carry out

their strategic direction. If the budget is not fully funded for those people,

programs, equipment, etc., it is in the budget execution phase that the

How is the

strategic plan

incorporated

into the

budgeting

process?

Does the

budget drive

the plan or

does the plan

drive the

budget?
57 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

budget drives the strategic plan. However, if the strategic planning

process has included prioritization of the objectives, it is easier for the

organization to act on their highest priorities even when the budget is not

fully funded.

Sometimes the availability and use of resources is not readily apparent,

but strategic planning can make them more visible. For example, when

the organization establishes what is really important, it also makes explicit those actions or tasks which are not important. Eliminating redundancies in assignments or organizations can free up the use of resources,

making them available for strategic actions.

Sometimes resources are not readily available. The following actions are

often successful in obtaining needed resources:

4 Redirect current resources

4 Reprioritize implementation actions

4 Partner with another division or organization to combine funding

levels

4 Ask the parent organization or sponsor for more resources

Advice: Use the strategic plan to demonstrate the validity

of the strategy and the concomitant need for resourcing.

Potential sponsors or partners are more easily convinced

when persuaded that their participation is grounded in real

strategy that leads to mutually desired outcomes.

What if

resources are

not available

to implement

an important

strategy in the

plan?
58 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Manage the change process

Transitions can cause major upheaval in the group dynamics of the

senior leadership team and the direction in which the organization is

moving. However, if the plan is the product of the entire leadership

team, it has a much better chance of surviving leadership transitions. The

plan needs to be owned by the leadership team, not dependent on a

single leader. Getting acceptance and input to the plan from new members of the senior leadership team is crucial to the plans success.

Advice: Many organizations use position titles in place of

individual names when assigning responsibility for action

items. This removes the personal aspect and facilitates

transitions.

During the turnover, it is important for the former senior leader to explain

the strategic plan and the direction of the organization to the new leader.

The senior leadership team members can explain the history involved in

making decisions, share with the new senior leader the progress that the

organization has made, and show results that have occurred. The

greater the extent the planning implementation process is in place, the

greater likelihood that the strategic initiatives will survive.

The new leader of the organization may want to update the strategic

plan to incorporate personal vision elements. If so, refer to the Revisiting

the Strategic Plan chapter of this handbook for ideas on how to update

the plan.

Advice: It is important for the new leader to demonstrate

supportto the entire organizationof the strategic plan

and any plans for revisiting it.

How do we

keep changes

in leadership

from changing

the course?

The senior

leader of the

organization

is leaving.

How do we get

the new leader

onboard with

our strategic

management

efforts?
59 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

It is important that new members of the senior leadership team understand the importance of the plan and of their role in achieving the vision.

The departing member of the team should brief the new member on the

strategic plan and the strategic management efforts thus far. The departing member should show the new member how the responsibilities of the

position impact the plan and what role the individual plays on the planning team. The senior leader should also brief new members on expectations regarding the plan.

Advice: It is critical to give the new leader or member all

of the background information such as:

4 Why the plan was created (drivers)

4 The process that was used to create the plan

4 Any environmental conditions that existed at the time

of its creation

4 The impact the plan has had on the organization

4 How the plan is being implemented (goal groups,

cross-functional teams, etc.)

4 How progress is being monitored and measured

(monthly senior team meetings, measures being used)

4 Roles and responsibilities

4 Lessons learned

4 Results that have been achieved

4 Plans for formally revisiting the plan

A member of

our senior

leadership team

is leaving.

How do we

involve the

new leader

in our strategic

management

efforts?
60 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Yes. For example, the senior leadership team might want to align the

formal reward systems with the strategic plan. In so doing, the team

might evaluate what factors need to change in the current reward systems

and may decide to establish criteria in the system to reflect team participation and process improvement results. Performance appraisal criteria

may also have to change for purposes of alignment with the strategic

plan.

Advice: Organizational policies and procedures should

be reviewed and updated to support the organizations

strategic direction. Those not in alignment should be abolished. This review and update should be part of implementation team activities.

Evaluate results

Use the POA&M format to help track status. Team leaders track the

status of action plans. The group leader uses the status update to brief

the senior leadership team on progress.

Caution: This is only a tracking function, not a formal

measurement system. Tracking tells you if you are doing

what you said you were going to do when you said you

were going to do it. It does not show the impact of the

plans implementation on the organization.

Advice: Two types of measurement systems are necessary

to give a complete picture of implementation. One type

involves tracking progress, the other involves collecting data

to measure effectiveness of each of the goals. See the

Strategic Measurement chapter of this handbook for additional guidance on measurement.

Will strategic

planning

implementation

change our

current policies

and procedures?

How do we track

progress of

implementation

actions?
61 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Because there are two types of measurement systems that are necessary,

different forms of evaluation occur. One type is the evaluation of activity,

which involves looking at what implementation actions have occurred and

evaluating the progress in implementing those actions. Some implementation efforts may take longer than originally anticipated, requiring work

on other implementation activities to be delayed. This is perfectly natural.

The important thing is for the senior leadership team to keep up-to-date

on implementation actions at regular review sessions, to make appropriate adjustments, and to remove organizational impediments.

The other type of evaluation analyzes the measurement data resulting

from the strategic measurement system. This data is targeted at measuring outcomes of mission effectiveness now and into the future. Typically,

this type of measurement is new for organizations who are more than

likely measuring at the product output level (number of parts produced,

number of reports completed, or number of days to complete repairs).

These types of measures are important to managing daily business, but it

is in the strategic measures that a picture of the organizations effectiveness is given. Through the strategic planning process, these outcomes

become explicit and a strategic measurement system of the macro-level

measurements can be created.

Share lessons learned; acknowledge successes through

open and frequent communication

Ongoing communication is crucial for success. It is extremely important

for the senior leadership team to share lessons learned, to share successes, and to show that work is being accomplished. The fact that senior

leaders are paying attention to goal accomplishment will focus everyones

attention on the plan.

Advice: Be honest about progress and changes in direction.

How do we

evaluate results?

Is it necessary

to regularly

communicate

the status of

the plan?
62 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

The senior leadership team needs to choose formal communication

methods that will reach the widest audience on a continual basis. Some

organizations use their newsletters or magazines to provide status updates and lessons learned. Others post their POA&Ms on marquees or

bulletin boards. In some large organizations, the leaders use video or

electronic communications.

Advice: The senior leadership team must demonstrate to

its employees that it believes in the plan by talking about it

and by changing policies and procedures based on the

plan.

Many organizations include the strategic plan in their new employee

indoctrination process. Some TQL coordinators send a copy of the

strategic plan with the new employees orders, outlining how his/her

responsibilities impact the plan. If the senior leader addresses new

employees in their orientation, a discussion about the strategic plan may

be included. Newsletters or any formal written policy dealing with the

plan can be distributed to the new employees. The new employees

immediate manager should explain how daily work processes impact the

success of the organization as reflected in the plan.

Advice: New employees should be easily assimilated into

the strategic management efforts if managers have explained roles and responsibilities, team membership, and

the senior leadership teams commitment to the plan.

How do we

tell new

employees

about the

plan and their

role in it?
63 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Resource

Allocation

Pre-Planning Strategic Planning

Implementation Deployment

Measurement

and Evaluation

Communicate

Results

Analyze and

Evaluate

Collect

Data

Strategic measurement is the identification, development, communication,

collection, and assessment of selected outcome measures that are directly

linked to the organizations performance of its mission and attainment of

its vision. These measures should be outcome-focused (i.e., end-user

measures in the case of products and services and mission effectiveness in

all others), to assess the impact of the organizations strategic efforts.

Other measures are important and will be discussed later in this chapter

Strategic measurement is an integral part of strategic management as

depicted in the graphic on the next page. The graphic depicts elements

of strategic management in a step-wise fashion to illustrate that the process of identifying and developing strategic measures is begun before the

strategic plan is complete. It also shows that implementation actions dont

begin until the data collection planwhich identifies the data needed

and how it is going to be collected, stored, analyzed, and updatedis

developed.

Strategic

Measurement

Unless you know how you are doing as you move along,

youll never know when youre done or if you have succeeded.

(Crosby, 1979)
64 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Caution: Since strategic measures are based on goals for

the future, they could be somewhat different from current

mission performance measures. If goals are focused on new

products or services, for example providing expertise in

modeling and simulation, measures to address progress in

becoming experts will need to be developed. Dont confuse

current measures with to be developed measures. This

section focuses on measuring strategic goals and the need to

look at current measures to determine if they provide data

that can be used to measure the strategic goals.

Planning and Implementation Hierarchy

Measurement Plan

Development

Outcomes

Performance

Indicators

Baselines

Data Collection Plan

Feedback System

Step 2

Strategic Plan

Development

Vision

Guiding Principles

Mission

Gap Analysis

Goals

Strategies

Objectives

Step 1

Measurement Plan

Step 3

Track

implementation

actions

Collect data

to measure

performance

Evaluate

outcomes

Feedback to update plan

Act on

objectives

Implement

strategies

Achieve goals

Strategic Plan
65 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Following are actions that are keys to successful strategic measurement

and actions that guarantee failure.

Assign roles and responsibilities

Use measurement to understand

the organization

Use measurement to provide a

consistent viewpoint from which to

gauge performance

Use measurement to provide an

integrated, focused view of the

future

Keys to Success Facts of Failure

No accountability

Suboptimizationfocus only on

efficiencies

Use measures that provide no real

information on performance; use

too many measures

Use measurement to focus on the

bottom-line only

Use measurement to communicate

policy (new strategic direction)

Use measurement to control

Update the measurement system Never review measures

Use measurement to provide

quality feedback to the strategic

management process

Fail to use measurement to make

strategic, fact-based decisions; use

only for control

Assign roles and responsibilities

Who does The following are suggested roles and responsibilities:

what in

strategic

measurement?
66 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

4 Leads development of strategic measurement plan

4 Incorporates measurement plan into deployment and implementation of the strategic plan

4 Monitors and evaluates strategic measures

4 Communicates measurement results to workforce

4 Adjusts measurement plan as necessary

4 Adjusts strategic plan as necessary

4 Allocates resources to implement strategic measurement plan

4 Support the strategic measurement plan

4 Champion the need for strategic measures

4 Define strategic measures and performance indicators

4 Charter measurement team and identify members

4 Provide guidance to measurement team

4 Approve final strategic measurement plan

4 Monitor and evaluate strategic measures

4 Communicate measurement results to employees

4 Adjust measurement plan as necessary

4 Adjust strategic plan as necessary

4 Allocate resources to implement the strategic measurement plan

4 Individually, develop measures within their area of responsibility

that link with strategic measures

4 Individually, provide data associated with strategic measures

Senior Leader

Senior

Leadership

Team Members
67 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

4 Develops baselines, data collection and evaluation process, and

feedback system

4 Develops resourcing plan

4 Develops a plan of action and milestones for implementation

4 Develops a deployment approach

4 Disbands when strategic measurement plan is approved

4 Serves on senior leadership team

4 Distributes and monitors allocated resources

4 Incorporates strategic measurement implementation funding needs

into budget as part of strategic plan implementation

4 Assists measurement team in understanding how budget relates to

mission effectiveness

4 Develops measures for determining cost-effectiveness of strategic

measures

4 Develops plan to reinvest savings

4 Serves as a point of contact for strategic measurement plan

4 Assesses and coordinates training needs

4 Tracks strategic measurement plan action items

4 Handles logistics for updating the strategic measurement plan

Measurement

Team

Budget

Officer

TQL

Coordinator
68 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

The senior leadership team charters a measurement team to complete the

development of the measurement plan. The measurement team:

4 Defines measurement administration responsibilities

Measurement administration responsibilities include who will

collect, gather, store, and analyze the data needed to support the

performance indicators.

4 Gathers data to develop baselines for each performance indicator

The measurement team gathers the data to develop baseline

performance and then presents these baselines to the senior

leadership team so that it can establish the baselines.

4 Develops a feedback system

A feedback system tells the senior leadership if it is measuring

intended mission effectiveness, using the best indicator for those

items, and if it is progressing toward the vision.

4 Identifies resource requirements

4 Develops a plan of action and milestones to implement the strategic measurement plan

4 Creates a deployment strategy for the measurement plan

Deployment of the measurement plan needs to be integrated with

the overall strategic plan deployment.

The senior leadership team chooses members who represent a cross

section of the entire organization, including at least one member of the

senior leadership team to serve as a downward link. Membership is

determined by the number of indicators the organization develops and

by subject matter expertise about the various processes for which data

will be collected.

Why do we

need a

measurement

team?

Who should

be on the

measurement

team?
69 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Advice: Consider members who are well versed in the

process or system that is being measured, regardless of

whether or not they have a solid background in measurement. It is advisable to have at least one member on the

team who is knowledgeable about measurement.

