Plans, Programs, Projects and Strategic Initiatives,…What are we really trying to accomplish?

A senior executive once asked me how strategic initiatives should be developed. I’m suspect he was fishing for an impetuous to get his senior staff to look at what the organization was doing to make progress on the strategic plan. Well, after considering I had no idea how his current strategic initiatives were developed, I scheduled an office call to lay out the purpose of these important activities, and elaborate on how life is breathed into them.

First, a little background on the subject; I think the most credible information on the subject of Strategic Initiatives comes from Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton use of the term in their book The Execution Premium, Linking Strategy to Operations for Competitive Advantage. Harvard Business Press, Boston, MA, 2008. They define strategic initiatives as “collections of finite-duration discretionary projects and programs, outside of the organization’s day-to-day operational activities that are designed to help the organization achieve its targeted performance.”

It appears to me that in 2008 Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton were writing with regard to how an organization can effectively connect a strategic plan and (map) to the operational level. Essentially, tactics, techniques, or procedures aimed at executing strategy. The Project Management Institute defines a project as “A temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result.”

I couldn’t find the process map of how, exactly, these initiatives are developed beyond an over-arching construct. “Soliciting project ideas from leaders and frontline employees and/or bundling a set of identified programs to convert the strategic vision into reality or (bundling programs into one overarching strategic initiative.)” I did find discussion that says a strategic initiative is not the same thing as a strategic goal, objective, or vision.

Kaplan and Norton also provide three tools regarding Strategic Initiatives; (1) Initiative Management Process Model, (2) Initiative Alignment Tool, and (3) Initiative Portfolio Model. 

Given this demonstration you can immediately draw a comparison to how Baldrige addresses Action Plans in the Performance Excellence Criteria; in none other than, Category 2.2—Strategy Implementation: How do you implement your strategy?

• 2.2a(1) How do you develop your action plans? What are your key short- and longer-term actions plans, and what is their relationship to your strategic objectives?
• 2.2a(2) How do you deploy your action plans throughout the organization to your workforce and to key suppliers and partners, as appropriate, to ensure that you achieve your key strategic objectives? How do you ensure that you can sustain the key outcomes of your action plans?

The 5-Step Action Plan Development Process shown below can be used to develop your organization’s action plans, or Strategic Initiatives.

The link between Action Plan or Strategic Initiative development is in step 1, 2, and 3. Here is where action is linked to strategy. The essential elements of an Action Plan include: (1) Objectives, (2) Tasks, (3) Success Criteria, (4) Who, (5) Time Frame, (6) Resources.

When the essential elements of the action plan are complete, you have effectively connected your strategic plan and (map) to the operational level in your organization.