Most tertiary education institutions apply a similar, but flawed, sequence of activities to generate strategic plans. Consequently, over 70% of strategic plans fail to achieve their aspirations. This blog outlines a novel set of activities to generate innovative, inspiring, and productive strategic plans. In essence
the institution uncovers 6 to 8 quests—ongoing and innovative programs, comprising a collection of projects, that are designed to solve an escalating problem and resolve an important paradox from many perspectives
to unearth these 6 to 8 quests, the institution implements a sequence of eight phases, using a range of techniques, to collate existing problems, to identify possible opportunities, to match these problems and opportunities, to blend compatible opportunities, and to reconcile incompatible opportunities
the institution then applies a range of agile methods, together with suitable databases, to pursue these quests
importantly, changes to the strategic plan emanate from these quests rather than vice versa
In defence of quests
Strategic plans are partly designed to help staff prioritize their work activities, precluding tasks that are not relevant to the goals of their workplace and enhancing productivity. Yet, strategic plans are also designed to
enhance the commitment and dedication of staff to the institution
foster innovation.
Yet, most strategies do not achieve these goals. Some research, for example, estimates that about 70% of strategic plans do not achieve their aspirations. Indeed, strategic plans are unlikely to be effective unless they fulfil six conditions:
The plan should diverge appreciably from the strategies of rivals (e.g., Hornsey & Jetten, 2004)
The plan should extend recent trends and achievements in the organization, instilling a sense of progress and thus commitment (Nunes & Dreze, 2006)
The plan should encompass between 80% and 90% of the existing activities of this organisation; the other activities should be abandoned or modified to cohere with the strategy (for the rationale to limit the breadth of activities, see Kirca et al., 2019; McAllister et al., 2017)
The plan should simultaneously resolve three or more of the key problems the organisations needs to address (Van Tongeren & Green, 2010)
The plan should reconcile two conflicting objectives or inclinations—such as the use of traditional practices to foster innovation (Miron-Spektor et al., 2011)
The plan should integrate the distinct strengths and challenges of this organisation into a unified narrative
Unfortunately, the approach that most institutions and consultancies adopt to develop a strategic plan limit their capacity to fulfil these objectives. Although the precise approach varies considerably, typically
institutions administer standard methods—such as surveys, focus groups, and the nominal group technique—to collate the perspectives of staff
to extend these insights, the institution applies other tools to a subset of staff, including PESTLE analysis, scenario planning, intuitive logics, five forces analysis, and the growth-share matrix
a few staff construct a report that integrates the information that is gleaned from these methods and tools, often using text analysis, thematic analysis, and similar approaches
executives convene to interpret the report and to propose a vision, mission, values, priorities, objectives, portfolio of offerings, and development needs
However, this approach tends to limit innovation and compromise the utility of strategic plans. To illustrate, strategic planning does not impose enough constraints or limits on the range of suggestions that individuals can propose. That is
When constraints are imposed on the suggestions that individuals can propose, the originality and utility of solutions tends to improve significantly (Baruah & Paulus, 2011; Pike, 2002).
These constraints or limitations have been shown to elicit a mindset, called abstract construal, that enhances innovation (Marguc, Forster, & Van Kleef, 2011)
Likewise, strategic plans imply that all individuals should assume a uniform set of values
A uniform set of values impedes the degree to which staff feel they can deviate from norms
Yet, this sense that individuals can deviate significantly enhances creativity: Even subliminal pictures of punks have been shown to foster innovation (Pendry & Carrick, 2001)
Rather than apply this conventional approach, institutions are now experimenting with a range of alternatives. One alternative revolves around generating six to eight inspiring quests. Quests are ongoing programs, designed to solve an enduring problem and pursue an enduring aspiration. For example, at a tertiary education institutions, one quest might be to develop a unique suite of initiatives that enable students to undertake activities that enhance their institution and community more effectively. Like this example, the distinguishing features of these quests are that
they are designed to resolve a paradox—that is, to reconcile two competing objectives
this paradox or problem is likely to become increasingly significant over the next decade
they entail some unique feature that enables the institution to resolve this paradox
they integrate the skills and contributions of many individuals from most disciplines
they entail a range of independent projects and initiatives, each conducted by individuals or small teams
they comprise procedures that enable individuals and teams to coordinate these projects and initiatives
each of these projects and initiatives are designed to generate knowledge, capabilities, or resources that could help resolve this paradox
The following table delineates the features of quests. The second column justifies these features.
