Strategic Services Description

Orion Development Group’s approach to strategic planning engagements is rooted in the methodology we teach at respected institutions throughout the country.

Figure 1: The Orion Strategic Process

Per this methodology, a fully developed and executable strategy must contain the following:

• Clear Mission & Vision, including tangible statements of what success looks like
• Strategic Objectives based on a balanced assessment of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOTs)
• Strategy Map that illustrates the interrelationship and interdependencies between objectives
• List of strategic initiatives that must be executed to realize strategic objectives and organization Vision
• Mechanism (the Balanced Scorecard) to manage and monitor strategic progress

VISION : Mission/Vision and Goals review

Perhaps the single biggest determining factor in the success of a journey is to have a common understanding of the intended destination. The mission, vision and values statements drive the strategic development and execution processes.

ASSESS : Assessment and Planning processes

The strategic plan is the roadmap successful organizations use to fulfill their mission, vision and values but, as Peter Drucker said, “Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work.” Many organizations today make the mistake of discontinuous planning; they create a five-year plan then “throw it over the wall” to managers who create operational plans. This disconnect invariably leads to disappointing results.

Orion’s strategic services are centered on the Balanced Scorecard and the Hoshin form of strategic planning. We have developed our methodology to seamlessly blend these two approaches and produce synergy between strategy, process improvement and performance management.

INITIATIVES: : Define Strategic Initiatives

The Mission/Vision statements and strategy map tell us what we are going to do; the definition of strategic initiatives tells us how we are going to do it. Defining strategic initiatives is a fairly straightforward task but “the devil is in the details.”

SCORECARD : Build Balanced Scorecard

The Balanced Scorecard (BSC) is a measurement tool designed to assess the effectiveness of an organization’s strategic plan. The scorecard gives management updates of vital information on a periodic basis to aid in making necessary course corrections. In this sense it can be the perfect tool for Assessment of Progress. The Scorecard can be used to manage the initial deployment of strategy as well as the implementation of 3- and 5-year goals.

CONSENSUS : Internal and Regional Communication

Studies have shown that only around 20% of the organizations that develop strategic plans successfully execute them. One of the key reasons why this percentage is so low is that consensus and buy-in to the plan is never achieved. This is especially true for organizations with regional operations and multiple constituencies. Communication is the key to achieving buy-in.

PROGRESS : Measure and monitor 1-, 3-, & 5-year initiatives

Many times a project mentality exists with regard to strategic planning; once the document is created there’s a tendency to check the plan off the “to do” list and move on to the next item. It is critical to reinforce that the completion of the plan and scorecard is the starting point, not the finishing point. To that end, Orion’s approach will build self-sufficiency that enables ongoing execution and adaptation as conditions change.