Use measurement to understand the organization

Suppliers

Inputs

Organization

• people

• machines

• material

• methods

• processes

• structure

Products

and Services

Outputs

Customers

Outcomes

Strategic Measurement in the Organization’s Extended System

Feedback Feedback

Strategic Measurement

The purpose of this model is to depict the basic flow of work and information in any organization. All organizations deal with internal and external suppliers who provide inputs to the organization in the form of

money, people, material, information, etc. The organization then utilizes

people, methods, machines, material, processes, and its structure to

transform that input into the products and services (outputs) it provides to

its customers or end-users. The customer then uses the products or services and experiences a result or outcome from that use. For those organizations with no clear end-users, such as operational units in the military, outcomes are defined as mission effectiveness.

How does the

organization

operate?
70 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Measurement of any improvement or change initiative throughout the

extended system is important in order to assess whether a change has

had the intended effect. When engaged in measurement at the process

level, there are four opportunities for measuring and assessing the effects

of process improvement activities, outcomes, outputs, processes, and

inputs. At this level the outcomes are associated with satisfaction of that

particular end-users requirements or mission effectiveness.

When engaged in a strategic management process, strategic measures

must be identified and defined with the associated data collected and

analyzed to support those measures. In strategic measurement, the

strategic measures define the aggregated outcomes of mission effectiveness now and into the future as described in the organizations vision

and strategic goals. These aggregated outcomes are at a higher level

than a single end-user for a single product or service line. Strategic

measures define measurement at the organizational level to indicate

overall organizational performance.

Once the strategic measure is determined, it is important to select measurements for the inputs, processes, and outputs which directly contribute

to the outcome measure. In other words, it is best to start by determining

the outcome measure first and then select input, process, and output

measures that have a clear relationship to that outcome. For example, if

ship readiness is the desired strategic measure, a process measure that

measures the capacity of the ships laundry or an input measure that

measures the quality of its soap powder would have no bearing on the

outcome. They may be good indicators of another desired outcome,

such as quality of life, but they are not good indicators of readiness.

Where readiness is the desired outcome, a process measure might be

maintenance of ships and an output measure might be number of ships

available for sea duty.

How do

organizational

measurements

link together?

What is the

relationship

between the

four types of

measures?
71 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Typically, government organizations have a lot of measurement data

around inputs, processes, and outputs, but lack the data to assess organizational outcomes. There are a couple of reasons for this. The organization may not have a strategic plan that explicitly states the outcomes;

therefore, measures have never been developed to support them. Or the

organization may have the data to support the outcomes, but is not

collecting, storing, and analyzing that data so that it becomes useful

information in determining mission effectiveness. Many organizations

collect customer satisfaction data but do not have a measurement system

in place to effectively use that information to improve the organization.

The main reason is that outcome data are difficult to define and collect,

particularly for public sector organizations.

This is not to say that one type of measurement is bad and one type is

good. Measures are only useful when appropriately applied. For example, process measures are useful when undertaking process improvement activities, when monitoring the process to ensure it is stable, and to

have a baseline for comparisons when making system changes. Financial measures are useful for monitoring expenditures against obligation

and to control organizational spending. They may be useful as an output

measure when efficiencies and process improvements are applied. Input

data, particularly quality data, are necessary to determine when to begin

improvement efforts. As with any type of measurement it is important to

understand what is being measured and why.

Any good measurement system should include outcome, output, process,

and input measures. For example, if a strategic goal for a shipyard

focuses on maintaining a cleaner environment, there are several possible

measures that can be taken related to ships leaking oil. One measure

might be the number of oil spills given the number of ships. The number

of ships in this case is the input and the number of oil spills is the output.

So if the data show that the number of oil spills has declined given an

increase in the number of ships, this seems like a very good indicator of a

cleaner environment. But looking closer, the number of oil spills does not

indicate how much damage is being done to the environment. Outcome

measures may be related to fish contamination, decrease in wildlife,

water pollution, etc. A good surrogate, or proxy, measure from the

shipyards point of view may be volume of oil spilled. Both the output and

outcome measures are needed to provide a complete picture.

Dont

organizations

already collect

these data?
72 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Use measurement to provide a consistent viewpoint from

which to gauge performance

The selected measures must meet the needs of the organizations leadership for assessing the progress of the organization and still provide

meaningful policy guidance to the lower echelons. There are eight basic

measurement principles:

1. Measures, to be useful, must be linked.

Measures at one level in an organization should result in measurements

at the next lower level. Ackoff (1981) writes that there are two types of

linkscoordination and integration. Coordination means that no part

of an organization can be planned for effectively if it is planned for

independently of any other unit at the same level. Integration means

that effective planning needs to be carried out interdependently at all

levels. Links to address both these issues must be addressed by the team

structure and measures used to tie them together.

2. Measures are experimental.

A performance measure selected for a process or system can only be the

organizations best guess as to the most appropriate indicator particularly as it relates to changing missions for the organization. It may be

necessary to modify the measurement if a relationship between what is

measured and the goal to be achieved cannot be established.

3. Measures may be incomplete.

Measurements may provide only a partial picture of what is being measured, particularly when first getting started. As a first step, operational

definitions of measures are critical to understanding whether a measure

What principles

should be

used to create

strategic

measures?
73 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

is adequate. Sometimes outcome data are nearly impossible to obtain;

or, they occur so infrequently as not to be practical. What may be

needed are surrogate measures that are closely tied to the outcome to

approximateor be a surrogate forthe desired measures. For example, success in winning a battle is the intended mission effectiveness

outcome of a military operation, but not a practical measure. Mission

readiness, or preparedness to fight and win, becomes the surrogate. This

is why it is important to carry out the second step, which is the identification of factors that make up the outcome measure. These factors form the

performance indicators for the measures around which data will be

collected. When surrogates are used, it is important to do a validity

check to make sure they do relate to intended outcomes. Experts in the

subject matter and historical data may need to be consulted. The more

future-oriented the measure, the harder and more critical it is to define

and measure the related factors.

4. People at the appropriate level need to be involved in

developing the measurement.

The senior leadership team defines the strategic measures to be used for

the same reasons that strategic planning must be done by the senior

leadership: they are responsible for establishing the strategic direction of

the organization. Others will define supporting measures, such as process measures and output, for the strategic measures.

5. A family of measures is necessary to adequately describe

the organization, process, or system.

Traditional measures are generally financial in naturewhich only covers

one aspect of the organization. Multiple measures, describing different

aspects of the organization, are better than singular measures for providing a comprehensive picture of the organization. This refers to the need

to link measures and to ensure that the data collected are necessary and

sufficient to support the family of measures.
74 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

6. Measures over time show trends; additional information is

required to determine the causes of success or failure.

While a performance indicator can show that something is being done

better over time, the measurement will not provide the reason for this

improvement. Teams with process knowledge are necessary to analyze

the data.

7. Measure only what is important.

Organizational resources must be expended to collect, store, and analyze measures. Therefore, measurement activities should not be conducted solely as an exercise in measuring. The purpose of measurement

must be clear. Understanding how measures are to be used is critical.

8. The measures selected must support decision making.

Measurement data requires analysis to provide information to be useful

to decision makers. Considerable time and effort must be given to assess

how the data would improve decisions and what would be done with the

data. Information that has no bearing on the decision has no value at

the time of the decision. Collection of data that is not used should be

discontinued.

Strategic measures focus on vision attainment. Hold a workshop, similar

to the strategic planning workshop, with the senior leadership team to

develop strategic measures. Following are steps that the senior leadership team should follow to develop a strategic measurement system:

How do we

develop

strategic

measures?
75 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

4 Operationally define the strategic measures

Strategic measures are operational definitions of the outcomes of

mission effectiveness now and into the future.

If the organization has a comprehensive vision supported by

strategic goals that operationally define the outcomes expressed in

the vision, then the senior leadership team can derive performance

indicators from the strategic goals. If the vision and strategic

goals are very broad, then it may be necessary for the senior

leadership team to further discuss the outcomes and goals and

operationally define what they are trying to achieve.

4 Define performance indicators

Performance indicators are derived from the strategic measures.

They are the key evidence with which to measure performance.

Because the operational definitions of the key concepts are on a

macro-level, the performance indicators will be similarly broad.

4 Charter a strategic measurement team

The strategic measures are the foundation of a strategic measurement plan. They are given to a measurement team who completes

the measurement plan.

4 Establish baselines

Baselines are the current performance levels for the performance

indicators selected. If data that support a performance indicator

are currently being collected, then a historical baseline exists. If

the data are not currently being collected, a baseline needs to be

established. The measurement team will determine the baselines

for the performance indicators from current data (if available) or

by collecting data over a short period of time to provide an approximate baseline as a starting point. Their strategic measurement plan will include these recommended baselines for approval

by the senior leadership team.
76 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

4 Approve the strategic measurement plan

The senior leadership team will review the recommendations

made by the measurement team, including the baselines and the

data collection methodology, and approve them when agreement

is reached.

4 Inform the workforce

The senior leadership team needs to communicate to the

workforce the new strategic measurement system that will be put

into place and how they can contribute to the success of that

system.

4 Implement the measurement plan

Take the actions necessary to put the strategic measurement

system into place. Clarify important roles in measurement development and data collection and analysis.

Five to seven strategic measures are recommended. Too many measures

can lead to collecting data that is meaningless. Try to collect a slate of

measures that cover the breadth and indicate the health of the organization.

The measurement team determines what data are necessary to collect.

To determine what data need to be collected, the team needs to:

How many

strategic

measures

should we

have?

What data

should we

collect?
77 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

4 Define the indicators

4 Determine what data are needed to measure the indicators

4 Determine if that data are already being collected

4 If not, figure out how to collect the data

4 Define data collection rules that outline how the data apply to the

indicators

Caution: The senior leadership team needs to ensure that

the performance indicators can be measured and that, if

measured, they will not adversely affect the organization.

Collection of some indicators can make an organization

behave at cross purposes to the vision. Performance can be

distorted if the indicator inaccurately reflects the priorities of

the organization. Another cause of distortion could come

from members manipulating a performance indicator to

achieve higher ratings.

Advice: At this point, most organizations need some help

from an internal or external person who has expertise in

measurement and variation.

Yes, if the data collected supports the performance indicators chosen for

the strategic measurement system. A review of current measures needs to

be done by the measurement team to determine if they support the indicators; if it does, then that data needs to be organized into the strategic

measures. However, if the review reveals measures that do not support

the strategic measures and arent required by law, statutory requirements,

or higher echelon requirements; arent being used for management

control purposes (e.g., financial measures); or arent being used for

process improvement efforts, then stop using them and expending the

effort to collect the associated data.

Can we

incorporate the

measures we

already use?
78 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

It is important to collect data on all of the strategic measures because,

even though concerted work may be focused only on one or two goal

areas, the results of that work may impact all of the measures. Until

there is enough data to understand relationships among the goals, there

is no basis to know how much benefit directed focus will have on overall

achievement of outcomes.

Use measurement to provide an integrated,

focused view of the future

Although most people are unable to focus on more than a few things at

one time, leaders sometimes allow measurement systems to capture

everything, the useful and the not-so-useful. Such actions can distract the

organization from reaching its vision. Valuable resources may be expended on efforts that do not support the strategic plan. The use of

strategic measurement, on the other hand, strengthens the organizations

focus on the future by filtering out information not required to achieve the

strategic goals. It limits the number of measures to approximately six,

forcing the organization to concentrate on the vital outcomes.

We have

targeted only a

few areas for

implementation

in the first year.

How does that

affect what data

we collect?

How does

strategic

measurement

focus everyones

sights on

the future

organization?
79 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Use measurement to communicate policy

(new strategic direction)

In a traditional measurement scheme, each function has its own set of

measures. These specialized measurement systems segregate functions

and isolate suborganizations from the larger organization. Once these

measures are compartmentalized by function, they cannot simply be

aggregated as a means of assessing overall corporate performance.

Organizational measures have traditionally been a mixture of regulatory

requirements, error corrections, leaders information needs, and sometimes data on process performance. While some of these may be valid

and useful, they are not strategic measures. In general, these systems are

used to control present activities. In contrast, a strategic measurement

system communicates to all echelons of an organization what is vital to

achieving its vision of the future.

The strategic plan has established a vision of the future for the organization. The strategic measurements reinforce the strategic plan by helping

to focus everyones attention on attaining those goals that will lead to that

future. When two key projects, programs, or activities are competing for

resources, the focus of the measures can help leaders determine which of

the competing actions should receive immediate support.

When measurements are understood, decision making can be pushed

down to a level where action can be initiated close to the problem, situation, or opportunity. Using strategic measurement, those making decisions can propel the organization forward toward the vision without

having to elevate each decision to the highest level.

