Employee Involvement in a Strategic Analysis – Professional Growth Systems

Employee Involvement in a Strategic Analysis

The obvious question: What’s a strategic analysis?

Not only what is it, but why do you need one? The strategic analysis or assessment is an examination of the external environment the organization operates in, i.e., the economy, competitors, cultural dynamics, customers, etc. Why do you need this examination? Well, when planning, you first determine a vision of your ideal future, then ask, how do I get there? To answer the “how”, you look outward for the best opportunities for your growth and any threats that could impede you. And where do you find those opportunities and threats? You guessed it, the strategic analysis.

Why involve employees?

employees in strategic analysisOur Vision Navigation® strategic planning system offers clients several options for completing an assessment of the opportunities and threats in the competitive world in which they operate. One of those options involves establishing up to 8 employee teams to look at each component of the strategic landscape.

A big advantage with the team approach is that the more diverse the viewpoints feeding into the assessment (age, ethnic background, work experience, education), the richer, more comprehensive and likely more accurate the assessment. That is, the less chance that you will miss an opportunity or a threat. Another major advantage is the sense of involvement employees gain in helping the company develop its future path to success – a great morale booster.

The downside and the upside

The only disadvantage with this level of employee involvement is that it takes more time and expense to involve more staff in the process, which prolongs the time to get your plan in place. Do the positives outweigh these negatives? We believe they do, particularly for our clients with a larger employee base. The biggest plus – tapping into the tremendous value of the resource that is your staff.

Years ago we were working with a chain of natural food stores in Texas. The CEO chose to employ the six employee teams. Those involved ranged from produce handlers to department heads. During the session in which the teams reported out, the CEO took me aside and offered the following, “I never knew I had such an invaluable resource in my people. This will be invaluable.”

Your thoughts? Drop us an e-mail – we would love to hear from you.