More digging and a reformatting of the project will be required to begin to reduce customer complaints. To learn more about designing and charting metrics, visit our Instrument Panel page , which contains information about designing metrics as well as several links at the bottom of the page to additional materials. You can also contact us , and we can step you through designing your first metric.
A SWOT analysis is a strategic planning tool in which participants brainstorm, list and evaluate the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of and to their organization. In strategic planning, an effective SWOT analysis provides valuable information that can be developed into key potential strategic initiatives to grow the company or into internal projects to resolve challenges holding the organization back from its full potential.
In the strengths and weaknesses portion of the analysis, focus turns inward. Then have them brainstorm and discuss the weaknesses that are preventing the organization from moving forward at full speed. The team can turn a weakness into an internal project on the strategic plan see The Importance of an Internal Assessment for more on this.
For the opportunity and threat portion of SWOT, leadership shifts the focus outside the organization to what it must contend with to survive and flourish in the competitive environment. Opportunities and threats come in many forms: new discoveries in technology, shifts in demographics, state or federal policy, a competitor opening or closing its doors. Once brainstormed, prioritize then map out the most promising opportunity s or most deadly threat s as projects on your strategic plan.
Affinity means an inherent similarity or relationship. It is an excellent strategic planning tool for organizing, grouping and combining a large number of potential initiatives or projects down to a manageable number.
During the SWOT analysis, a large number of potential projects surface — both internal and strategic. The affinity process allows the teams to effectively group and combine those projects by their common characteristics. Typically, through using an affinity diagram, a team is able to reduce the number of potential projects they need to process and prioritize from an down to The team then gathers around the flip chart and organizes the sticky notes in columns of similar items.
This process is completed in silence, forcing the group to really think about a potential project and what it involves. When one team member groups two projects as having a similar theme, and other team members cannot see that connection, the silence forces the group to think on a deeper level about the possible connections in order to see what that team member has identified.
Through this careful study, the affinity process can bring a level of clarity to projects that simply defining them cannot. Once the team is satisfied and the sticky notes have stopped moving, the process is finished. An interrelationship digraph is an outstanding tool for prioritizing many potential projects in order to identify the essential few. The tool is designed to compare a list of problems, projects or opportunities, one to another, to identify those that are or would create the biggest effect or impact on the others.
How do you do it? Once leadership has completed their list of potential improvement projects or strategic initiatives and combined or grouped them using the affinity process described above, they can begin the interrelationship process. Arrange the sticky note projects that remain after the affinity into a square around your flip chart. When the relationship is not strong, move on.
This strategic planning tool allows you to determine new opportunities and which areas of your business need improvement. You'll also identify any factors or threats that might negatively impact your business or success. Image Source: HubSpot. Use Porter's Five Forces as a strategic planning tool to identify the economic forces that impact your industry and determine your business' competitive position. The five forces include:.
To learn more, check out this comprehensive guide to using Porter's Five Forces. It stands for:. Each of these elements allow an organization to take stock of the business environment they're operating in, which helps them develop a strategy for success. Visioning is a goal-setting strategy used in strategic planning. It helps your organization develop a vision for the future and the outcomes you'd like to achieve. Once you reflect on the goals you'd like to reach within the next five years or more, you and your team can identify the steps you need to take to get where you'd like to be.
From there, you can create your strategic plan. The VRIO framework is another strategic planning tool that's used to identify the competitive advantages of your product or service. It's composed of four different elements:. By analyzing each of these areas in your business, you'll be able to create a strategic plan that helps you cater to the needs of your customer. With these strategic planning models and tools, you'll be able to create a comprehensive and effective strategic plan.
To learn more, check out the ultimate guide to strategic planning next. Editor's note: This post was originally published on May 17, and has been updated for comprehensiveness. Originally published Jun 23, PM, updated June 23 Subscribe to Our Blog Stay up to date with the latest marketing, sales, and service tips and news. Thank You! You have been subscribed. Start free or get a demo. Sales 10 min read. HubSpot also recommends this free sales plan template.
Download Now. What's a plan without a strategy? Strategic Planning Models Strategic planning is used to set up long-term goals and priorities for an organization. Here are a few strategic planning models you can use to get started.
The Balanced Scorecard The Balanced Scorecard is one of the most prominent strategic planning models, tailored to give managers a comprehensive overview of their companies' operations on tight timelines. The sum of those components amount to four specific reference points for goal-setting and performance measurement: Customer — how customers view your business Internal Process — how you can improve your internal processes Organizational Capacity — how you can grow, adapt, and improve Financial — your potential profitability Those four categories can inform more thoughtful, focused goals and the most appropriate metrics you can use to track them.
Here's an example of what that might look like: Image Source: IntraFocus The Balanced Scorecard is ideal for businesses looking to break up higher-level goals into more specific, measurable objectives. Objectives and Key Results As its name implies, this model revolves around translating broader organizational goals into objectives and tracking their key results.