How does

strategic

measurement

change the

purpose of

measurement

from control to

communicating

policy?

How does

strategic

measurement

provide an

opportunity for

empowerment?
80 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Yes. It is fundamental that anything the organization chooses to expend

resources on should be measured. It is important to track all actions

related to the implementation of the strategic plan. Leaders must know

the status of progress taken on the objectives, strategies, and goals so

they can assess individual, team, and organizational performance. But

they must also be able to assess the effectiveness of mission accomplishment and the changes (those strategic goals) which were established in

order to attain the vision.

Advice: Remember that strategic measurement is about

operationally defining the key outcomes the organization is

striving for and identifying the performance indicators that

will be used to measure those outcomes. To conduct strategic measurement, organizational measures must be linked to

outcomes to provide the indicators and data necessary to

evaluate results.

Suborganizations should create lower-level measurement plans that link

with the corporate strategic measurement plan. If the suborganization

has a separate strategic plan, then it will also need a separate strategic

measurement plan. If the suborganizations strategic plan starts at the

strategy or objective level, it needs to have measures that link directly to

the corporate strategic measurements. In the event that only a few measures can be linked, the suborganization should create additional strategic measurements that better describe its outcomes.

Do we need to

have a measure

for every goal,

strategy, and

objective?

We are a

suborganization;

what measures

do we need?
81 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Update the measurement system

In some instances, a strategic measure selected by the organization might

not be the correct one. The expected relationship between the measure

and performance might not materialize. Periodic reviews to determine

whether there is a relationship between the measure and what is being

measured can ensure that the right measures are selected. If the relationship is weak, analysis must be done to determine the cause.

Caution: If the measures are not related to how well the

organization is doing, then the measures may not be right.

If little or no progress is made toward goals, the measures

may be fine, but the strategiesan implementation issue

may not be correct, or people may not be attending to them.

Or, the measures may be too aggregated or gross to show

change even if there was progress made toward goals.

Before action is taken, investigate the causes. Always have

several data points over time before taking action to

changebeware of tampering.

Strategic measurement helps leaders continually establish and evaluate

progress toward goals, targets, and policy over a long period of time.

The strategic plan itself is usually written from a 5, 10, or 15-year perspective. Similarly, measuring the attainment of the goals is a long-term

endeavor.

How does

strategic

measurement

provide an

organized

method for

reviewing

measures?

How does

strategic

measurement

help the

organization

remain constant

in pursuit of its

goals?
82 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

The organization looks for performance improvements by watching the

strategic measurements. The causes for any changes in performance

should be determined by investigating system, subsystem, and process

measurement data.

Use measurement to provide quality feedback

to the strategic management process

Some strategies devised to achieve goals might not work. The measures

will show that the relationship between the strategy and the expected

outcome does not exist. By using graphic tools, this lack of relationship

will become apparent. Further investigation will reveal the causes.

By using the feedback from the strategic measures to validate or adjust

(when that is the appropriate action) the strategic direction of the organization the feedback data becomes input that the leaders can use to make

decisions in their daily business. It is the decisions that are made today

that impact the future of the organization.

Most people want to know how the results impact the organization and

themselves. Sharing results should be part of the formal communication

mechanism established for the strategic plan.

How will the

data be

evaluated?

How does

strategic

measurement

provide data

to clarify and

update

strategies?

How does

strategic

measurement

help in decision

making?

How will the

results be

communicated

to the

workforce?
83 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Measurement can be threatening. The senior leadership team needs to

anticipate peoples possible reaction to measurement. Below are some

reasons why people may dislike measurement:

4 Poor performance may be found

4 The value of measurement is not understood

4 People dont understand how to use measures

4 Peoples contribution to the organization and the measures is not

evident

4 It places accountability on individuals

4 Measurement has typically been used as a means of punishment

4 Measurement takes time and effort

Advice: Strategic measurement is about overall organizational performance, its subsystems, and processes. Individuals contribute to these measures, but to evaluate an individual on this basis is not only impossible to do, but defeats

getting good measures. As fear over evaluation increases,

reliability of good data decreases.

The results from the strategic measures become inputs to updating the

strategic plan. Sometimes the results may reveal areas where goals,

strategies, or objectives are inadequate. Therefore, the goal, strategy, or

objective may need to be adjusted. It may also show that the attainment

of the goal, strategy, or objective is complete. The senior leadership

team needs to adjust the plan as needed.

How do we

overcome

peoples

dislike of

measurement

and being

measured?

How are the

results linked

to the strategic

plan?
84 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation
85 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Formally revisiting the plan on a periodic basis (e.g., annually) is necessary to ensure that the plan continues to drive the organization. This time

around, the senior leadership team has a common understanding of what

strategic planning is and what it can do to help focus and align the efforts

of the entire organization. The organization is probably ready to stretch.

Following are actions that are keys to successfully revisiting the strategic

plan and actions that guarantee failure.

Pre-Planning

Activities

Organizational

Assessment

Pre-Planning

Mission

Vision

Guiding

Principles

Strategic

Foundations

Gap

Analysis

Strategic

Goals

Objectives

Strategic Planning

Develop Measurement Plan

Phase I:

Complete

the Plan

Phase II: Communicate the Plan

Deployment

Communicate

Progress Track Status Take Action Develop

Action Plans

Implementation

Measurement

and Evaluation

Communicate Results

Analyze and Evaluate

Collect

Data

Resource

Allocation

Strategies

Revisiting the

Strategic Plan

. . . most people have forgotten that planning is the primary function of

management and should lead all of its other functions. The crush of other

management fads and theories has caused us to lose sight of the basics.

(Haines, 1995)

Why revisit

the plan?

Assign roles and responsibilities

Recognize when to update the plan

Modify strategic planning process

to accommodate the more mature

organization

Incorporate new leaders into the

strategic planning process

Keys to Success Facts of Failure

No accountability

Poor timing and not recognizing

external forces

Rigid application of strategic

planning process; ignore lessons

learned from previous efforts

Ignore impact of new leaders

Integrate measurement with

strategic planning

Dont use measurement information

Use experienced strategic planning

facilitators

Shortcut the process
86 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Assign roles and responsibilities

The following are suggested roles and responsibilities:

4 Chooses and contracts with strategic planning facilitator

4 Develops expectations for revisiting the plan

4 Develops interview questions with strategic planning facilitator for

senior leadership team and, if appropriate, for key customers and

internal focus groups

4 Develops timeline for revisiting the strategic plan

4 Allocates resources

4 Leads planning sessions

4 Engages in pre-planning activities

4 Contributes input to customer and focus group interview questions

4 Participates in planning sessions

4 Coordinates logistics

4 Works with strategic planning facilitators

4 Provides tracking and measurement information

4 Coordinates planning group member interviews, customer interviews, and focus group sessions

Who does what

when we revisit

the strategic

plan?

Senior Leader

Senior

Leadership

Team

TQL

Coordinator
87 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

4 Share lessons learned from implementation efforts

4 Provide status of goal accomplishments

4 Continue to coordinate strategic management efforts

4 Provides resources for revisiting sessions

4 Participates on senior leadership team

4 Helps integrate strategic plan into budget process

4 Gather input from their employees

4 Revisit suborganization plans

Recognize when to update the plan

There are five reasons for the senior leadership team to revisit the strategic plan:

4 Environmental forces and changing external conditions

4 Significant accomplishment of the goals, strategies, and/or objectives

4 Measurement data may show that strategies need to be refocused

4 Transition of senior leader

4 A year has gone by

Goal Group

Leaders

Budget Officer

Individual

Senior

Leadership

Team Members

How does

the senior

leadership

team know

when to revisit

the strategic

plan?
88 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

The original plan was formulated under a set of assumptions: a particular

organizational infrastructure, budgetary affluence or constraints, an

organizational culture, fears, barriers, political considerations, economic

factors, technological breakthroughs, resource constraints, etc. When the

assumption(s) change, the plan must be revisited. Furthermore, as goals,

strategies, and objectives are accomplished, the organization must

continuously set new ones if it is to grow and remain dynamic. Without

these updates, the organization will become stagnant. This is why

strategic management is an iterative process.

The length of time depends on how much progress was made in achieving the goals, how long its been since the last planning session, and the

quality of the strategic plan developed during that session. Additional

factors include:

4 The expectations of the senior leader

4 Analyzing focus group and customer feedback from the interview

process

4 The extent of change required to the plan

4 Incorporating strategic measurement development

4 Incorporating new deployment and implementation strategies

based on lessons learned and new ideas

How long does

revisiting the

plan take?
89 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Modify strategic planning process to accommodate the

more mature organization

It depends on the senior leaders expectations for revisiting the plan. If

the senior leader thinks that there have been significant changes in external and internal factors, the vision or mission may need to be adjusted.

Guiding principles should change less drastically and less often. The

senior leadership team may need to revisit just the goals, strategies, and

objectives based on measurement feedback and what has been accomplished.

The process may also change by altering how the senior leadership team

develops the strategic plan. The tools that the strategic planning facilitator usesinterviews, brainstorming, affinity diagrams, the ground rules,

consensus decision making, etc.will again be used in some form. For

organizations that have had many revisits, it may be helpful for them to

create new brainstorming exercises.

Following are recommendations on how revisiting the process can differ

from the initial process:

In the pre-planning phase:

4 Create interview questions based on the senior leaders expectations and maturity of the organization

4 Conduct focus groups to gather manager and employee input

4 Conduct customer interviews

4 Analyze recent survey results, both internal (employee climate)

and external

4 Understand results of measurement analysis

4 Evaluate implementation status based on tracking information

4 Individual senior leadership team members meet with their employees to gather input

Should we

use the same

strategic

planning

process as

before?
90 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

In the planning phase:

4 Vary the brainstorming methods to explore possibilities

4 Ensure that strategic measurement plan development is incorporated

4 Focus on new deployment and implementation ideas based on

lessons learned

Organizations whose senior leadership team has been regularly reviewing implementation progress at monthly meetings, briefing goal status at

regular staff meetings, and regularly communicating the plans status and

accomplishments to their employees have found that revisiting the plan

annually is a natural part of doing business.

Caution: Revisiting a strategic plan that has been

shelfware for a long time is viewed as a chore and may

not be taken seriously.

The senior leadership team and focus group interview questions should

address:

4 Validation of and modifications to the vision, mission, and guiding principles

4 External drivers and their potential impact (opportunities and

threats)

4 Internal issues (strengths and weaknesses)

4 How to close the performance gap between existing conditions

and the desired vision

4 Strategic goal review to determine continuing relevance

4 Reorganization/downsizing concerns (if applicable)

4 Measurement

What should

the interview

questions

address?
91 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

The customer interview questions should address:

4 Their perspective of the organizations vision and mission

4 Strategic issues they are facing that the organization should

address

4 Their perception of the organizations strengths and weaknesses

4 Their expectations of the organization

4 How they measure the organization in meeting those expectations

Customer participation is gained through the interview process. By

involving the key customers in the interview process, their input is gathered and can be used throughout the process.

It is the responsibility of the corporate organization to communicate to the

suborganizations the changes to the plan and how those changes affect

them.

Incorporate new leaders into the strategic planning

process

The new senior leader should be a part of the revision process. Timing is

important. Coming on board, a new leader is faced with absorbing a

tremendous amount of information to become familiar with the new

organization: how it operates, who the customers and suppliers are, what

the products and services are, the organizations culture, and the

organizations strategic planning process.

Should

customers be

invited to

participate

this time?

How does the

revision affect

suborganizations?

Our senior

leader is

leaving; does

that impact

when and how

we revisit the

plan?
92 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Advice: Wait to revisit the strategic plan until the new

leader:

4 Assesses the strategic plan and its impact

4 Understands what changes the organization has

been through

4 Understands the process of strategic planning

4 Talks with employees

4 Talks with customers

4 Has a sense of major internal issues

4 Has a sense of external drivers

4 Is well enough informed about the organization to

make strategic decisions

After the senior leader has assessed the organization and the strategic

plan, he or she needs to decide when to revisit the plan.

When members leave and others join the team, have the new member(s)

involved in the revisiting process. If possible, interview both the outgoing

and the incoming members to incorporate the wisdom and experience of

the outgoing members and to bring the new members into the planning

process. New members benefit from this involvement by being exposed

to the organizations strategic management process. They also get an

opportunity to provide new and fresh ideas. By having the new members

participate as soon as possible, they will feel more a part of the plan and

will more fully understand the planning process.

What about

other senior

leadership team

members

transitioning?
93 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Advice: Senior members should have attended the DON

Senior Leaders Seminar (SLS), which will provide them with

a common understanding of process management, language, structure, and the need for strategic direction.

Integrate measurement with strategic planning

When revisiting a strategic plan that has not had strategic measurements,

it is important to include their development in this iteration of the process.

