The Top Five Reasons Strategic Plans Fail

5. Leadership – It’s much like fly fishing – when you’re up to your waist in it, it’s suddenly much harder than it looks.
    a. All levels do not work at the plan.
    b. An inability to step up to bring strategies from paper to production.
    c. No one works together, so it becomes easy for one person to distort the plan to suit their OWN vision.

4. Passive Management – If we don’t put forth a regular effort to keep the plates spinning, they will fall down and the sticks will end up in uncomfortable places.
    a. Poor or no follow-through and follow-up.
    b. No execution of individual tactics to see the plan through – assigned individuals are not held accountable for delivery.
    c. The plan is written down on paper and nicely filed away.
    d. The team is expected to have the wherewithal to pull off the tasks, so no one manages the plan.

3. No Plan Behind the Idea – Ideas are easier to talk about than do.
    a. The “great plan” is really a nice, high-level idea.
    b. No planning of the implementation process.
    c. The plan isn’t broken down into doable actions.

2. Communication – Ideas must be delivered through more than words and pictures. Demonstration is a very important form of communication.
    a. The developers of the strategy don’t get out enough information for folks to understand what they are supposed to do with it.
    b. No regular internal pres or marketing to generate momentum.

1. Motivation and Personal Ownership – The plan can only succeed if there is emotion or passion to see that is will succeed.
    a. Lack of participation in the planning and implementation phases.
    b. Staff or member resistance to the plan.
    c. Lack or no sense of urgency to implement the plan.
    d. Inability of individuals to view strategic planning an important and exciting part of their work.
    e. Lack of member support.
    f. Lack of initiative at the “front lines.”

Learn from Napoleon Hill, “The majority of men meet with failure because of their lack of persistence in creating new plans to take the place of those which fail.”

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