STUCK Talks Strategic Planning with The Paranet Group

The Co-Founders of STUCK, LLC first went around the room and asked what everyone’s pain points were. What brought them to a strategic planning session at 8am on a Tuesday?   Some attendees came because they needed more effective tools to use for their business. Others came because they wanted to try a new planning process. Or, they came because they needed a better way to communicate their goals to their staff.   As the topics varied, everyone had something in common. They all wanted to transform their business from its current state to its ideal future state.  

A Sustainable Strategic Plan

On August 21, 2018, STUCK Co-Founders Jerry Jendusa and Paul Schulls spoke at The Paranet Group’s event: Single-Page Plan Strategic Session.   The co-founders started to talk about what they learned during their own journey of starting and growing the aerospace business, EMTEQ. They talked about the mistakes they made when creating their own business plans.   One mistake was creating detailed, bulky, and eventually dusty, business plans. These plans were not shared with staff and were not executed.  

      Paul Schulls and Jerry Jendusa explained how they turned this mistake into an opportunity. While growing EMTEQ, they created the Single-Page Plan. Instead of having a bulky plan, this one was one page, which made it possible to align it with people, process, and strategy.  The plan was created to be shared and brought to life through people.   STUCK’s goal was to share how they conduct their strategic planning and how it relates to the creation and execution of their Single-Page Plan. More specifically, how they took the lessons they learned to craft a process that sustains results.   Schulls introduced how he conducts strategic planning with his clients. His helps them create the high level initiatives, called the Strategic Deployment Initiatives, and the targets, which measure the status of the initiatives. After these are created, they are included in the plan.   The video below shows Paul Schulls explaining this process during the event.      

An Effective Execution Process

After the plan is created, it needs to be deployed and introduced to the business. Jendusa covered the topic of cascading this plan to staff, “When creating business plans, keep the deployment of it in mind. Create it so it can be measured”.   [bctt tweet=”“When creating business plans, keep the deployment of it in mind. Create it so it can be measured” – Jerry Jendusa” username=”STUCKCoaching”]     He went on to discuss how having a measurable plan can lead to increased accountability, goal achievement, and business growth. The key to this growth, however, really depends on if the plan is executed properly.   “It’s not what you measure, it’s what you do with that measurement that really matters” Jendusa stated.   The duo explained the monthly execution process that they implemented at EMTEQ, and how it creates sustained results through employee buy-in and accountability. This execution process is used to make sure every action is aligned to the Single-Page Plan.   [bctt tweet=”“It’s not what you measure, it’s what you do with that measurement that really matters” – Jerry Jendusa” username=”STUCKCoaching”]   One tool that was explained was the Must Do/Can’t Miss board.  Schulls spoke about this tool and how it increases accountability in the workplace. He visually showed how the board includes what action items need to be done within the next 30, 60, and 90 days and who is responsible for getting it done.  

Getting Unstuck

  During the presentation, the co-founders brought up different factors that can hinder growth. They explained the importance of having real issue discussions and conducting trust exercises, like Stop/Start/Continue. Then they proceeded to talk about how they organized EMTEQ to operate in business units, and how they promoted a bottom-up management structure with the end goal of having a customer-centric culture.   The audience remained engaged during the presentation. They included their own experiences about strategic planning and business plans and how they relate.  Jendusa and Schulls often brought up the lessons they learned during their journey, and how the attendees can learn from them.  

  The presentation was concluded with a reminder that a strategic planning process involves communication and alignment between key stakeholders. With a simple plan and a sustainable execution process, businesses will be able to turn their current state into a future state.  

Now it’s Your Turn

Think about your strategic planning process. Are you sharing your goals with your staff? How are you involving them and keeping them accountable? Is your plan really taking you to your ideal future state? Make sure your business plan is coming to life through your employees.    For more tips on how to improve your business, follow STUCK Coaching on LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube.