Introduction
Strategic planning is a buzzword used by contemporary managers to inspire change. It is the systematic process in which an organization builds commitment to the mission and vision of the organization. Strategic planning is a comprehensive process involving many steps carried out in a sequence. Strategic planning starts with assessing the current situation, planning and developing new strategies and implementing them. Bryson (1995) came up with the concept of strategic change cycle to describe the strategic management process linking strategic planning and implementation to organization’s management. The purpose of this essay is to explore the ten steps of strategic change cycle in detail.
1) Initiate and agree on a strategic planning process
The first step in Bryson’s strategic change cycle is initiating and deciding on the strategic process. The first step is crucial because the organization has to be committed to the process of strategic planning. Key decision makers have to be committed to the process, particularly the process initiator and process champion (Bryson, 1995 p. 82). During the first step, the initial stakeholder analysis and recruitment takes place. An organization can create a strategic plan coordinating committee (SPCC) responsible for the strategic change cycle. The organization can also involve external stakeholders with vested interests in the organizations. The agreement between the stakeholders acts as the foundation for the strategic planning process.
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Once the stakeholders or groups have been identified, they should identify the purpose of the strategic planning. The stakeholders also discuss the preferred steps, role, functions, and timing of the effort and each stakeholder. The stakeholders also make an initial plan on the resources that will be used in the strategic planning process. Bryson (2004), states that participation of multiple parties is the mark of the successful process. The planning team can pay attention to goals, concerns, and interest of key stakeholders through communication. The team members must be dedicated, and they must come up with parameters for holding each other responsible. Once the team has agreed on initiating the strategic process, they move on to the second step.
2) Identify organizational mandates
According to Bryson (1995), mandates entail formal and informal requirements, restrictions, expectations, and constraints facing an organization. Mandates refer to the ‘musts’ that the organization must confront. For instance, relevant legislation and organizational policies are some of the formal mandates that guide public and nonprofit organizations. The informal mandates can include stakeholder expectations and cultural norms.
The organization must revisit the mandates during strategic planning for various reasons. First, the mandates enable the organization to have a clear picture of what it needs to do. Knowing the mandates also helps the organization understand that it might not be tightly constrained as it is believed to be. Lastly, the mandates equip the stakeholders with many possibilities as they plan the strategic change cycle.
Bryson (1995) adds that the mandates show the public value that the organization will create. Public and nonprofit organizations are externally justified, and they must find ways to prove that their existence create public value otherwise they will lose their legitimacy. When identifying the mandates, the stakeholders should be guided by the four outcomes. The first outcome is to identify formal and informal mandates as well as who is mandating what and the resources at their disposal. The second outcome is the interpretation of the requirements after identifying the mandates. Thirdly, the mandates clarify what is forbidden and what is not forbidden so that the stakeholders will have clear standards and regulations to guide the strategic planning process.
3) Clarify organizational mission and values
In the third step, Bryson (1995) stresses the need for clarifying the organization’s mission and values. Just like the mandates, the organization’s mission is a declaration of purpose, and it justifies the existence of the organization. The mission statement varies in length based on the purpose of the organization. Nonetheless, the mission is a source of clarity used to eliminate unnecessary conflict within the organization. The mission also clarifies the areas which the organization should focus on to channel discussion and activity among stakeholders. The mission statement acts as the basic consensus among the key stakeholders.
Stakeholders must engage in careful stakeholder analysis before creating the mission. Stakeholder analysis is a strategic planning tool that identifies key individuals or groups that can affect the strategic plan. Stakeholders can influence the strategic plan positively or negatively as they are the key decision makers. The stakeholders influence the mission as they can either support it or not; hence they should be involved in the creation of the mission.
According to Bryson (1995), the mission does not only specify the purpose, but it unites the stakeholders through a shared goal. The stakeholders must answer various questions when clarifying the mission statement. Some questions are concerned with the social and economic needs that the organization wants to meet, philosophy, values and culture, and what separates the organization from the rest. After answering all the questions, the stakeholders create a mission statement that works well for everyone. Mission statements are generally concise, no more than one paragraph.
4) Assess the external and internal environments to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats
The fourth step is an environmental scan conducted with the purpose of determining the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. The environmental scan examines internal and external factors that can affect the success of the organization. Internal factors such as poor coordination are a weakness, but external factors such as social, political and cultural challenges are even harder to manage.
A SWOT analysis is a common environmental scanning tool. SWOT analysis summarizes the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Strengths and weaknesses are internal factors within the organization’s control. The organization must monitor its resources, processes, and performance to identify its strengths and weaknesses. When conducting a SWOT analysis, it is advisable to use an external party to avoid bias.