Example of the Objectives and Key Results Let's consider a hypothetical company that makes educational curriculum and schedule planning for higher-education institutions. Those could be: Generating qualified leads from 30 institutions Conducting demos at 10 colleges Closing deals at 5 campuses Those results would lead to initiatives like setting standards for lead qualification and training reps at the top of the funnel on how to use them appropriately, revamping sales messaging for discovery calls, and conducting research to better tailor the demo process to the needs of community colleges.
More specifically, you need to take these strides: Identify your long-term goals. Backward map the preconditions necessary to achieve your goal, and explain why they're necessary. Identify your basic assumptions about the situation. Determine the interventions your initiative will fulfill to achieve your goals. Come up with indicators to evaluate the performance of your initiative. Write an explanation of the logic behind your initiative. Here's another visualization of what that looks like.
Image Source: Wageningen University and Research This planning model works best for organizations interested in taking on endeavors like building a team, planning an initiative, or developing an action plan. Example of the Theory of Change For the sake of this example, imagine a business that makes HR Payroll Software — one that's not doing too well as of late. Hoshin Planning The Hoshin Planning model is a process that aims to reduce friction and inefficiency by promoting active and open communication throughout an organization.
Image Source: i-nexus The model is typically partitioned into seven steps: establishing a vision, developing breakthrough objectives, developing annual objectives, deploying annual objectives, implementing annual objectives, conducting monthly and quarterly reviews, and conducting an annual review. Example of Hoshin Planning For this example, let's imagine a company that manufactures commercial screen printing machines. Strategic Planning Tools There are additional resources you can use to support whatever strategic planning model you put in place.
Here are some of those: 1. Image Source: HubSpot 2. Porter's Five Forces Use Porter's Five Forces as a strategic planning tool to identify the economic forces that impact your industry and determine your business' competitive position. The five forces include: Competition in the industry Potential of new entrants into the industry Power of suppliers Power of customers Threat of substitute products To learn more, check out this comprehensive guide to using Porter's Five Forces.
Image Source: HubSpot 3. It stands for: P: Political E: Economic S: Social T: Technological L: Legal E: Environmental Each of these elements allow an organization to take stock of the business environment they're operating in, which helps them develop a strategy for success.
Visioning Visioning is a goal-setting strategy used in strategic planning. It's composed of four different elements: Value : Does it provide value to customers? Turn around and walk the Terrain—walk the geography of the project.
Finally, walk the project by technology or types of work and subcontractors. Organize the current issues, use the categories to generate additional issues, and then maintain these logs throughout the project.
There will be half a dozen controlling Methods in a project. Examine and plan these carefully. We think we understand controlling projects but without planning, we create controls that are impossible to use. With good plans, the challenge becomes controlling and managing risk—keeping the project beast within the boundaries of the plan. Memorize this—for every one minute we spend in planning, we save six minutes in execution.
Planning increases the speed of the work—planned execution is a fraction of unplanned. Improve the quality of project work; deliver projects and products with record customer satisfaction. Learn to slice a project from different planning perspectives to ensure thorough and complete project preparation.
This has three different approaches. The first is to list elements to be planned under each level of impact. Each level of impact is an independent list. The second is to break each item down by level of impact. For each strategic item, elements would be identified at each TOTT level. This is a work breakdown. The third is to list issues by impact that need resolution.
Issues are softer from project elements. This has been potent in looking at shutdowns and turnarounds in general. A plan for planning. A powerful before action planning strategy. Walk the project by time. Each time the project is traversed wearing different eyes on each trip, very different issues, concerns, and planning steps are become visible. At times we walk the project by territory led by the Design Professionals, then by technology led by each subcontractor, then by time led by the GC.
We have used this approach in partnering workshops to get sides talking about the project and sharing information and concerns. The sequence is important. Territory opens people up as they walk the project; the issues of the subcontractors and the different types of work come next.
Last, after talking about the work are people ready to talk about when the work is to occur and in what sequence. Keep in mind that many times this is the first time the players have looked at the plans or specifications. Construction companies routinely send someone to go build the project and they are lucky if they have a set of plans or specifications.
Start Issue logs for assumptions, definitions, information, opportunities, risks, imperatives, decisions, and resolution.
Again two approaches: This first is to categorize existing issues; the second is to make a log for each category. Categories can be expanded and contracted. In a recent kick-off session for developing a product, the team worked on one category and one issue: decisions and a contingency plan. Look for key Methods. There will be half-dozen controlling Methods in a project. This is the nitty-gritty of projects.
Many project managers never get to this level leaving methods up to the workers or subcontractors. I challenge that assumption. Methods can make or break any project. Workers do not have all the information or facts to make informed decisions. They may perform the same task several times to absolutely eliminate risk while the project can tolerate risk to achieve speed or time to market.
Five percent of the methods will be crucial. These need to be identified and studied. Let me say that again, half-dozen methods will determine the total duration of a project. They need to be studied in detail. For example, consider the floor-to-floor construction of a cast-in-place story office building. The Resource process is the same.
As you think about the resource, bells ring, lights to off, rockets glare. The whole project changes as you look at each type of resource. The next breakdown level also rings bells.
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