It seems that there are many reasons to update a strategic plan, for example:

  • The organization does not have a unified mission or mandate, which results in many competing goals
  • An old plan no longer applies (new technology, challenges, expectations, environment, etc)
  • Key leadership has been replaced with someone new
  • Laws or Bylaws require a new plan every 1, 3, or 5 years
  • The old plan is just not working...
  • Funders or Constituents expect something different than previously provided

Are there any other reasons a strategic plan should be refreshed or completely replaced?

asked Feb 09 '11 at 16:09

Richard%20S's gravatar image

Richard S
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Richard, good answer above. I think a lot of the suggestions are quite valid. I've also seen some Balanced Scorecard organizations realize that their scorecard is no longer valid. Let me give you two examples:

  • Measures are not changing: In this case, they have achieved the performance they are looking for, and they are just monitoring information, and not measuring change. A simple example is when performance of a particular process starts to meet the tolerance requested (99% or six sigma in defects).
  • Objectives are accomplished: I've been in a strategy review meeting where the leadership team realized that they had accomplished three of the 10 objectives on their strategy map--customer service as a core competency, leadership succession plans, and manufacturing excellence.

In both cases, there is a natural time when you realize that you need to update your strategy and strategy map. Maybe this is just a longer explanation of bullet 2 above, but when this happens, it is not always on an annual or 3-5 year schedule.

Keep a look out if you are struggling with your strategy review meetings. Read more about review meetings at Ascendant's blog

Ted

answered Apr 27 '11 at 11:33

Ted%20Jackson's gravatar image

Ted Jackson
1339915

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Asked: Feb 09 '11 at 16:09

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Last updated: Apr 27 '11 at 11:33

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