Bryson (2004) came up with two different strategies for implementing a SWOT analysis: the organization’s highs and lows and the Snow Card Technique. When using the highs and lows approach, the participants look back at the organization’s history to identify highs, lows, and themes to establish patterns of strengths and weaknesses. The participants analyze the organization’s history for a specific period while placing their notes on the chart, either for a ‘high’ or a ‘low’ event. This approach is comprehensive, and it paints a real picture of the organization’s strengths and weaknesses over a period. Alternatively, the Snow Card technique focuses on a single issue, whereby each participant brainstorms as many ideas as possible about the issue and the best 5 to 7 ideas are written on the ‘snow card.’ The snow cards are classified based on common themes. The group analyzes the snow cards until they reach a consensus on the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and challenges of the organization.
5) Identify the strategic issues facing the organization
The fifth stage is another crucial stage which entails identification of fundamental issues affecting the organization’s mandates, mission, and values. During this stage, the stakeholders describe the issues succinctly to identify fundamental challenges and consequences of the difficulties if they are not addressed. The organization can come up with a list of different problems and categorize them as strategic or operational challenges and arrange them in a logical order (Bryson, 2004).
Bryson (2004) gives a list of approaches to be used in classifying the strategic issues. A first approach is a direct approach where planners evaluate the mandates, mission, and SWOT to identify strategic issues. In the goals approach, planners establish goals and objectives and then identify problems that could affect the attainment of the goals. Other methods include the vision of success approach, indirect mapping, oval mapping approach and systems analysis. Planners can use more than one approach to get the real picture of the strategic issues facing the organization.
Once the planners have identified the strategic issues, they have to consider the fact that all the strategic problems require different solutions. The key decision makers have to reach an agreement on how to address the issues and the time frame that will be dedicated to identifying and solving the problems. Bryson (2004) advises stakeholders to keep it light to avoid getting caught up and spending a lot of time on strategic issues. The step is crucial because it helps stakeholders to focus on essential issues. Strategic issues can prevent the organization from achieving its goals, but once the problems have been identified, it will prompt organizational change.
6) Formulate strategies to manage the issues
In this step, the planners come up with ideas to handle the issues identified in the previous step. Bryson (2004, p. 183) defines strategy as, “a pattern of purposes, policies, programs, actions, decisions, and resource allocations that define what an organization is, what it does, and why it does it.” From the definition, a strategy is a bridge that connects an organization with the environment, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and challenges that the organization has to deal with.
According to Bryson (2004), a strategy can vary according to level and time. There are four levels of strategy: grand strategy, subunit strategy, program/ services, and functional strategies. A grand strategy affects the entire organization while a subunit strategy affects a division or a department. Functional strategies deal with functional units such as finance or procurement. Strategies are long-term, and they provide continuous guidance for the organization. The interesting thing in this step is the fact that planners have to come up with different levels of strategies to address all issues. A grand strategy cannot address a functional problem fully; thus the planners have to formulate different strategies.
The creation of a strategic plan at the end of step six is beneficial. With a strategic plan in place, the organization will get a real picture of how it will generate public value and meet its mandates and mission. The organization will understand its possibilities better at this stage because it considers a wide range of strategies to address issues affecting the organization’s mandates and mission. Once the strategies are implemented, a new reality emerges, and this is a crucial step in the strategic change cycle.
The two approaches of strategy development are the five-part process and the oval mapping process. In the five-part process, the planners ask five questions about each strategic issue. Bryson (2004) lists the five questions and how to answer each question using the snow card technique. The oval mapping process is about the creation of different options to address each strategic issue.
7) Review and adopt the strategies or strategic plan
Bryson & Alston (2010) state that step 7 can be combined with step 6. In step 7, the organization decides to adopt and proceed with a strategic plan. There are many factors to consider before the adoption of a strategic plan. Key decision makers must identify the most critical issues, and come up with the best solutions for the issues. Bryson (2004) stresses the importance of consensus during this stage as a plan cannot be effectively adopted unless the critical decision makers agree.
Once the strategic plan has been adopted, the organization begins the desired changes towards its objectives. According to Bryson & Alston (2010), step seven marks the transition from strategic planning to strategic management. Step 7 will be successful if only the planning process has been active. The planners should work towards a consensus on most aspects of the plan. Effective planning clarifies roles, coordination, time frame and other factors that will affect successful implementation of the strategic plan. Bryson (2004), states that the desired outcome of step seven is the adoption of the strategic plan; actions are identified and implemented at this step.
The first step is the evaluation of the strategic plan. The team has to evaluate the strategic plan to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and challenges. The team will be broken down into units to evaluate the strategic plan. Once the plan has been evaluated, a lead person in charge of the implementation will be appointed to guide the organization in the adoption of the strategic plan.
8) Establish an effective organizational vision
The objective of this step is to create a clear description of how the organization will look like after successful implementation of strategies. Bryson (2004) describes a vision as a goal of the highest order. The main difference between a mission and a vision is their areas of focus. A mission describes the purpose while a vision describes how an organization looks like when it is working well in the environment and key stakeholders.
