The Planning Phase – Become Globally Competitive

Last week, we spoke about the Strategic Phase, and this week we speak candidly about the Planning Phase of becoming Globally Competitive. These are five key takeaways coming out of that conversation we shared on our social media platforms. 

If you missed it, then listen to it here- The Planning Phase  

5 KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THE PLANNING PHASE OF BECOMING GLOBALLY COMPETITIVE

1. CREATING THE RIGHT TEAM 

The first, when it comes to the planning phase is creating the right team. And what I mean by that is not just a team focused on the executive body of the organization. It needs to be a team that covers all levels within the organization, executives, management, technocrats, multi-disciplined, multi-skilled. The reason for that is because you want different perspectives of what is going on in the organization. You want the buy-in throughout the organization. And the best way to get that is to ensure that you allow as many different levels within the organization to contribute to the conversation.  

2. UNDERSTAND THE VALUE PROPOSITION 

Secondly, when looking at the planning phase of becoming globally competitive is understanding the value proposition. And this ties in so nicely with our discussion where we showed the linkage between the strategic phase, moving into the planning phase.  

With the value proposition, you have to understand your current value proposition, where we are now, and what is the value we’re bringing to our customers. And through innovation, you have to then look at what your targeted state for your value proposition is. This conversation directly extends out of the strategic phase. This is key because you need to always know where you are going and where you are taking the organization.  

3. UNDERSTANDING YOUR CURRENT STATE 

The third key element is understanding the current state of your organization. You start with a diagnostic of your organization. What I mean by this is, in some organizations if they are small, the diagnostic can take place from a very holistic level, but in larger organizations, you need to segment it by department or by division. Once you’ve done that segmentation, you now need to identify all the operational processes that will take place within each respective department or division. And then, through your diagnostic, analyze the workflow process and analyze the efficiency levels that take place. Because this phase is where you can set your performance baseline.  

Where are we at now?  

How are we performing now?  

And, again, linking back to your strategic phase, have an appreciation of where you’d like to take your organization. What is the targeted state for performance? How can we ensure that all of these performance metrics that we have captured in our current state are met when we achieve that future state? That is such a key element when it comes to this entire exercise of the planning phase. 

4. ANALYZE YOUR CURRENT DIGITAL SOLUTIONS

The fourth element is analyzing your current digital solutions. What we discussed in our live session, is that we’ve noticed quite a lot of organizations may have a vision of what they would like to have their digital environment look like, but they are still quite archaic in what they have in their environment.  

By analyzing this current digital solution environment, we’re now able to ascertain if it’s simply an upgrade that is required. Sometimes the laundry list of things that are needed to achieve that targeted state can easily be achieved through an upgrade of the software that you have in your environment. Perhaps it may require the acquisition of a different piece of application that may be in the commercial space, or a complete build-out to achieve the vision that you would have for your organization.  

5. THE COMMUNICATION PLAN 

And finally, and I think for me from the experiences that I’ve had, this is such a critical element, the communication plan. That is the vehicle that drives the entire exercise.  

How do we communicate?  

How do we ensure that all the relevant stakeholders’ voices are heard? How do we ensure that there is the achievement of the vision that we want in the targeted state?  

That can only happen with a proper, sound communication plan. Getting the relevant feedback on time, making sure that the changes that need to take place, making sure that everyone’s voice is heard so that at the end of it all, that desired targeted state meets each person’s requirements. We can therefore ensure that we have an organization that buys into the ultimate strategic objective.  

These 5 takeaways are the critical steps of your planning phase for your organization to become globally competitive. Join us every Thursday at 2 pm on our Facebook or Linkedin pages to be part of this exciting conversation.