When revisiting a strategic plan that has measurements, the senior leadership team must validate those measurements. Do they indicate progress

toward the vision? Have they led to other measures that may be used for

identification of root causes of problems? If, as a result of revisiting this

plan, there is a significant change to the strategic direction of the organization, then strategic measurements must be updated as well. For example, if the organization is taking on a new product line, strategic

measurements may need to be developed to indicate performance in that

new area.

Advice: Measurement is often thought of as too hard to

do and is therefore put off. It is the senior leaders responsibility to make strategic measurement a primary,

priority part of the process.

If an organization has already been measuring its strategic goals, the

results or output of that measurement effort should become input into the

next iteration of the strategic planning process. This feedback to the

senior leaders becomes either positive (to reinforce the behavior) or

negative feedback (to change the behavior) of the strategic management

How do we

more effectively

integrate

measurement

with our

strategic

planning

process?

How do we use

measurement

results?
94 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

system. The information can be provided to the senior leadership team as

part of their next pre-planning phase or during the environmental scan.

Use experienced strategic planning facilitators

Use strategic planning facilitators to assist with the revisiting process.

They will help focus the review and can help leaders use their time more

efficiently. Because of their external perspective of the organization and

the issues that it is trying to address, external strategic planning facilitators are better positioned to assist the senior leadership team with its

strategic deliberations.

Advice: External can mean outside of the individual

organization, but not necessarily outside of the entire Department of the Navy. The advantage of external facilitators

is that they can advise candidly because they are not subject

to internal supervisory controls. A good external strategic

planning facilitator has different strategic management

experiences that can enrich the revision process and provide

lessons learned to the senior leadership team.

Yes. If, as Haines said,  . . . planning is the primary function of management, then strategic management is the primary function of leadership. Think about Dr. W. Edwards Demings Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA)

cycle. Strategic management is the way that the Department of the Navy

operationalizes his teachings about PDSA. P considers both the preplanning and strategic planning processes; D encompasses both the

deployment and implementation of the plan; S tracks progress, measures results and outcomes, and evaluates all three. A feeds the evaluation back to the system and either adjusts or standardizes the system

based upon that feedback.

Should we try

revisiting the

plan on our

own, or should

we use strategic

planning

facilitators?

So the strategic

management

process can be

even more

challenging

the second

time around?
95 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Section II:

Case Studies
96 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation
97 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

This handbook has provided guidance based on extensive work with

client organizations in developing, deploying, and implementing strategic

plans. This information has been supplemented by research that included

interviews with DON and other government leaders who have led strategic management efforts within their organizations.

Every organization handles its strategic management effort differently.

Leadership style, maturity of the organization, structure, moraleall of

these factors influence how an organization will approach its strategic

management efforts. Section I of this handbook has offered guidance.

To provide real examples of this guidance in action, four case studies

follow. Each case study offers a different perspective on strategic management initiatives.

The case studies are not intended to be hallmarks of how strategic management should be implemented, but rather how leaders applied their

knowledge and best efforts toward creating a better organization.

The cases are structured according to the processes of strategic management: planning, completing the plan, communicating the plan, implementing the plan, and measurement and evaluation. In addition, lessons

Case Studies:

Strategic Plans at Work

The best plan is only a plan, that is, good intentions,

unless it degenerates into work. The distinction that marks a plan

capable of producing results is the commitment of key people

to work on specific tasks. The test of a plan is whether

management actually commits resources to actions

which will produce results in the future.

Unless such a commitment is made,

there are only promises and hopes, but no plan.

(Drucker, 1986)
98 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

learned are provided to help other organizations make choices about

their own plans. Keep in mind that what works for one organization will

not necessarily be successful for another. To be most successful, balance

these case studies with the guidance provided by this handbook and your

own organizational culture.

Each of the organizations profiled offers a different strength. Naval Air

Station, Barbers Point, which is scheduled for closure, undertook strategic

planning to help its people deal with issues related to closure, reduction

in size, and transitioning. Naval Air Facility Washington has a mature

process for utilizing teams for implementation efforts. U.S. Military

Entrance Processing Command used their formal policy deployment

system to outline detailed implementation plans, including roles and

responsibilities. Center for Veterinary Medicine employed a unique

approach for communicating their strategic plan to the workforce.

Within each case study are quotes taken from interviews with the senior

leaders and strategic planning coordinators. These insightful comments

provide a taste of their experiences, thoughts, and feelingsin their own

words. Our intent is not to judge their efforts, but to learn from them.
99 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

The Naval Air Station Barbers Point (NASBP) has been placed on the

Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) list. The senior leadership of the

command undertook strategic planning to help its people deal with

BRAC-related issues. They needed to include closure in their mission,

reducing their size and transitioning much of their remaining activity to

Marine Corps Base Hawaii at Kaneohe Bay.

Our closure date is July 99. Were moving all the operational

units and a lot of the air station assets and personnel over to

Kaneohe Bay, just across the island. The strategic plan helped

focus attention on that and we are well on our way in working

toward the move because of it.

Their goals and objectives reflect their desire to become a model for

maintaining the quality and continuity of their service to the operating

forces and supporting and improving the quality of life for their personnel

while transitioning to closure.

In a 3-day offsite in December 1994, the senior leadership of NASBP

developed its mission, vision, guiding principles, and broad goal areas

using the DON strategic planning model and guided by a strategic

planning facilitation team from the TQL Training Team Pacific. The

participants, numbering about 20, were the department heads and

special assistantsall people with a stake in operating and, ultimately,

closing the base.

The 3-day offsite really got us together as a team and focused

our common efforts on what was significant for our organizationtransitioning to closure.

Following the initial strategic planning offsite, the Base Transition Steering

Committee (BTSC) was formed as an Executive Steering Committee to

oversee completion and implementation of the plan. There was a delay

Background

Case Study:

Naval Air Station, Barbers Point

Strategic

Planning

Process
100 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

in completing the strategic plan and no structured activity on deploying

the plan for a number of months.

The transition process for the base had not yet been determined.

We didnt know what was happening with the operational units,

whether the air station would close up, whether we would move,

or what the time line was. So a strategic plan to carry us through

for who knows how long or for what goalswe figured that wed

better wait to finish it until we got the word on what was happening.

The mission, vision, and guiding principles below were provided by the

TQL Coordinator from the unpublished NAS Barbers Point strategic plan:

Mission

Close NAS Barbers Point consistent with public law.

Maintain quality service to the operating forces.

Tailor support infrastructure.

Continue quality of life support.

Vision

A good neighbor

Environmental steward

Model for transition to a successfully integrated community

Guiding Principles

To inspire an attitude of excellence we will:

Encourage and embrace innovation and change.

Work together with mutual respect, trust, and

accountability for our actions.

Keep people informed at all levels and maintain strong

community relationships.

Allow all personnel to provide input to the transition

process while being sensitive to their personal needs and

professional growth.
101 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Work on the plan resumed after the unanswered questions about the

BRAC were resolved.

We got the word about our realignment and transition from the

Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Fleet, in October 95 and we started

picking up again where we left off on the strategic plan.

Early efforts to use QMBs to further develop the goals were not very

successful.

We really didnt get anywhere because the QMBs generally

didnt have time to meet. They were so cross-functional that they

almost got in the way of the daily routine.

One of the principle mission areas is tailoring the infrastructure (the

numbers of people and facilities needed to support the fleet). The process

owners developed their own POA&Ms for tailoring their infrastructure.

These were reviewed by the BTSC and merged into a common POA&M

for the base.

The senior leaders decided to give the draft plan to the mid-level managersthe chief petty officers (CPOs)to review and validate. The chiefs

met in January 1995 in a facilitated, closed-door session. The Command

Master Chief, who is a member of the BTSC, acted as a downlink. This

Chiefs Round Table made positive contributions to the completion and

further deployment of the strategic plan.

The chiefs took the goals and came up with some great objectives

and elements. They really put more action into the plan.

4 The chiefs reviewed, validated, and augmented the strategic plan.

4 The chiefs buy-in to the plan was obtained.

4 The chiefs contributed a work-oriented perspective to the plan.

4 The session resulted in team-building within the mid-level management group.

4 The chiefs were exposed to TQL processes.

Phase I

Deployment:

Completing the

Strategic Plan
102 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Up until then, wed had a lot of resistance from the chiefs about

taking formal TQL training. But they got some training from the

facilitator, and they used it, and it was effective. We actually got

some converts, guys who said, I guess this TQL stuff works.

The BTSC met and completed the plan based on the inputs from the

Chiefs Round Table and subsequent BTSC meetings.

At the Chiefs Round Table, the draft plan was presented to the mid-level

management group by the Command Master Chief in an environment

where they could make unreserved inputs without negative consequences.

The reason why [the Commanding Officer] didnt present the

plan was that he didnt want the chiefs to get the impression that

this was his plan, that if they changed it, they were changing the

skippers plan. He didnt want any intimidation.

The plan has been communicated to the workforce via the department

heads or division officers.

We feel its important to have it come down from the bosses.

That way people know that the boss thinks its important.

Now that the strategic plan has been completed, plans for communicating it both internally and externally are being developed:

4 Department heads will hold formal briefings on the plan for their

people.

4 The plan will be covered in the commands General Military

Training sessions.

4 The Public Affairs Office communication plan will be implemented

to disseminate information to station personnel, residents, the

chain-of-command, and the community using face-to-face presentations and print and electronic media.

The completed strategic plan is being shared with the base that NASBP is

transitioning to at Kaneohe Bay.

Phase II

Deployment:

Communicating

the Strategic

Plan
103 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

The mission, vision, and guiding principles have been published and

communicated to the next level up in the chain-of-command.

The goals were recently communicated up the chain-of-command in

response to a request for the commands goals for 1996. Using its

strategic plan as the baseline, the BTSC synthesized a list of goals from

the plan.

They were able to do that because we have been using our

strategic plan as our roadmap to the future. We have our

POA&Ms all laid out. Putting together the goals for 96 was just a

cakewalk for us.

One of the major processes we need to complete within the next

couple of years is closing down the base and transitioning all the

operational activities to the Marine Corps Base Hawaii at

Kaneohe Bay.

A combined relocation team has been established at the senior leadership level. It will meet every week to work through the base closure and

transition process.

NASBP senior leadership sat in on the Marine Corps strategic planning

sessions and is working to coordinate the NASBP plan with the Marine

Corps plan.

A BRAC Office was opened to get started on the new mission of closing

the base.

The BRAC Office was instrumental in coordinating a number of

actions that came out of the strategic plan and that were in the

command POA&M. In fact, it was one of the people from the

BRAC office who took the individual department POA&Ms and

merged them into the command one.

Tailoring the infrastructure has resulted in a reduction in military endstrength requirements by 200, or almost one-third of the enlisted

workforce.

Implementing

the Strategic

Plan
104 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

The process owners all accomplished a lot moving us toward

tailoring our infrastructure. We wanted to know what we could

downsize to and still support the fleet.

The principal strategy used for end-strength reduction has been elimination of redundant functions.

Can we partner with the local weapons magazine to reduce the

number of ordnance men we have on station? Can we partner

with local supply centers to reduce the number of supply personnel

we have on board? If you restructure your aircraft intermediate

maintenance department, how many people do you really need?

Strategies were implemented to reduce the impact on the civilian

workforce of tailoring the infrastructure. For example, the new partnership with the local supply center made it possible to eliminate 18 (almost

a third) of the civilian positions in the supply department. The workers

were placed in other jobs made available by attrition or offered early

retirement with a bonus.

We were able to do that because we developed a plan on how

to do it, planned well out into the future, and got everybody

working by the plan.

Without having the strategic plan fully implemented, work on the goals

has stayed mostly at the department head level.

Each individual member of the BTSC was expected to talk to the

various people in his or her area of responsibility and, in the

interim, work toward the basic goals.

The strategic plan directs the chartering of QMBs for initiating and monitoring implementation in the areas of personnel and readiness, base

realignment and closure, and quality of life. Membership is currently

being defined and identified.

We are having the various functional areas review their processes and identify where their products and services impact the

strategic goals. The BTSC will come back together, collate the

inputs, and identify members for the various QMBs.
105 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Significant accomplishments and the major items being worked on are

briefed to the BTSC quarterly. The BTSC periodically reviews the

POA&Ms and discusses modifications.

Every department has had a lot of accomplishments, substantive

ones that show were doing things more efficiently, with fewer

people, doing things that were right for closure and for operating

the base at the same time.

The BTSC periodically reviews accomplishments. While they are not

specifically tying metrics to the plan, they see results.

I havent got any measurements on hand that will tell you that our

backlogs in maintenance have been reduced. But, even though

were reducing our maintenance personnel significantly, our

backlogs have never been lower. That, I think, is just a result of

good plans and good management.

