The Graveyard of Strategic Plans

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Strategic planning has been fashionable for accounting firms for years. A subject search for “strategic planning” at Amazon.com turned up 1270 books.

I have helped firms plan strategy for more than 20 years. To prepare for these sessions I first review the minutes of the last strategy retreat. Then I ask the managing partner the status of the various strategic initiatives on which they worked so hard and diligently.

Often, most of the planned initiatives were never implemented. Why not?

It wasn’t because the plans were no good.

The plans themselves are typically well thought out and (being accountants) well documented. These plans usually include the required who, what, when, and how. Yet the plans never got done.

Most CPAs think a successful plan means “come up with the right list of things to do.” In other words, their focus is on “strategy.”

But, if the result of successful planning is actually getting things done, then those plans were failures.

KEY POINT: Developing a plan to achieve a goal or solve a problem is not enough.

I would even say that the problem-solving part of planning is often the easiest part.

Partners at a strategic planning retreat often feel that designing the right action plan is the most important part of the retreat. Yet, as I noted above, most of these well-designed action plans did not result in action. Why not?

It wasn’t for lack of commitment. When I interviewed the partners, they usually supported the plans and thought they would achieve the stated goals.

These plans usually included the required budgets and time tables. Yet the plans never got done. Why not?

The answer

We’ve all heard the old adage, “If you want something done, give it to a busy person.” The theory is that people who are always busy are productive and, therefore, they can always add one more item to their to-do list.

But, as the old song says, “It ain’t necessarily so.”

In fact, that’s why most action plans end in the graveyard — they are assigned to people who are already working at full capacity. They are just too busy.

How to make strategic planning work

Successful strategy is more about implementation than about plan design.

KEY POINT: A well-designed strategy is useless unless implemented.

Most of the value of planning comes from figuring out how to make things happen. It is not so much about what you should do (often you already know that) as about how to get it actually  done in the real world.

Strategy should establish investment priorities. And the scarcest resource most firms have to invest is the time of their partners.

Since most partners already work 55 to 60 hour weeks, when are they going to find time to take on a new activity? They aren’t. Unless, at the same time we ask them to assume a new

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David Cottle Consulting
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