Blog #1 - The Strategic Planning Process - A Personal Perspective

So far, this course has given me an introduction to strategy and this past week we moved into the strategic planning process. I'm a practical person and as I reflect on what I learned so far, I wanted to share my own unique perspective. The stark truth is that I'm not an executive and far from it. I'm currently a Project Manager with no direct reports and really very little influence on my organization's overall strategy. I consider myself a worker bee but eventually my goal is to become a CIO. So, as I read the articles this week concerning the strategic planning process, I found it challenging to relate as I have never been a part of the strategy of the company. Yes, my employers often tell me to think big, but I have very little influence in the grand scheme of things. However, what I found fascinating is that the strategical planning concepts covered this week can be applied directly to your own personal and professional situation no matter the scale. This perspective allows me to better internalize the concepts but more importantly provide a deeper understanding into  those concepts and how they scale up to the organizational level.

First, lets talk about vision. I think any individual at a personal level should have a vision. It's one of those motivating and driving factors that keeps an individual going. As I read the article about core ideology, I shifted my lens for a second and thought about my own core ideology. People just like organizations ideally should evolve. However, my core values and purpose have always remained consistent. There were times in my life when I deviated very similar to how market pressures may require an organization to pivot, however my values and purpose seems to always re-center and that has always kept me grounded and on track towards my own vision. Coincidentally, if you look back at history at some of the most influential individuals and leaders who had a strong vision what is consistent is that their ideology remained steadfast and often times uncompromising. Whether it is Steve Jobs who valued simplicity and elegance or Martin Luther King who believe in equality, that core ideology persisted and ultimately led them to achieve their vision resulting in a strong legacy that was left behind.

Second, let’s talk about finding the right strategy. In my personal life whether it's applying to grad school or searching for a new job, I often employ my own strategy that is specifically catered for me. The article touches on the importance of executives picking the right strategy that fits their current industry and situation. As I touched in a previous discussion post when I applied to grad school, I really had some work to do. I knew I needed a strategy to get into grad school but what I ended up eventually doing was coming up with a strategy for that strategy. My strategy started inward, and I spent months doing some personal reflection and analysis on my current situation first and then choosing a strategy based on that analysis before executing the core strategy.

Third, let’s talk about strategic planning. As a PM my responsibility is to gather consensus, create a project plan and execute multiple tasks. I'm all about harmony and garnering support from the collective. I'm the type of person that would schedule calls with the entire organization if I could. However, what I found recently was that sometimes it’s more efficient to skip the formalities. My recent strategy for gathering support and consensus for my projects has shifted to a more informal process in which I schedule small calls and scrums with team members first and only bring those in that absolutely need to be there. This is something I'm actively working on but has helped me tremendously the last couple of months.

I guess this blog post was how I was able to frame these readings in the context of my own personal experiences. As stated before, I'm not really an executive (yet) however the concepts mentioned this week are applicable really no matter what the scale is. At the end of the day, strategy is strategy :)