Evidence that the guiding principles are having an impact:

Innovation is welcome because of the possibilities for improvement. There is a realization that changes are going to be made

and now is the time to look over everything with a view to innovation.

People are looking at how we can do things better as we rebuild

over at the Marine Corps Base at Kaneohe.

The department heads work with each other, looking at the

process, trying to come up with better ways of doing things, rather

than just individually trying to fix a problem or put out a fire.

Since the Round Table, the department heads are working more

with the CPOs.

There seems to be a good flow of interdepartmental communication.

Our legal problems on base have dropped over the past year.

The command is holding a quality of life conference.
106 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

The commands Ohana (Hawaiian for family) Quality of Life Conference is tied in with the guiding principles as well as one of the mission

areas: continuing quality of life support even though the base is moving.

Were going to review all the concerns about quality of life,

prioritize what people think are the most important issues for

quality of life, and then develop an action plan.

Participants will be delegates from the air station and from all of the

tenant commands who are customers.

The delegates will be coming up with the most important quality

of life issues. Everybody has a chance to suggest ideas and offer

solutions. They are all part of the process. Its not just a bunch of

Captains or Morale Welfare and Recreation Directors saying how

we improved quality of life around here; its the deckplate level.

The delegates will separate into focus groups and meet to review inputs

received from the extended naval communitythe military personnel,

their family members, retirees, and civilian workers.

This process goes to the deckplate level to find out what they

really want, what the families want, what the customers want. Its

not just a town meeting where people are throwing up their

individual agenda items; its a way for this group to come to

consensus on the five highest priority quality of life issues.

Each focus group will brief the five items most needing improvement in

their topic area to the Commander of the Naval Base and the installation

commanders. Issues that are Navy-wide will get forwarded to the Chief

of Naval Operations Quality of Life Panel, but most are expected to be

installation-specific.

When you talk about enhancing quality of life, that is the process. Its a TQL process. Its a strategic process. Its everything

rolled into one, and it really works.
107 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

You need to include people at all levels throughout the command

so they feel that theyve been part of the process and have a stake

in the plan; so they will support the plan.

We senior leaders are only comfortable getting to the goals in an

offsite. We provide the leadership and guidance. Were mission,

vision, and goals people. The CPOs, the mid-level managers

they are the doers. Theyre the ones to develop the objectives and

elements.

As you get further down through the tasks and elements developing action plans, its important to get input and participation from

the people who are going to be implementing the plans. They are

the ones who best know their jobs and whats needed.

The Commanding Officer needs to ensure that people are aware

that leadership backs the plan and expects people to conduct

business in accordance with the plan.

Having the mid-level managers (the CPOs) validate our strategic

plan and then fully develop the objectives was a powerful process.

It helped them gel as a team. It helped them get on board and

buy into the mission, vision, and goals.

The plan wont go anywhere unless the process owners are on

board with the goals and working as a team to accomplish them.

Their leadership is needed to guide the people beneath them.

Thats why we call it TQL.

The key to success is the linkage between the strategic plan and

the existing processesnot having two different organizations, or

two ways of managing things, but linking them. For instance, the

facilities and environment QMB is linked to the Facilities Planning

Board. Its an existing process that is tailored to accomplish the

goals of the plan. If you dont have that linkage, you may not get

buy-in.

The quality of life conference is a powerful tool. This is the way

to go when youre figuring out prioritizing what customers want

for quality of life.

Dont try to force feed the strategic plan. Take it slow and make

sure that the right people are in the right place.

Lessons

Learned
108 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

When everybody in the room feels good about the other guys

achievementstheyre not competing with each other, but proud

of their performance as a groupthen the teamwork just keeps

going.

When the strategic plan is put on paper, people may treat it as

just another flyer. The mission, vision, and goals statements mean

a lot to the people who developed them, but may not mean a lot

to the people who are reading it. The department heads who

communicate on a daily basis with the troops are the ones who

will take the strategic plan and make it part of their lives.

The reality is, if you dont have an input into a process, you dont

focus on it. Thats why having the workforce make inputs to the

Ohana Quality of Life Conference is so important. Youre getting

down to the stuff that really matters to the troops.

Implementing the plan would go smoother if more people had a

better background in what a strategic plan is all about and why

we need to go in that direction.

The skipper has emphasized that if we dont make this plan work

for us, weve wasted all the effort we put into it. Its not just to

make us look good.

You need to ensure that people at all levels who are going to be

working the plan have a feedback mechanism to change the plan,

if necessary, to make it better.

We found it crucial to have a trained strategic planning facilitator assist with the strategic planning process. The facilitator

provided training in strategic planning, process management, and

team skills in addition to guiding the attendees towards completion of a draft plan. Any other command just starting the strategic

planning process is strongly advised to use a trained facilitator.
109 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Naval Air Facility Washington (NAF Washington) is a tenant command

at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland. It employs nearly 600 military

and civilian personnel in 10 departments. The organization had done

some strategic planning and had been attempting to implement TQL with

little success for about a year and a half when a new Commanding

Officer came on board. He found that the work of the QMBs was not

coordinated and had mostly come to a standstill. There was no real plan

for implementing the goals that the organization had established. And

there was little buy-in to the strategic plan.

Fortunately, the NAFs senior leadership recognized the problems and

accepted an invitation to participate in the DON Strategic Planning

Facilitator Development Program in the Fall of 1993. The key members

of the command18 senior leaders, including the department heads, the

Commanding Officer, and his special assistantsparticipated in a 3-day

offsite retreat. They completed the mission, vision, guiding principles,

and goals, leaving the strategies and objectives to be completed following the offsite. Because their strategic plan has been revisited periodically, the goals referred to in this case study are from the 19 April 1995

iteration of the plan.

The strategic planning retreat breathed new life into TQL in our

organization.

The following mission, vision, and guiding principles are quoted from the

pocket-sized cards given by NAF Washington to all new personnel and

other interested parties.

Case Study:

Naval Air Facility Washington

Background

Strategic

Planning

Process
110 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Mission

The mission of [NAF Washington] is to optimize

Total Force readiness by providing:

Logistics and maintenance support to local squadrons . . . and distinguished visitors.

Training and training support for reserve augment units and tenant commands.

A wide range of materiel, facilities, and support services to reserve units

and active duty personnel of the National Capitol Region.

Specialized and responsive fleet support.

Vision

We are Naval Air Facility Washington.

We are the premier Naval Reserve command providing a model

community in partnership with our customers in pursuit of quality.

We cultivate an innovative, proactive, process-oriented organization that

makes us the customers provider of choice.

We leverage our joint location at Andrews to maximize capabilities for

our customers benefit.

We capitalize on our demographics to complement our growth potential.

We employ emerging technology to provide flexible, timely, and cost

effective training to meet the changing needs of our customers.

We pursue opportunities to provide specialized and responsive fleet

support.

We ensure optimal resource utilization through dynamic planning and

systems management.
111 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Following the strategic planning offsite, the Commanding Officer formed

a new Executive Steering Committee (ESC), selecting the six people from

the planning group who control most of the money and personnel resources. This group completed the plan.

I wanted an ESC that was small enough to make decisions and

still provide a broad input. I knew the work was going to be timeconsuming, and I didnt want to tie up 18 people. I also knew that

the more people I had, the more time-consuming it was going to

be.

Phase I

Deployment:

Completing the

Strategic Plan

Guiding Principles

In pursuit of continuously improving quality, we are committed to:

Honesty, integrity, professionalism, and the highest standards of conduct.

Safely accomplishing our mission through teamwork and dedication.

Being good citizens.

Treating people with trust . . . equality, and respect, providing opportunities . . . to excel.

Acknowledging personal efforts and team contributions.

Being good stewards of taxpayer dollars.

Promoting process ownership by involving workers and supervisors in

decision making.

Providing quality customer service through communication and feedback.

Safeguarding people, resources, and the environment.

Empowering personnel by delegating authority and responsibility . . .

Being innovative in meeting present and future requirements.

Providing professional training [and] equal opportunity, and encouraging

personal development and growth.

Relying on data, knowledge, and communication to make informed

decisions and measure progress.
112 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

While completing the NAF strategic plan, the ESC checked it against the

strategic plan of its immediate supervisor, the Commander, Naval Air

Reserve Force, to see how they aligned.

The planning team was not disbanded. Once the objectives and tasks

were developed, the ESC cross-briefed the plan to the planning team.

The ESC meets with the full team two or three times a year.

The ESC meets for 4 hours each week. It has evolved into a board of

directors, working on decisions, such as mid-year reviews, policy decisions for the organization, and budget planning for the next year. Half

of each meeting is devoted to training for the ESC.

The ESC developed a timeline for the tasks, indicating when each would

be completed and how each would support goal attainment.

In the command indoctrination session, everyone is introduced to the

goals and given a TQL handbook containing the mission, vision, and

guiding principles.

We have a one-day introductory course for people newly checking on board. People know up front that were a TQL organization when they get their sponsor package.

Laminated, pocket-sized cards printed with the mission, vision, and

guiding principles are handed out to each person who joins the command and to other interested parties.

After we published the plan, we developed these handy little ID

versions of it, which we give out all the time.

The strategic goals are displayed on posters throughout the command.

I framed about 50 of them and put them around the spaces, so

the people see them all the time.

Articles about strategic plan activities have appeared in the station

newspaper.

Phase II

Deployment:

Communicating

the Strategic

Plan
113 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

The Commanding Officer addresses the strategic plan at the Captains

Call, which is held once a month with different groups, and discusses

strategic plan activity at Quarters on a fairly regular basis.

When we do something that ties into one of our strategic goals,

Ill mention that at Quarters.

The strategic plan was sent to Commander, Naval Air Reserve Force.

As part of the implementation plan, the ESC identified when dollars

would be required to go against tasks, but not the amount, since that was

unknown.

The ESC established a timeline for accomplishing the goals, objectives,

and tasks.

The ESC establishes teams to work on the tasks and provides them with a

charter.

The Commanding Officer sends letters to team members asking for their

participation, communicating the need for their expertise and commitment, asking them to keep their department heads advised of their schedule and assignments, and thanking them for their help.

The charters were written in accordance with the following guidance. A

sample charter also follows.

Implementing

the Strategic

Plan
114 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Guidance for Chartering Teams

Charter: A mission statement given to a team that effectively identifies a process

for improvement based upon the organizations strategic plan. The charter tells the

team why it has come together and what it is to accomplish. The charter should:

4 Identify the process/systems selected for improvement

4 Provide background information on why the process has been selected

4 Set boundaries and limitations

4 Provide a clear idea of where to begin

4 Tell the team exactly what is expected of it

4 Provide guidance on reporting criteria to the chartering team

4 Define limits of authority

4 Identify team members

Questions to ask before releasing the charter to the team, and the questions the

team should ask itself:

4 Is the teams charter clear (i.e., do you know what management expects

you to do?)

4 Does the tasking cover the entire process or only part of it?

4 Where does the team fit in?

4 Where does our process start and end?

4 What are the specific boundaries?

4 What will be outside our jurisdiction?

4 What improvement goals have been set and are they realistic?

4 What resources (inside and outside the department) will be needed?

4 Has management committed these resources to the team?

4 Do we have the right people on the team to analyze the process and

accomplish our objective?

4 What people not on the team are critical to our success?

4 Who can we expect to support the teams efforts, and who may be opposed?

4 What are the potential roadblocks to this process improvement?

4 What strategies can we use to minimize opposition to the teams efforts?

4 Can countermeasures to these roadblocks be identified?
115 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

While these questions are not exhaustive, they provide a starting point for

the team to gain an understanding into the process they have been chartered to improve. It is very important that the downward linking-pin be

present at the first few meetings to ensure the team has a firm grasp of

the process.

Sample of a Charter for a Process Action Team

1. Purpose: The purpose of this team is to identify all training and education

resources for professional growth and personal development that may be available to members assigned to NAF Washington. This data will be used to conduct

an analysis of opportunities versus needs/desires as compiled by a survey of

personnel assigned to NAF Washington.

2. Background: The Executive Steering Committee is working on implementing

the NAF Strategic Plan. One of the goals specifically deals with Professional

Growth and Personal Development (see enclosure 1: Strategic Plan [not included]). There is a requirement to compile what training and education resources are available. This compilation should include all types of training and

education that will assist a member in growing professionally and developing

personally.

3. Guidance:

a. For purposes of this team, enclosure (2) [not included] is a list of

customers and stakeholders.

b. The final list must contain type of training, availability, cost per student, and how it applies to the member, i.e., professional growth toward

NEC for rating . . . or personal development in what regard.

c. This information will be applied against the needs/wants data gathered from the military and civilian members assigned to NAF Washington. The survey is provided as enclosure (3) [not included].

d. The team will have the latitude to seek outside expertise.

e. The information will be in such a format as to allow easy comparison

to the data from the survey with respect to satisfaction of wants and

needs.

f. This information will be presented to the ESC by 4 April 1996.

g. This team may be dissolved upon completion and acceptance of the

information by the ESC.

