Long-Range Strategy? Yes, and … What Have You Done for Me Lately?

I’ve spent most of my career helping clients look out over different time horizons and develop their strategies for success in the future.

A long-range perspective isn’t easy to craft, no matter the industry or sector. And it’s not easy to bake that kind of perspective into most organizations, focused as they are (and must be) on delivering results tomorrow.

The most successful organizations – ones I’ve helped, and countless others – know that a long-term perspective vs. results tomorrow is a false choice. The sweet spot is identifying actions to take tomorrow, next week, next month, to get to the vision.

Strategic foresight and strategy are about aspirations for your business. Most companies set annual goals and multi-year strategic plans that depict their intended movement toward a future state vision. But unless leaders and staff deconstruct those goals and plans, they’re just big ideas that stay as ideas.

Every day, you as a leader, and the people who work for you, show up to work. In our pandemic times, that may be asynchronously, on Zoom, in pajamas, but still … The people in your organization should be thinking: what investments of my time and resources this day are best aligned with fulfilling the strategy? As a leader, you need to be thinking: how will I influence my people to zero in routinely on what they could be doing to move us the next step toward our vision?

This is where I try to distinguish my work with my clients. I’ve learned from some of the best in the world, like Alvin Toffler, how to realistically but creatively envision the long term future of the organizations I work with. Developing that aspirational, “what if” view has a big impact, all by itself. But taking it to the next level is all about: “ok, if that’s the vision, X years from now: what did we do the year before that to make it happen? The year before that? All the way back to: Jane, and Bob, and Martina, what are we doing this week, this month, next month, to create the conditions for that vision to be realized?

There are practical ways to do this. One is, take the goals in that long-range strategy or strategic plan and break them down into digestible chunks that you and your people can plot on a timeline. Working backwards from the future achievement of the goal, with monthly and weekly objectives, is a good way to not get stuck on the obstacles to achieving it.

Once you’ve done that, ask yourself: how does that compare with our capacity to actually accomplish these objectives over the timeline? You and your people have fires to put out, vendors to pay, and yes, school-age kids to help with their virtual 4th grade math homework. How can we load-balance within the capacity of the team so we realistically can get to each milestone?

All this is not just important, it’s essential. For achieving the strategy goals, and for  your people to stay engaged and enthused. You can’t achieve the vision if they don’t.  Assign them the obligation, but also give them the autonomy, to start each day with: how will I add the greatest value today to creating our future? How do I make the most of my discretionary time today to do those things, while I also tend to the urgent (for the company) and the necessary (for me)?

I learned a long time ago that envisioning the future with my clients is part – but only one part – of what they need for their success. You also need to connect what you are doing today, in very practical ways, to that future. Make every day count by aligning today’s activities with where you want to get to in the long-term.