Moving Forward on Your Success Pathway

There is no denying the challenges we face today. The economy, uncertainty in the world around us, increased emotional complexity, rising unhappiness. All of these and more are making it even more difficult to focus our energy on high value efforts.

Is Strategic Planning Needed?

How good are you at strategic planning? Next question...when you do have a strategic plan, how often does it get implemented well?

Would you be surprised to know that the average success rate for creating a strategic plan is in the mid 60% range? Then consider that the average successful implementation of a strategic plan is in the low to mid 40% range. Why is that?

Here is what I have been hearing from people:

On creating the strategic plan:

• How do we plan for the unknown? 
• Everything is so volatile!
• How can we make a plan when we have so many open positions?
• The supply chain has created roadblocks we just can't plan for.
• It is difficult to plan for people.
• Change is happening so fast.  How do we plan for that?
• We are already successful. Why should we do that?

On implementing the strategic plan:

• People are already at their max.
• We are just too busy.
• The KPIs don't make sense to people.
• Employees are disengaged.
• Our leaders are not equipped to implement the plan.
• The change will be too much for people.

I could list many more in each of these areas, but you get the idea. On the surface, as you and I look at these, some of them seem simple to solve. However, in the heat of the daily work effort, things are not so simple. In addition, it is never just one of the above; it is usually several of them combined. A complex web of roadblocks that keep strategic plans from being created and implemented.

I have met with many organizations that are successful and don't have a strategic plan. They are blessed. But there is a hidden cost that needs to be considered.

• Stress levels tend to be higher where there is no plan.
• Turnover tends to be greater because people don't have a plan to rely on.
• Opportunities can be lost or even never identified.
• Alignment and engagement suffer.
• Innovation is much lower in organizations without strategic plans.

These are real costs. They add up in a hurry.

The Success Pathway

We help many of our clients with strategic planning...but we do not call it that. We prefer the term, Success Pathway. Why? Because a strategic plan tends to focus on the desired outcomes and usually does not cascade the needed action steps throughout the organization. This is simply human nature. "Let's increase sales by 50% next year!" "We will achieve a net profit of $10 million in 2023!"

Great! But how are you going to get there? Sure, most organizations can cascade these goals down one or two levels, but what about the rest of the employees?

A Success Pathway is a comprehensive plan that provides a step by step approach to ensuring every employee has the opportunity to succeed. Let me demonstrate:

• Start with a Success Pathway for the organization for a specific time period.
• Then create a Success Pathway for the executive team.
• Then create a Success Pathway for all teams.
• Then a Success Pathway for leaders.
• Then a Success Pathway for each employee (even contractors).

While this may seem like a lot of work (and it is), it becomes easier as you complete them. BUT, it is a lot less work than struggling through the year without a plan, or trying to implement and manage a plan that is not well accepted. There is massive benefit when the Success Pathways are created because they provide a foundation to build on year after year. The Success Pathway will be very similar for people in the same role. There may be some variation in the equipping/development aspect, but much of the rest will be the same.

How is a Success Pathway similar and different than a strategic plan?

Similar:

• Both start with clear goals/expectations. These are the desired outcomes.
• Both have KPIs created to focus efforts.
• Depending on the detail in the strategic plan, both have alignment factors to ensure efforts are synergistic.

Different:

• The Success Pathway has a success plan for the organization, each leader, each team, and every employee.
• Each Success Pathway clearly spells out the expectations, ensures understanding, provides an equipping/development plan, has specific measures that are visible to everyone, and provides insight into why it is important. This is a complete pathway to success that contains everything needed to empower success.

Here is a tool we provide in our online courses to help create a Success Pathway for employees. Notice the acronym spells SUCCESS.

The SUCCESS Pathway Guide

 Self-awareness. The employee must be made aware of their role, the impact it has on others, and the resources available to them.

• How will you ensure that the individual clearly understands these?

 Understand acceptable behavior and performance. What is the specific behavior and performance that is expected in the role?

• What will you say to the individual that clarifies the specific performance/behavior standards for the role?

 Competencies needed. Be specific about what competencies are needed. Does this include specific certifications, professional designations, ongoing learning and development?

• How will you create a pathway for the individual to grow in their competencies? How will you ensure they understand the time frames for this growth?

 Consequences. What are the specific consequences that are tied to performance/behavior? Consequences can be either rewarding or redirecting.

• What consequences (both reward and punitive) will you put in place to drive the individual’s accountability and motivation in their role?

 Expectations. What specific and measurable goals/KPIs must be met by a certain time frame.

• What time bound goals will you attach to the role and how will those goals be measured (be specific)?

 Schedule. Schedule regular coaching/review meetings to track progress, answer questions, provide support, and guide the employee throughout the process.

• How will you support the individual on their pathway to success through regularly scheduled coaching, support, and progress meetings?

 Supervise. Actively supervise the employee throughout the process. This includes a consistent performance evaluation process.

• How will you maintain accountability and a sense of importance and urgency throughout the process?

Challenge

I recommend you use the above Success Pathway guide to create a Success Pathway for someone. Maybe that someone is you?

To learn more about Success Pathways, feel free to visit our podcast.

The Success Pathway is an integral part of our online courses, "Cultivating Accountability" and "Leading Teams to Become High Performing Teams". View these here.

Copyright © 2022 EQFIT® - Author: Steven Goodner All rights reserved. No portion of this material may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law. For permissions contact: [email protected]