Downward Linking Pin: ____________________________

Quality Advisor: ____________________________

Membership: ____________________________
116 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Implementation progress is monitored through team reports to the ESC.

The ESC establishes time lines for accomplishing tasks and reviews them

every 90 days.

We ask ourselves, have we been too ambitious? Have we been

overly cautious? Are we going to meet the milestones that weve

set? If not, by consensus, we will adjust the time frame.

In trying to decide where they would spend money, where they

would put resources, the ESC has committed to doing it in a way

that will support the strategic plan.

NAF Washington has a goal to administer a survey dealing with professional development and personal growth. The survey was given out to

every person, both civilian and military, at work on the base on the day

of the survey. Two-thirds (433) of the commands personnel responded.

The ESC intends to prioritize resources against the educational wants and

needs expressed in the survey responses.

Were into gap analysis. Now the workforce is waiting to see

how we act on the information they gave us.

The commands training process has been expanded to educate people

about the strategic plan and how to implement it using TQL.

The ESC decided to use the Systems Approach to Process Improvement

model as the approach for implementing its strategic plan using TQL

methods.

Just-in-time training in team skills and in use of the tools is provided to

teams before they work on their assignments.

That seems to work fairly well because the team members get the

training together. They have already gotten accustomed to working together before they actually attack the problem.

To implement their goal of cultivating a culture founded in TQL, the NAF

undertook an intensive period of workforce training using the DON

Implementation

Results
117 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Teams Skills and Fundamentals of TQL courses. Approximately 80 percent of the organization was trained.

An Introduction to TQL class is held once a month for personnel who

either missed the earlier training or are newly assigned.

After they complete the course, a letter stating that they attended

a one-day introductory TQL course is sent to the personnel department for their training records.

Another goal states NAFs commitment to maximizing its contribution to

the Total Force by identifying new missions and exploring products,

services, and ideas to serve customers better. As part of the budgeting

process, money was allocated for additional ADP technological capability. As a result, the NAF is now the data site for two initiatives:

4 A local area network was instituted in the field.

4 Work on multi technology reader cards with the Office of the

Secretary of Defense.

We went from very little ADP capability to a lot. I dont think we

could have done those things if we hadnt implemented such a

strong program to purchase computer hardware and software.

4 A computer training lab, with an instructor available to all the

commands people, civilian and military, is being established.

In pursuit of partnering with other organizations to seek joint opportunities and reduce duplication of effort, the NAF developed a memorandum

of understanding with the Air Force to consolidate security forces on

Andrews Air Force Base.

One part of our strategic plan was to look for ways to stop

duplication with the Air Force. We came up with the idea of

blending our security forces in with theirs.

The ESC has encouraged departments to do planning, establish goals,

and work more closely with other departments that are their customers

and suppliers.
118 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

The plan has enabled us to coordinate efforts and focus like a

laser on certain processes that are critical to the NAFs operation.

In implementing the strategic plan, take a long view of things, try

not to get bogged down in the weeds, and avoid flash-in-the-pan

successes.

Publicizing your goals and getting people involved to build a

critical mass are very important. You cant underestimate the

value of lots of publicity.

Each organization has to find out for itself the ideal number of

key players. You may have ten people who are very important,

but you probably can get by with only six on your ESC as long as

you cover the spectrum of services performed by your organization.

When you have a large ESC, you may never come to consensus,

or you may have false consensus. You may have one person who

is just waiting to ambush you.

The process of getting to consensus can be tedious. But you have

to go through it.

You have to be very careful about groupthink in your team.

That causes some problems to go unmentioned.

To make the strategic plan and TQL work, the senior leaders

have to make it evident that they believe this is not just an optional

way to do business, but the only way. Not only do they have to

support it, they have to embrace it enthusiastically and sincerely.

If people are given any way to go around the system, or to

continue doing things the way they did in the past, the process

wont change. When that option is removed, and they are told

from the top that this is how we do business, then TQL works

wonders.

Its a long process to get to the measurement part of how youre

doing. It has taken us well into our second year before were

ready to start measuring our initial moves.

Lessons

Learned
119 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

To allay fear and alleviate peoples concerns about privacy,

surveys have to be administered in a very deliberate manner. Its

a balancing act between how specific the information will be and

giving people the feeling that they cant be picked out, that there

arent going to be any repercussions.

When you form teams its got to be a top-down approach.

People need to know that they have the full support of the Commanding Officer, that everyone is behind it, that their jobs wont

suffer because theyre serving on a team. They need to know that

supporting the strategic plan is part of their everyday work.

When chartering a team, set a reasonable period of time for it to

complete its task. When the task is over, the team is over.

Training people before they have an opportunity to use what

theyve learned is a waste. They forget what they learned and

they get frustrated because theres no way to practice it.
120 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation
121 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

USMEPCOM, the United States Military Entrance Processing Command, is

headquartered in North Chicago, Illinois, where it employs approximately 280 civilian and military personnel. Reporting to the headquarters are two sector commands, each with approximately 25 personnel,

who oversee 65 Military Entrance Processing Stations (MEPS) having 24

to 54 personnel each.

The impetus behind USMEPCOMs strategic planning and management

efforts is twofold. First, according to USMEPCOMs Strategic Planning

for the 21st CenturyEnsuring the Quality of the Force, the Corporate

Information Management Initiative requires all DoD managers to identify

and implement process improvements in their functional areas of responsibility. Since all process redesign begins with mission and action plans,

each organization must have a clear mission statement and a strategic

plan that lays out goals and objectives. Functional Process Improvement

is a key component of defense policy that is guiding the restructuring and

reorganization of the DoD. Second, the Government Performance and

Results Act requires all Federal agencies to do strategic planning and

performance measurement. The strategic plan developed by the

commands senior leadership will cause USMEPCOM to identify and

implement functional process improvements and performance measurements. It will expand USMEPCOMs presence throughout the Federal

Government and put it on a course that transforms the organization into

a higher performing system.

Case Study:

United States Military

Entrance Processing Command

Background
122 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

USMEPCOM hired a consultant who used the DON Strategic Planning

Model to guide them through the process. The pre-planning and organizational assessment phases were completed and, in July 1995, the 12-

person senior leadership group met for a 3-day session at which they

crafted the mission, vision, guiding principles, strategic goals, strategies,

and draft objectives. Their mission, vision, and guiding principles follow.

The process that [the consultant] brought allowed us to brainstorm problems . . . and whittle them down into something workable.

A lot of what we are doing is based on consensus. That is the

most impressive thing about the process.

Strategic

Planning

Process

Mission

(We) qualify applicants and ship recruits who meet service standards, and . . . conduct the DoD student testing program.

We are a partner in the success of the recruiting, qualifying, and

training triad during peacetime and mobilization.

Vision

USMEPCOM is a major partner in the accession process,

ensuring the Quality of the Force into the 21st Century.

We are a unique, innovative accession command and the . . . model

for entry-level qualification into the federal system . . .

We excel at providing accurate, timely, cost-effective evaluation of

applicants . . . We are the nucleus for managing information

pertinent to accession processing.

Guiding Principles

Our whole existence depends on customer trust and our

competence. We must remain independent and impartial

in the accession process.

We constantly evaluate and improve how we do business by

optimizing resources, being . . . innovative, promoting teamwork,

and working in partnership with our customers.

We respect each other and have the moral courage to be open and

honest. We conduct ourselves with pride and hold ourselves

accountable in the performance of our mission.
123 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

The action planning, time-phasing, and resource estimation is the

hard part. Coming up with the goals for the strategic plan and

then the strategies and objectives to support those goals went

pretty well.

Following the initial strategic planning session, the Commander held an

all-hands meeting to talk about strategic planning and describe the draft

plan. Informal feedback was received.

We did a good job telling the workforce that we were working

on a strategic plan. Initially that was met with a great deal of

skepticism, given the commands past failure to come up with a

workable strategic plan.

A month later the senior leadership group met again, considered the

informal feedback, and finalized the objectives.

Directorate heads briefed the draft plan to their mid-level managers and

invited them to a feedback session the following month.

A one-day feedback session was held for approximately 70 mid-level

managers. The senior leadership team briefly clarified the vision, mission, and guiding principles. Then the mid-level managers were assigned

to randomly selected groups of about 20 that met in turn with each of the

goal groups in separate rooms. In these facilitated goal group sessions,

detailed feedback on the goals, strategies, and objectives was gathered.

One day was not enough for the mid-level managers feedback

session. If it hadnt been facilitated, it would have turned into a

big gripe session and very little would have come out of it.

The goal groups affinitized the mid-level managers feedback, decided

which items to incorporate in the draft plan, and compiled the feedback

with annotations: whether incorporated, where, and if not incorporated,

why not.

The feedback session was valuable because it gave the mid-level

managers the feeling that they were involved. They contributed

some good ideas that we were able to incorporate in the plan.

The benefits far outweighed the cost.

Phase I

Deployment:

Completing the

Strategic Plan
124 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

The plan was updated and distributed, with the annotated feedback, to

the senior leadership.

Then the Commander met with feedback session participants and distributed the draft plan and the annotated feedback.

Feedback was more positive than it has ever been. People were

saying, They are serious this time. We have a plan, a written

plan, and while it is not perfect, its more than weve ever had

before.

The senior leadership team met again to finalize the plan and develop its

deployment and implementation strategies.

There is a tendency to feel a little tired and burned out and

frustrated. It is important for the group to get together again to

reinforce the importance of the plan, where it is, and the ability to

get there.

The Commander briefed the plan to everyone at headquarters in a

second all-hands meeting. At the same time, the sector commanders and

MEPS commanders presented the plan to their personnel at locations

across the country.

The strategic plan was published as USMEPCOM Order 96-1 on 31

October 1995.

I think the fact that we stayed on course and published a strategic plan on the target date of 31 Oct 95 impressed the workforce.

They were impressed by what they saw.

Following publication, a personalized copy of the strategic plan was

given to each employee at headquarters.

The Messenger, the command magazine that goes to every individual in

the command, dedicated an issue to the strategic plan, explaining

progress in executing the goals. In addition, the command plans to

dedicate the January/February 1997 issue exclusively to the strategic

plan.

Phase II

Deployment:

Communicating

the Strategic

Plan
125 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

To deploy the plan outside the command, copies were mailed to the chain

-of-command; personally handed to the Commanders boss; and mailed

to the commands customers and partners, the recruiting commands, the

MEPS, and the training centers.

Future deployment initiatives are to:

4 Review successes in meeting the strategic plan at command-wide

meetings.

4 Establish a column addressing the strategic plan that will appear

in every issue of The Messenger.

4 Use e-mail and award ceremonies as vehicles to keep the idea

fresh in everyones mind that the organizations successes are

almost always tied in some way to the accomplishment of the

strategic plan.

We need to keep the plan in front of the workforce.

4 Obtain the strategic plans of partners and customers, primarily the

recruiting services, to study them and attempt to bring theirs and

USMEPCOMs closer.

Shown below are responsibilities of senior leadership and management

for implementation as outlined in USMEPCOM Order 96-01.

4 Remains intact

4 Chartered to oversee implementation of strategic plan

4 Meets formally every 2 months to:

 review status of implementation activities

 discuss and reach consensus on implementation needs

4 Provides leadership and guidance to the Command

4 Meets annually or as needed to formally revise the strategic plan

Implementing

the Strategic

Plan

Strategic

Planning Team
126 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Deputy

Commander/

Chief of Staff

4 Remain intact

4 Oversee implementation of goal area

4 Meet formally at least every 2 months with objective leaders to

review progress and provide guidance

4 Convene goal group meetings

4 Work with USMEPCOM facilitator assigned to goal group to

establish meeting agendas, etc.

