A new year is well underway now and, for many architecture and engineering firms, so much has changed since the start of the pandemic. But, too many firm leaders are trying to navigate today’s world using yesterday’s strategic plan. The implications can range from stifled growth rates to losing key emerging and current leaders when a recruiter comes calling.
Done correctly, strategic planning is a great way to create a roadmap for your AEC firm’s growth trajectory…even in times when there isn’t a great deal of long-term visibility. Done incorrectly, it is a colossal waste of time that only causes frustration and friction!
Based on PSMJ’s 40+ years of experience with thousands of AEC firms, here are seven common mistakes that’ll send your strategic plan from the printer directly to the recycle bin:
- Think of it as an event rather than a process. People who think of “plan” as a noun tend to write a nice neat document, tuck it into a three-ring binder, and let it gather dust on a bookshelf while they make their day-to-day decisions and react to events with little or no thought to a long-term direction. Think of “plan” as a verb instead—something you do all the time, tending to it at regular intervals—a process that never ends—an ongoing part of your proactive approach to the marketplace and to running your business.
- Bring the wrong people. You need to run your strategic planning retreat with a small group of firm leaders who actively participate in the meeting. And you have to include a cross-section of people from the firm, especially someone representing your young professionals. PSMJ recommends that your planning team be between seven and 15 people.
- Save a few bucks by holding the retreat in the company conference room. You can’t have an effective planning retreat in your offices. Too many interruptions, potential distractions, and tardy participants make it impossible.
- Use an inside facilitator. Use an outside facilitator who brings an unemotional, unbiased, and goal-focused perspective to keep your team on track, and keep in check any individual agendas that can derail your plan. Be certain that your facilitator knows the design industry, and that you provide your facilitator with an abundance of advanced data about your firm, its markets, its clients, and all previous strategic planning efforts.
- Label the plan “FINAL”. Good strategic plans are fluid not rigid. By labeling your plan “DRAFT,” you encourage everyone to participate and to comment on the tactics and activities required to achieve your goals.
- Leave without ‘by who, by when’ accountability. You haven’t created an effective strategic plan if you wrap up your retreat without formalizing specific actions, tactics, deadlines, and accountable individuals. This is the #1 impediment to AEC firm strategic goal attainment and why having an outside facilitator drive the retreat is so critical – you need someone who will hold EVERYONE’S feet (yours included) to the fire.
- Don’t establish regular review meetings. Before leaving your planning retreat, coordinate calendars with all participants for a minimum of four reviews per year. Review meetings should be brief, off-site, with nothing else on the agenda but to review your goals and chart progress on those goals.
In today’s fast-moving business climate, you need alignment and clarity to get your leadership team moving towards success. You need a plan that has “teeth” and won’t just collect dust on a bookshelf.
Whether you are brand new to planning or are ready to turbo-charge your efforts, PSMJ’s Breakthrough AEC Strategic Planning Online Master Class provides you with tools and tips that you can implement immediately.