The goal of a vision statement is to motivate and provide guidance. An organization’s vision emphasizes on purpose, behavior, decision rules and standards that serve the public. The vision statement offers specific and reasonable guidance. Bryson (2004) describes the process for creating a vision. The planners must remember that the vision does not necessarily improve organizational effectiveness. Thus, the perfect time to create a vision is after the organization has gone through one or two cycles of strategic planning. The vision should grow out of past decisions and actions to avoid creating a vision that does not reflect on the organization’s mandates and mission. When drafting the vision, team members should be given a chance to draft visions individually. The team will reach a consensus on the vision after some review sessions.
According to Bryson (2004), a vision should be inspirational. It should encourage the stakeholders to work towards a better future while clarifying the purpose and direction of the organization. A vision also emphasizes the organization’s uniqueness and communicates with enthusiasm to foster commitment and dedication.
9) Develop an effective implementation process
In step nine, the organization incorporates adopted strategies into the organization’s systems. Merely creating a strategic plan is not enough, the organization must avail the necessary resources to implement the strategy to create real value for the stakeholders (Bryson & Alston, 2010). The desired outcome for step nine is to achieve higher public value through greater achievement of the organization’s goals.
Successful implementation of strategies requires that stakeholders understand their roles and fulfill them accordingly. Bryson & Alston (2010) add that successful implementation of strategies requires evaluation to tell whether the strategic goals have been achieved or not. Regular evaluation will help the organization identify working parts and those that do not work so that it can make the necessary changes. The organization’s culture must also change to support new strategies.
Step nine gives the process for implementing the strategies successfully. The first step is the definition of purpose for the new strategy. Secondly, the stakeholders must articulate the logic model to guide the initiative and clarify the approach for resolving conflicts and addressing issues that will arise along the way. The next step is the calculation of inputs required, including financial, human resource, technology and other resources. The stakeholders also have to define output to be produced and the target clients. The timeline has to be clarified as well as the critical indicators of success.
An essential event in step nine is the creation of a budget. Most strategies have budget significance, and stakeholders have to take time to create a budget because it affects planning and implementation of a strategic plan. In most cases, there is a gap between a budget and strategic planning; strategic planning should precede the budget cycle to avoid the gap. Right financial analysts should be involved in the budgeting process, and they should be involved in the planning and implementation if possible. Effective implementation is not about budgeting only. It is about the application of a conscious and deliberate plan to implement the strategies effectively. It should bring together all the stakeholders implement changes collaboratively.
10) Reassess the strategies and the strategic planning process
The last step of the strategic change cycle is concerned with the steps that the organization must implement to maintain the life cycle. After the implementation of the strategies, the organization has to review each strategy against its goals. The results will help the organization decide how to engage stakeholders in a new cycle of strategic planning. Step ten is necessary because times and situations surrounding the organization changes, and the organization has to review and adjust its strategies.
According to Bryson (2004), the objective of step ten is to enable maintenance of good strategies through appropriate reform and elimination of unnecessary strategies. Another goal of the step is the development of a strategic management system to ensure effective and ongoing strategic management within the organization. The interesting thing is that the last step does not appear as crucial as the previous nine steps, yet it is a useful step. A significant benefit of step ten is that it assures the organization that the institutionalized capabilities will remain responsive.
For the organization to implement the last step, it must remain focused on what is important after the implementation of strategies. The organization should be on the lookout for indicators of success or failures. At this stage, a review team can be created to review success or failures of strategies as well as come up with new strategies if necessary. Strategy change is a reality in the last step, but the organization should be careful not to rush decisions. Key decision makers should be involved in the decision to modify strategies. In some cases, strategy termination occurs at this point, and the key decision makers have to go back to the drawing board.
Conclusion
Change is necessary for organizational success, and change brings the desired benefits if it is implemented effectively using the strategic change cycle. Organizations that want to survive must learn the art of strategic planning and management. Bryson describes the ten steps of strategic change cycle in detail to guide organizations. Strategic management is continuous; it takes time, discipline, skills and collaboration of key stakeholders. Organizations that follow the ten steps well will adopt positive change that will enable them to achieve their goals and be of great value to stakeholders.
References
Bryson, J. M. (1995). Strategic planning for public and nonprofit organizations: A guide to strengthening and sustaining organizational achievement . John Wiley & Sons.
Bryson, J. M. (2004). Strategic planning for public and nonprofit organizations final. translated by Monavarian.
Bryson, J. M. (2004). What to do when stakeholders matter: stakeholder identification and analysis techniques. Public management review , 6 (1), 21-53.
Bryson, J. M., & Alston, F. K. (2010). Creating and implementing your strategic plan: A workbook for public and nonprofit organizations (Vol. 1). John Wiley & Sons.
