Small Business Resource

One of the first steps in developing a great strategic plan is forming the leadership team. If you’re the leader in your particular part of the organization, you probably have some subordinate leaders who you direct. You probably also have some people who you consider to be trusted advisors. But have you actually formed a team to help you with the day-to-day leadership of the organization? Silly question you say? Not really. I’ve found too many organizations in which the senior leader takes most, if not all of the leadership on him or herself. This not only places too much of a burden on one person, but also prevents the leader from taking full advantage of the expertise available in subordinate leaders.

For business strategic planning, it is essential to form a leadership team to ensure the planning process has the full advantage of experience within the organization. Though a good leadership team will make the everyday operation of the organization much smoother, I’ll concentrate on the strategic planning process. This is where the team can really shine, and where they can develop a great synergistic relationship.

To develop a leadership team, the leader must first select the members. I’ve found it best to use leaders at the next level under me. These are the men and women who you rely on to make the organization work and they’re the ones with the knowledge of each function within the organization. You may also want to include a few staff functions, though this is strictly optional and really depends on the situation. For example, you may decide the comptroller should be a member to ensure continuity. I also like to include my secretary for a couple of reasons. He or she can keep track of meeting minutes and administrative details. More importantly though, senior secretaries are often some of the best informed people in an organization. They will probably have insights that no one else does. Take advantage of that knowledge.

How your leadership team interacts with you and each other is a critical factor in the success of your strategic planning efforts, and that is largely the result of your leadership style. You want the team to be comfortable discussing things openly, and you must encourage them to do so. You must make it clear to them that their honest input is required in order to make the strategic planning process work. Actions speak louder than words though so you must also demonstrate this. The best way is to accept all input at face value and encourage frank discussion among the team members without adding your own thoughts. This is difficult, but as soon as the senior leader weighs in with an opinion, the discussion tends to stop.

I like to use the technique, sometimes called silent brainstorming, where each member writes down some ideas or key points. Then the leader or meeting facilitator asks each member to tell the group one of their ideas. Each is written down at the front of the room with no discussion until everyone has exhausted their list. Discussion can then begin on the merits of each point. This tends to remove the individual from the equation and concentrate discussion on the point. The senior leader must encourage this discussion.

When completing a strategic plan, I have found the best first step for the leadership team is the mission statement. Creating a mission statement allows each team member to discuss their area of expertise and how it fits in the bigger picture. By the time the statement is complete, the leadership team has usually developed a good relationship between themselves and the senior leader.

One of the benefits of using a carefully chosen leadership team to create the organization’s strategic plan is that the experience will help to cement a great relationship among the leaders that will be an enormous benefit in the future. You’ll get a great strategic plan and a dynamic team of leaders to implement that plan!

By Bob Mason