Strategic Planning: How to Engage Stakeholders in a Socially Distanced World
The first three months of 2020 have changed this world. Among the many causalities of COVID19 are the strategic plans. It has been a case of a double whammy for them. The more serious one is the relevance of the pre-COVID era strategy, in the post-COVID era. The operating environment has changed significantly. (Note: ‘Era’ here means about three months. It probably reflects the speed of change in our times.)
Besides, with the threat of a lingering pandemic combined with the restrictions in the form of social distancing norms, it is tough to implement any plan. For similar reasons, organizations find it challenging to review the current plans and to develop new ones in instances where the previous plan has expired. COVID has impacted both the plans and the planning process.
Notably, you cannot attribute these challenges to organizational capacity weaknesses. Unprecedented external events occasioned them. Nobody (except probably Bill Gates) saw it coming. The situation points to the need for innovative approaches to strategic planning in the socially distanced world.
Strategic Planning is more Crucial when a Black Swan Event Occurs
A strategic plan provides direction to an organization. No organization can move forward and achieve its objectives without a strategic plan.
The strategic planning process itself is an energizing effort, particularly for stakeholder-driven organizations. Not-for-Profit and the government and inter-governmental organizations tend to engage their stakeholders deeply in the planning and implementation processes.
Notably, strategic planning becomes more crucial when a black swan event such as COVID-19 pandemic occurs. A black swan event is an unpredictable event that is beyond what is normally expected of a situation and has potentially severe consequences. Black swan events are characterized by their extreme rarity, their severe impact, and the widespread insistence they were obvious in hindsight (www.investopedia.com.)
When the operating environment changes significantly, the learning from the environmental analysis and scenario planning conducted during the planning process, enable the organization to respond swiftly.
However, with the social distancing norms in place — as is the case now in many countries- it is not practical to get the stakeholders under one roof to discuss, deliberate and agree on the strategies and plans.
Change is the only Constant
When the operating environment has changed (and is changing) significantly, we all need to innovate and find new ways of doing things. This rule applies to the development of a strategic plan, even when the traditional forms of stakeholder engagements are not feasible. It does not mean that current methodologies are not usable. Most models such as scenario planning, balanced scorecard and SWOT analysis are still valid. The success will depend a lot on the assumptions made for developing the strategy.
Further, in a fast-changing environment, it is much more difficult to see far into the future. Therefore, you may want to reduce the planning horizon, say, to three-years from the earlier norm of five years.
Tools and Techniques for an Online Stakeholder Engagement
There are numerous ways to engage the stakeholders using the available technology when the face to face meetings are not possible. Below is the description of some of the tools for conducting strategic planning online.
1. Field Data Collection Tools: Field surveys can be conducted using phone, iPad or a laptop. Similarly, there are several online survey applications — such as Survey Monkey. The facilitators should have the expertise and experience in developing appropriate -simple and clear- survey questions for online use.
2. Focus Group Discussions: The focus group discussions can be conducted using video conferencing applications such as Zoom, Webex etc. The participants can attend the planning session from any location as long as they have access to a computer and stable internet connection. The facilitator should brief the participants on the use of the video-conferencing application. When moderated well, the online discussion can generate results as good as face to face meeting.
Where there is a divergence in the views among the participants on any issue, the facilitator can initiate an online poll to arrive at majority view and hold further discussions to arrive at a consensus.
3. Brain Storming Sessions: Brainstorming sessions are at the heart of strategy development. We are all so much used to face to face meeting for generating ideas through brainstorming. But brainstorming sessions can also be conducted using video conferencing applications (such as Zoom, Webex, etc.). For example, the participants can present their ideas using the annotate function, which can be seen by all other participants. This feature exists on most of the video-conferencing applications. In case of divergence of opinions, the participants can vote on the ideas.
4. Other Stakeholder Engagement Tools: There are several other online tools such as prioritization, sorting, rating etc. that a facilitator can use to engage the stakeholders in a strategic planning session.
How to Choose the Right Tools
It is possible to use a lot of new technology and tools, including artificial intelligence in the strategic planning process. It is essential to consider the need, feasibility, cost and organizational context when choosing them.
When the new tools and approaches are introduced, certain change management challenges can emerge. Therefore, you should test the tools before putting them into use. It is also necessary to brief the stakeholders on the use of the tools and techniques such that the online approach receives their support.