4 Keep record of goal area implementation activity

4 Brief status of goal area implementation to planning group at

monthly Staff Call

4 Provide guidance and leadership to objective leaders

4 Convene objective implementation teams

4 Keep record of objective implementation activity

4 Brief status of objective implementation to goal group and also to

planning group as required

4 Work with facilitator to establish meeting agendas, etc.

4 Lead objective implementation

4 Chartered by goal groups (they develop their own charters that

are approved by goal group)

4 Develop and implement implementation plans for objectives

(tasks, responsibilities, time lines, resources required)

4 Oversees plan implementation activity

4 Retains tasking authority for all facets of the strategic plan

4 Coordinates implementation issues requiring immediate attention

with the Commander

4 Requires updated Officer Evaluation Report (OER) support forms

and civilian support forms from planning group members that

reflect strategic plan implementation responsibilities

Goal Groups

Goal Group

Leaders

Objective

Leaders

Objective

Implementation

Teams
127 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

4 Requires training plans from planning group members that reflect

receiving training in areas associated with strategic plan implementation

4 Briefs new members of the staff on the strategic plan

4 Provides overall leadership and guidance to Command regarding

strategic plan implementation

4 Convenes planning group meetings

4 Works with facilitator to establish agendas, etc.

4 Shares guidance from higher echelons with planning group members and ensures that guidance is reflected in the strategic plan as

appropriate

4 Champions the strategic plan to stakeholders and customers

4 Holds all-hands meetings to share plan implementation progress

with Command

4 Briefs new Commander regarding the strategic plan

4 Provides advice to Commander through the Program Budget

Advisory Committee (PBAC) process for the strategic plan

4 Provides for facilitation support

4 Maintains strategic plan documentation as the central point of

contact

4 Updates the strategic plan documentation as appropriate

4 Provides Goal Group support

4 Participate fully in strategic plan development and implementation

as planning group and goal group members

4 Champion the strategic plan within own areas of responsibilities

4 Develop job standards that include strategic plan responsibilities

and amend OERs

4 Develop training plans to address training in the areas of the

strategic plan

Commander

Director,

Resource

Management

Director,

Program Analysis

and Evaluation

Individual

Planning Group

Members
128 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Each goal group met with its objective leaders to outline their responsibilities, select objective implementation teams, discuss charter and implementation plan development, and establish a timeline for goal group

review.

Its difficult to come up with implementation plans and timelines,

and allocate resources, when you are trying to look 5 to 15 years

ahead.

Implementation is managed at the goal level. The goal group

leaders are responsible for keeping the senior leadership informed on the status of the strategies and objectives that support

the goals.

The strategies and objectives are listed in action plan format, and the

goal group leaders or objective leaders report their status to the deputy

commander.

On a monthly basis, we are requiring them to give a subjective

evaluation of the impact of the accomplishments they are making.

At weekly command-wide meetings, the Commander informally shares

the status of strategic plan efforts.

You cant do this without command-wide involvement, but you

also need involvement of the senior leader in major areas.

The action plans for the objectives submitted by the goal groups have

been reviewed and approved or disapproved.

On some of them weve said, Well, this sounds good, we can do

it. Lets proceed two steps at a time. On some others weve said,

Well, it was a great idea but we cant do it and heres why.

Every 2 months, the senior leadership team meets for a facilitated halfday session to do a detailed review of plan implementation, modify the

plan if necessary, and obtain consensus when needed.

The process we are using enables us to refine the strategic plan

as we go along. We will not give up on the plan and call it a
129 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

failure, but refine it to something that remains manageable and

workable.

One of the MEPS commanders tied all of her major accomplishments to the four goals of the strategic plan when she submitted

input for her annual evaluation report. If we can make that the

standard, we can really start to institutionalize the strategic plan.

Some mid-level managers are requiring their civilian employees to tie

what they are doing to the strategic plan.

If you say, Were going to start measuring processes, and your

employees say, Why? Weve never done that before, you can

say, Because this is one of the steps involved in accomplishing the

goals in the strategic plan.

Theres been some change in behaviorpeople working together, trying

to solve problems, trying to make sure that they look after each other and

that everybody is credible.

The camaraderie and morale are better because theres a published strategic plan that people can look at and say, I can identify with this. But we need to be farther down the road before we

can say people really believe in the guiding principles and practice them every day.

The civilian award system is being reevaluated and that is attributable to

the strategic plan.

As you implement the strategic plan, you are institutionalizing the

guiding principles, vision, and the accomplishment of the goals.

One of the goals of the plan is to establish quantifiable performance

measures that are tied to accomplishing objectives.

Were still struggling with the measurement part.

Implementation

Results

Strategic

Measurement
130 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Goal group leaders track progress on objectives using action plans to

check off objectives which are accomplished.

Feedback from customers on whether service is better is gathered, both

orally and by letter.

How do you measure whether you are giving good customer

service? I dont know any other way but talking to the people you

are serving and going by what they say.

We may be trying to do too much too fast. It looks like we are

trying to do everything at once because we have short timelines

with early start times.

Resource managers or budget managers have to be part of the

planning team. As you make the strategic plan more forwardlookingwhen you start looking at undertaking new areas of

business or giving up areas of business or taking on new programsyou have to program money or it will never happen.

The strategic plan has to be linked to the budget process because

you only get so many dollars. If you are looking to do improvementswhich of course we all areyouve got to tie that to

dollars.

It is very difficult to think strategically 10 to 15 years out if you

have a lot of near-term things that need to be fixed firstthings

like cultural problems, the evaluation system, customer relations,

and performance improvement measurements.

It is difficult to replace subjective evaluations with quantifiable

performance measurements. The goals that deal with changing

the command culture and improving customer relationships and

satisfaction are a bit hard to measure.

You dont get rid of mistrust overnight. Following the plan makes

people believe that the leadership is serious, that it is a real

plan, that we can adjust it, but basically this is our guidance for

the future.

Lessons

Learned
131 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Successful implementation requires commitment to the plan. If

somebody says, Lets go off and do this, you can say, Show me

how that supports the strategic plan. You have to continue to

focus on the plan, although occasionally you may have to step

outside of it.

Communication is absolutely essential to successful implementation. As long as we continue to emphasize the plan and communicate what were accomplishing, people continue to believe we

are serious. Keeping the plan visible to the leadership and the

workforce, using whatever resources you have available, is probably the key to implementation success.

We need to go back periodically and recapture the closeness that

we had after we finished our initial strategic planning session. It

just takes stepping outside of the day-to-day environment from

time to time, sitting back, rehashing, talking to each other, reaffirming our teamwork principle.
132 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation
133 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Case Study:

Center for Veterinary Medicine

The Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM), part of the Food and Drug

Administration, is an organization of approximately 250 people with

facilities in Rockville and Beltsville, Maryland. CVM initiated the strategic

planning process in response to demands for speeding up the review and

approval of new animal drugs while increasing vigilance in protecting the

public against unsafe and fraudulent products. Workload was increasing

in a period of declining resources. They saw the need to shift from focusing solely on protecting the public from unsafe animal products and fraud

to ensuring that safe and effective drugs needed for use in animals could

gain access to the market in a timely manner.

We needed to rethink what we actually did in terms of the service

we provide to the taxpayers. Thats what started us out in our

strategic planning process.

The CVM hired a consultant to guide them through the strategic planning

process. She assessed the organization by interviewing the 30-member

senior leadership team that formed the planning group as well as focus

groups of employees. The resulting data package was used as the basis

for the strategic planning undertaken at a 3-day offsite in November

1994. The senior leadership team developed the mission, vision, and

guiding principles, and affinitized the issues into five broad goal categories.

It was a very long three days. We worked from 8 in the morning

to almost midnight every night.

CVMs mission, vision, and guiding principles follow:

Background

Strategic

Planning

Process
134 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Mission

[CVM] is a public health organization that enables the marketing of effective animal drugs, food additives, feed ingredients, and animal devices that

are safe to animals, humans, and the environment. We, in partnership with

Federal and state agencies and other Center customers, ensure animal

health and the safety of food derived from animals. We . . . take regulatory actions . . . perform research, monitor product safety and efficacy, and

continually strive to improve the quality of our processes.

Vision

We are an internationally recognized public health organization responsible for the evaluation, approval and/or surveillance of animal drugs, food

additives, feed ingredients, and animal devices. We are proactive in our

efforts to increase the availability and diversity of safe and effective products that relieve animal pain and suffering, sustain their health, improve

animal productivity, and do not compromise public health. We . . . [use]

state of the art science and technologies to . . . accomplish our mission.

People . . . work cooperatively as an integrated team. We foster open and

collegial partnerships with our constituencies . . . We all live by, and our

managers exemplify, the Centers guiding principles . . .

Guiding Principles

Health Protection: We honor our role in protecting the health of man and

other animals, and value the principles . . . of the supporting laws and

regulations.

Integrity: We conduct ourselves with honesty. . . recognizing that upholding the public trust requires the highest standards of moral and ethical

conduct.

Quality: We achieve excellence through continuous. . .improvement in all

our processes . . . we recognize the value . . . of science in reaching regulatory decisions.

Teamwork: Everyones contribution is important. Working together, we

place the mission of the Center first and align our contributions . . . toward

that end.

Communication: We communicate information, ideas, and decisions, both

internally and externally, in a candid, timely, and comprehensible manner.

Equity: We treat our customers and each other with fairness, courtesy,

respect, and compassion while fostering an atmosphere of mutual trust.

Diversity: We promote cultural and gender diversity in the workforce to

strengthen and enrich the Center.

Innovation: We apply new concepts, ideas, and creative approaches to

improve current operations and meet the challenges of the future.
135 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

In response to the interest that had been generated after the first offsite,

the senior leadership decided to include a broader representation of the

workforce in the strategic planning process. Consequently, a lottery was

held in December 1994, and 20 additional people were chosen for the

planning team, including scientific and technical staff, clerical employees,

and managers.

[We] felt that the plan should really be coming from the organization, rather than being dictated down from management. We

were talking about restructuring the processes by which we do

work, and the people who know how to do that are the people

who actually do the work. 

At a second facilitated offsite, the now 50-person planning team formed

goal groups; finalized the goals and presented them to the planning team

for consensus; and developed the strategies and objectives for reaching

those goals. Each goal group was made responsible for prioritizing the

strategies and objectives for its goal.

With 50 people on the planning team, driving for consensus is

very hard work. But we think that including more employees

encourages ownership of the plan throughout the Center and

produces a lot of good ideas. Our plan will be better because we

brought in as many people as possible.

After the second offsite, a copy of the draft plan was sent to every employee in the Center with a request for comments.

The mission, vision, guiding principles, goals, strategies, and

objectiveseverything we had was put in front of the employees.

At an all-hands meeting for everyone in the Center, each of the five goal

groups gave a 20-minute briefing on what its goal was all about and

what that goal was intended to accomplish.

The draft plan was made available on e-mail and a special e-mail account was set up just to collect comments.

Boxes were placed at three different locations to collect anonymous

comments.

Phase I

Deployment:

Completing the

Strategic Plan
136 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

About 15 percent of the employees commented in some manner.

A third facilitated offsite produced time frames and milestones covering a

5-year period. The issue of resources was left to executive action.

The Center staged an innovative kick-off event for the published strategic

plan.

In the late morning of September 20, 1995, the Center Director gathered

the employees from both facilities and told them that he was closing the

whole Center for the rest of the day. He gave each employee a copy of

the new strategic plan and told them to go away for two hours to think

about how theyd like to fit into the organization envisioned in the plan

and become involved in attaining the vision.

When the employees came back, the Center Director described his vision

of the new Center and how the strategic plan was going to be implemented. Then he invited all of the employees to come back into the

building and take the rest of the day to meet the goal groups and find out

more about the plan.

While the employees were gone, the goal groups had set up booths with

posters to explain their goals, and balloons and snacks to attract attention. As the employees visited each booth, they were invited to work on

the objectives.

To encourage the employees to learn about all of the goals, each person

was given a ticket to get punched by each goal group visited. Tickets

punched by all five goal groups were put in a hat for a drawing for

about 20 small prizes.

All of this made a nice, fair-like atmosphere. People had a good

time while they were learning about the strategic plan and how it

was going to be implemented.

There was also a photo contest and the pictures were displayed for about

3 months so that people could vote on them. Winners were announced

in six categories.

Phase II

Deployment:

Communicating

the Strategic

Plan
137 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

We had a lot of participation, a lot of pictures that we displayed.

We kept interest up that way. We kept it in front of people.

The Center publishes a newsletter about strategic planning activities every

other month.

A version of the plan was tailored for external distribution without the

time frames, names, and some other details. This was distributed, with a

letter asking for comments, to the Centers customers, stakeholders, and

various offices in FDA. Verbal feedback was received, but no written

comments.

We specifically asked these groups for their comments so they

would feel they were part of the process, but we didnt get a lot of

feedback.

The plan was addressed in speeches and written up in the trade journals.

FDA management gave approval to go ahead with the plan.

We now have a roadmap for becoming the organization that we

say we want to become in our vision statement.

An executive board was created to manage implementation actions and

monitor implementation progress. One of its first acts was to take the

priorities of the individual goal groups and make a master priority list of

things that needed to be accomplished.

The executive board is a subset of the strategic planning team consisting

of 16 members: each of the five goal group leaders, the Deputy Center

Director, the directors of each of the four offices, and a nonmanagement

member from each of the goal groups.

At its monthly meetings, the first order of business is for the goal groups

to report what theyve been doing and tie this to the milestone chart. If

they are not able to complete a specific objective by the date designated

in the plan, they must formally request an extension from the executive

board.

