The question becomes, “Do I plan based on watching competition, or do I play my own game regardless of what they’re doing?” The answer is probably some of both—the idea is to identify a factor of strength on your part and/or weakness on their part that can be exploited.
The focus and goal of a basic foundation and business philosophy of a business is to determine “why we’re in this, anyway?”
The goal is to get at processes and/or structural advantages to be capitalized upon or improved.
This is one area in which a “rush to judgment” might start to happen.
Planners might see individual items to attack and want to create a to-do list on the spot.
An orderly process in gathering and assembling these puzzle pieces is key to results oriented strategic planning.
The very process of gathering key people around the table and discussing the future is beneficial to your organization, as long as you keep it focused and productive, and creates a positive climate where everyone contributes significantly.
The higher level of teamwork and commitment are byproducts of the plan.
Does your organization have:
Excessive meetings?
Preponderance of consensus-drive decision-making (i.e. cover-your-behind mentality)?
Lack of personal accountability?
Time consuming and/or meaningless performance evaluations?