Key features of quests | Corresponding determinant of commitment or innovation |
Each quest must revolve around an issue that is relevant to many, if not most, disciplines | Exposure to diverse perspectives enhance creativity (e.g., Fee & Gray, 2012; Hoever et al., 2012; Maddux et al., 2010) |
Each quest should be related to an issue that, according to analyses of megatrends, is likely to escalate over the next decade | When people orient their attention to future possibilities, a decade or so from now, innovation is more likely (e.g., Chiu, 2012) |
Each quest should revolve around improving the lives of communities or demographics who are not already privileged | Attempts to enhance the lives of other individuals promote a sense of meaning—a determinant of commitment
When staff feel the workplace supports people in need, their creativity tends to improve (e.g., Gong et al., 2012; Mikulincer et al., 2011) |
Each quest should integrate the activities and suggestions of many individuals | An orientation towards quantity, rather than quality, of activities has been shown to enhance innovation (Paulus, Kohn, & Arditti, 2011)—provided the pursuit is enduring instead of transient |
Each quest should embrace the contributions of people outside the organisation, including staff who have left the institution | Staff tend to be more committed to a project if they feel the relationships they form are lasting (e.g., Forster et al., 2009) and if they can imagine some of their future activities vividly
When people feel their pursuits now might last indefinitely, the corresponding sense of stability tends to enhance commitment (Moss et al. 2017) |
Each quest should be designed to solve a paradox or tension—or entail some feature that contradicts entrenched practices | Exposure to paradoxes tends to enhance creativity and innovation (Miron-Spektor et al., 2011)
Existing tensions and paradoxes tend to impede the degree to which individuals feel they can shape their lives—a feeling that tends to diminish commitment |
Each quest should originate from suggestions posed by one person or a small team | Solutions that originate from one person, or at least a small team, thus tend to be more creative (e.g., de Vet & De Dreu, 2007) |
The quest is designed to enable individuals or small teams to complete projects alone | Individuals feel the need to belong—and thus emulate other people—but also the need to be distinct (Hornsey & Jetten, 2004)
To reconcile these conflicting needs, individuals tend to most committed to organizations in which they can work in small teams, or in a unique role, but still contribute to a shared and revolutionary objective (Hornsey & Jetten, 2004) |
Each project or initiative should be designed to generate knowledge, capabilities, or resources that facilitate future projects or initiatives | Individuals tend to be most inspired whenever they experience a sense of progress in the capabilities and resources they can utilise (e.g., Richter, Hirst, van Knippenberg, & Baer, 2012) |
Organizations should support about 6 to 8 quests at the same time—the maximum number that many staff can remember | Individuals need to be able to integrate all their duties, goals, or insights with one or more of these quests. To achieve this goal, they should be able to recall all the quests |
How to choose and to implement quests
If this approach is adopted, the first phase is to uncover potential quests and to ascertain which quests to pursue. The following table outlines the activities the institution can implement to achieve these goals.
Key activity | Details |
Gradually collate the problems the institution needs to solve and the opportunities to solve these problems | Problems entail challenges to the institution, to the community, and to stakeholders Opportunities entail capabilities, networks, grants, and other features of the organization that can be utilised to solve these problems Even simple approaches, such as SWOT and PESTLE, can be applied to unearth some of these problems and opportunities Yet, more advanced techniques, such as the application of supervised machine learning on scraped data, can be applied to extend this information over time Hence, the institution should maintain a database of problems and opportunities that evolves over time |
Match the opportunities and problems | Over time, develop a matrix that indicates the extent to which each opportunity can be applied to solve each problem This task could be assigned to a subset of staff with relevant expertise. Alternatively, all staff could be invited to complete short surveys in which they estimate the degree to which a subset of opportunities can be applied to solve a subset of problems |
Prioritize the problems and opportunities | Rank all the problems and opportunities from most important to least important To rank problems, first rate the degree to which each problem is likely, consequential, and enduring—and then utilise suitable formulas, such as hyperbolic discounting, to integrate this information To rank opportunities, use suitable formulas that combine information about the degree to which each opportunity solves a problem and the importance of this problem Other techniques, such as fuzzy analytic hierarchical processes, can also be applied to rank opportunities. This phase might generate a subset of 10 to 20 selected opportunities |
Identify the compatibility of selected opportunities | A subset of relevant staff should then estimate the degree to which the various opportunities are compatible with each other, on a scale from -1 to 1 -1 indicates that two opportunities are incompatible; the implementation of one opportunity would preclude the other opportunity 1 indicates the two opportunities are compatible |
Blend compatible opportunities | A subset of relevant staff should attempt to blend opportunities that are somewhat or very compatible with each other Staff who have developed expertise in these opportunities should contribute to this activity. This attempt to blend solutions not only diminishes the number of initiatives to implement but also enhances innovation |
Reconcile incompatible opportunities | Initially only individuals, and then small teams, should be granted opportunities to uncover approaches that might reconcile incompatible opportunities This attempt to reconcile incompatible opportunities has also been shown to improve the originality and utility of solutions (Miron-Spektor et al., 2011) |
Select a final set of 6 to 8 approaches | If the previous activities generate more than 8 or so possible approaches, several techniques, such as portfolio optimisation modelling, can be applied to decide which approaches to prioritize Often, managers select approaches that utilise common resources This approach can be risky, however: Approaches that utilise common resources also tend to share overlapping risks Portfolio optimisation modelling identifies approaches that utilise common resources but do not share common risks |
Refine these approaches | Grant diverse stakeholders, from as many disciplines as possible, to refine and to improve these selected approaches. |
These activities will unearth 6 to 8 quests the institution can pursue. These quests can shape or underpin the strategic plan. For example, to complete the strategic plan, relevant executives could
append these quests to existing strategic plans
align the mission and vision to these quests
utilize latent semantic analyses or similar techniques to distil the underlying values and objectives from these quests
Management of these quests
Standard project management and agile techniques can be applied to pursue these quests. Nevertheless, some distinct management practices may be necessary. For example, in contrast to conventional projects, to pursue quests, the institution needs to implement a scheme that inspires staff to enter information about each quest into a shared, cohesive repository of information
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