Implementing

the Strategic

Plan
138 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

The executive board reviews goal group reports and makes recommendations to the Center Director.

A six-member planning staff supports the executive board and is charged

with monitoring progress in relation to the time horizon of 5 years,

tracking the percentage of the goals that have been accomplished, and

making sure that milestones are met. The head of this staff is the permanent secretary to the executive board and sees that anything that needs to

be done gets on the boards agenda.

To develop the plans for implementing the specific strategies and objectives under those goals, strategic implementation groups (SIGs), were

formed. Planning team members may or may not be members of SIGs.

Anybody in the organization can volunteer and sign up to participate in any one of the SIGs. Thats how we actually get the

work done.

A schedule of when the various goal groups and SIGs are meeting is

published every week and this is displayed in the hallway.

Advertisements for people to participate in the SIGs are published when

work on objectives is about to be initiated according to the schedule.

Once a quarter, the normal work of the Center is shut down for two

days, and activities are dedicated totally to the strategic plan. The executive board meets to make sure that strategic planning activities are on

track and that things arent being allowed to slide. Employees who are

involved in a goal group or SIG put aside their regular work and dedicate their time to strategic planning activities. Those who elect not to be

part of these activities are expected to do their normal work.

The fact that we shut down all normal work for those periods of

time is a reminder to everybody that the plan is alive and theres

activity on it.

When a goal group comes to the executive board saying they want to

implement an objective, the executive board passes that request on to the

Center Director. Then the Center Director sends it to whatever office is

going to be in charge of doing the implementation asking whether re-
139 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

sources are available. Based on the response, the Director makes a

decision on whether those resources should be used to accomplish that

specific objective.

I [the Center Director] say, Here is what is proposed for your

organization to do. You do the cost analysis, and tell me whether

or not you can afford to do this; if not, why not; if not now,

when? Then I make the decision.

People have more ownership in the organization because theyre

participating in the plan. Its their plan. Its not the Center

Directors plan. Its not managements plan. Its the

organizations plan. They own it.

The plan has had an impact on behavior. The employees want to have

input into the direction of the Center, the work activities, and other aspects of work at the Center.

Before the plan, people were only concerned with what they were

doing and what was happening in their own particular area.

Now theyre looking more at the big picture.

The senior staff is now stopping to think before they take an action to

make sure that it fits with the plan.

Management asks, How does it fit in with the strategic plan? Is it

in accord with the guiding principles? Does it help us reach the

vision? Does it support the mission?

Teamwork as a way to conduct activities is one of the guiding principles.

In recognition that everyones contribution is important, membership on

teams is open to everyone interested in serving.

Teamwork is also a goal. Training on how to use teams has been conducted. People have been trained to facilitate teams and their services

are made available to all teams.

Communication of information and decisions, both inside and outside

CVM, in a candid and timely manner is one of the guiding principles.

Implementation

Results
140 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Results indicating that this principle is becoming part of the culture include:

4 A guidance policy has been developed concerning written documentation of all substantive internal and external communication

that relates to regulated products.

4 Significant efforts are being made to communicate to customers

the need for improving the quality of drug approval submissions

to speed up the review process.

4 The end-of-week significant events report, which is prepared by

each of the four offices, is now available to everybody, rather

than to only a few.

Training announcements, advertisements for SIG participants, and other

announcements are now available to everybody on e-mail.

People are certainly informed, and some people are even complaining about too much e-mail!

Schedules of team meetings are posted in the hallways.

When people walk by, they can immediately see when and

where these groups are scheduled. They can see that the goals

and objectives are being worked on.

Day-to-day business is combined with work on the plan.

The Director has said that we could slip deadlines and put off up

to 20 percent of the day-to-day work in order to meet the strategic

plan milestones.

About 10 of the 170 objectives in the plan have been completed and an

additional 3 process improvements have cleared the approval process

and are about to be implemented.

The strategic plan will be revisited in the summer of 1996.

I think that the initial plan was the first cut. Now were going to

fine-tune it and focus it.
141 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

We really havent grappled with how to measure the impact.

That will be one part of the revisit to the plan.

You have no way of knowing in advance what kind of resources

its going to take to do the things you want to do. You have to

constantly adjust to maintain a proper balance between the strategic planning process and the actual day-to-day output of what

your organization is supposed to be doing.

Understandably, the managers say that they need more resources

to do something, or weve got to slow implementation down, or

we have to make some adjustments in the plan.

We need to go back and revisit the plan.

The strategic plan didnt deal with all the strategic issues of the

Center. We dont want to throw away anything thats in the plan;

what we need to do is add some things. All the things that are

currently in the plan are important to getting to the vision. Its just

that some pieces were left out.

Its important to include mid-level managers in the planning

process, to get their alignment and support.

We probably didnt prioritize to the extent that we should have

and sometimes we feel overwhelmed. Some of the problems

were having arise from the fact that we just have too much on our

plates.

The strategic plan needs to be an integral part of the budget

development and resource allocation process.

There are things that come up that have to do with the plan that

no one wants to fund.

Everybody has to recognize that there is no turning back. It takes

as many people as possible to be behind it pushing it, not just the

senior leadership.

We constantly reaffirm the message that there is no Plan B.

Were going forward with this. We say, Make it as good as you

can because this is the way we plan to move into the future.

Strategic

Measurement

Lessons

Learned
142 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Make sure that strategic plan work is highly visible, that people

are talking about it every day. You cant really be very successful

in implementing the strategic plan unless you get a majority of the

employees involved in it.

Throwing the spotlight on a few successful efforts usually goes a

long way toward getting buy-in, commitment, and everybody

pushing the plan.
A-1 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Section III:

Appendix
A-2 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation
A-3 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

The following terminology is defined in the context of strategic management.

Baseline: Current performance level of performance indicators.

Charter: A written document that describes the boundaries, expected

results, and resources to be used by a quality improvement team.

Consensus: A decision by a group that is acceptable to them, but is not

unanimous nor arrived at by a vote. All members support the decision,

even without universal agreement.

Cross-briefing: A process used by a working group to report their progress

to the decision making team.

Cross-functional team: A team whose membership includes those from

more than one organizational function and who have responsibility for

some portion of an identified process.

Customer: The person or group who establishes the requirements of a

process and receives or uses the output of that process.

Data collection plan: A plan that provides guidance for gathering information. It establishes the why, who, what, how, where, and when of data

collection.

Deployment: The introduction and communication of the strategic plan to

the members of the organization. It has two phases. In Phase I, the plan is

completed and published. In Phase II, the plan is communicated to all

members of the organization.

Environmental scan: The act of monitoring internal and external conditions

of the organization. The information is typically classified as internal

strengths and weaknesses and external opportunities and threats.

Feedback: Communicating information about a system or process to the

system or process owner. If the feedback is negative, it is intended to correct behavior of the system. If the feedback is positive, it is intended to

reinforce behavior of the system.

Glossary
A-4 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Focus group: A group gathered to provide input on specific issues.

May include suppliers, customers, process owners, etc.

Gap analysis: The difference between what an organization is doing

today to accomplish its mission and what needs to change to achieve its

vision.

Goal group: A cross-functional team made up of senior leadership

group members that develops the strategies and objectives for accomplishing a goal. This team also can be used to oversee implementation of

strategic goals.

Guiding principles : The values and philosophy of an organization that

guide the behavior of its members.

Implementation: Taking the necessary actions to accomplish the goals,

strategies, objectives, and action plans.

Input: Materials or information used to produce a product or service.

Input measure: Describes the resources used by the organization.

These measures include funding, time, and staffing.

Measurement: A criterion, basis, or standard for comparison.

Measurement feedback system: A coordinated set of processes that

include action plan tracking, results analysis and communication, and

rewards. It is designed to provide information to the participants and

owner of the system.

Mission: An enduring statement of purpose. Describes what the organization does, who it does it for, and how it does it.

Objectives : Specific, measurable, short-term and mid-term performance

targets necessary for achieving long-term goals; describes who will do

what by when.

Operational definition: Agreed upon meanings of terms and concepts

stated so they can be specifically measured.
A-5 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Outcome: Something that follows as a result or consequence [MerriamWebster, Inc., 1983].

Outcome measure: Indicator of how well the product or service satisfied

end-users needs.

Outcome measurement: An assessment of the results of a program

compared to its intended purpose.

Output: The products or services produced by a process.

Output measure: Describes the goods and services that are produced.

These measures could include product units or hours of service provided.

Performance indicator: The key evidence with which to measure performance.

Plan of action and milestones (POA&M): A tool used to provide a

clear focus on the tasks that need to be accomplished; shows responsibility and resource requirements, includes measures; provides a method for

tracking the status of actions.

Process measures: Measure the amount of control there is over the

internal processes by detailing how well the process is functioning.

Quality advisor: A TQL support position within a DON organization.

This person assists QMBs and PATs in data collection, analysis, and

interpretation. The advisor also trains these teams in the use of methods

and tools for process improvement.

Stakeholders: The groups and individuals inside or outside the organization who affect and are affected by the achievement of the

organizations vision, mission, goals, and strategies.

Strategic goal: A long-range change target that guides an

organizations efforts in moving toward a desired future state.
A-6 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Strategic management: A systems approach to identifying and making

the necessary changes and measuring the organizations performance as

it moves towards its vision. It has been defined as a . . . management . .

. .system . . . that links strategic planning and decision making with the

day-to-day business of operational management [Gluck, Kaufman, and

Walleck, 1982].

Strategic measurement: The identification, development, communication, collection, and assessment of selected outcome measures that are

directly linked to the organizations performance of its mission and

attainment of its vision.

Strategic measures: Operational definitions of the outcomes of mission

effectiveness now and into the future.

Strategic planning: The process by which the guiding members of an

organization envision its future and develop the necessary procedures

and operations to achieve that future [Goodstein, Nolan, and Pfeiffer,

1992].

Strategic planning facilitator: An individual who can enhance the

quality of strategic planning meetings by providing strategic planning

guidance and facilitation support to the team leader and team members.

Strategy: A means for achieving a long-range strategic goal; explains

how the goal will be attained.

Supplier: The person or group who provides an input to a process [cf.

Moen et al., 1991].

Surrogate measure (or proxy measure): Measurement of a related

variable rather than of the target variable [Thor, 1994].

Total quality: An extension of the quality concept to include improvement of all of the quality characteristics that influence customer-perceived

quality. This includes sources of variation from incoming supplies, all of

the significant processes within an organization, and all those that can

influence customer satisfaction, needs, or expectations when the product

or service has left the organization.
A-7 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Total Quality Leadership (TQL): The application of quantitative methods

and the knowledge of people to assess and improve: materials and

services supplied to the organization; all significant processes within the

organization; and meeting the needs of the end-user, now and in the

future [Department of the Navy, 1991].

TQL coordinator: A person selected by the commanding officer to assist

in the implementation of process management.

Vision: An idealized view of a desirable and potentially achievable

future state.
A-8 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation
A-9 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

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A-15 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation

Denise Lindsey Wells

Denise Lindsey Wells is the Director of the Executive Support Division of

the Total Quality Leadership Office, Office of the Under Secretary of the

Navy. Her primary responsibility is supporting Navy and Marine Corps

leadership in implementing Total Quality Leadership (TQL), principally

through strategic planning and strategic management.

Ms. Wells is a native of Pennsylvania who spent most of her life in South

Carolina. After graduating as valedictorian from Beaufort High School in

1965, she graduated from Winthrop University in 1968 with a Bachelor

of Arts in English. She began her career with the Air Force, spending

almost four years in Industrial Engineering before retiring to become

the mother of two children, Dana and Michael.

She re-entered government service in 1978 at Charleston Naval Shipyard, working first in production engineering and later on the staff of the

Shipyard Commander. In that position, she managed the first Model

Installation Program within a naval shipyard, thereby establishing the

prototype for others. Relocating to Washington, DC, in 1987, Ms. Wells

spent eighteen months at the Naval Sea Systems Command and a year

with the Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Shipbuilding and Logistics).

She accepted her current position in the Office of the Under Secretary in

May 1990 and received a Superior Civilian Service Award in 1993. She

has completed several courses toward a Master of Science in Administrative Science, specializing in Organizational Management. Ms. Wells is

the author of A Handbook for Strategic Planning and an editor of Voices:

A Collection of Readings from TQLeader. She is a 1995-1996 Fellow in

the Council for Excellence in Government and a member of Vice President Gores National Performance Review consortium study on CustomerDriven Strategic Planning. She resides in Falls Church, Virginia.

About the Author
A-16 Strategic Management for Senior Leaders: A Handbook for Implementation
TQLO Publication Number 96-03

Department of the Navy

Total Quality Leadership Office

2611 Jefferson Davis Highway

Suite 2000

Arlington, Virginia 22202-4016