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From SWOT to SOAR, this article examines how Appreciative Inquiry’s positive, participative approach

August 2007 to generated fast, sustainable, results- driven engagement where traditional approaches fell short. AI Practitioner,

SOARing from SWOT four lessons in strategic planning done right By Jen Hetzel Silbert (@jhsilbert) and Tony Silbert (@tonysilbert) of Spartina Consulting (@SpartinaLLC)

For many, traditional approaches canyons and immovable Having excluded key to development begin mountains emerge, giving way to implementers from the planning with an analysis of external and downward-spiraling feelings of process, there is a need to internal factors, followed by some hopelessness and fear. These persuade staff to execute ideas originally published in visioning, then planning. conversations, stemming from they’re not fully committed to, Included in the analysis phase is repeated analysis of what’s wrong causing significant time delays often a “SWOT,” a thorough or missing, highlight awareness that boost costs and threaten examination of internal Strengths around what isn’t desired, which morale. In our experience, this and Weaknesses, as well as carries little momentum to inspire was usually a 12 – 18 month external Opportunities and compelling visions of a most process, during which people Threats. SWOTs are praised for desired future. continued to question the capturing both the positive direction and how best to A second typical characteristic of operationalize a strategy they did (strengths and opportunities) and traditional strategy development is negative (weaknesses, threats); and not either fully understand or top-down, planning, where small support. organizations embrace this groups of senior leadership are approach with the hope of responsible for strategy creation. For years we took on traditional gaining a “balanced” analysis of Upon completion, much time is approaches to strategy itself, inside and out. spent developing a roll-out plan (a development… and the employee By exploring the weaknesses and “plan for the plan”), such as steps resistance, doubt, and time- threats, however, organizations to get buy-in from employees, consuming roll-outs that went often cause more harm than communicate the strategy both with it. Then came Appreciative good. More than an avoidable internally and externally, and Inquiry. pothole or roadblock, gaping align operations accordingly.

1 Appreciative Inquiry: Rethinking Strategy that significantly elevated staff creativity and Development excitement for implementation, allowing the strategic plan to serve as a “living document” to AI is grounded by two deceptively simple concepts: guide the direction of the organization. (1.) What you seek, you find more of – The more Lesson #2: Involve those who will impact positive and inspiring the strategy and who will be impacted by the strategy CONSULTING development process, the more innovative ideas that will be created and possibilities To maximize participation in an ambitious that can be explored. timeframe (3 months), headquarters staff, partners, field staff, and board members were invited to this (2.) People commit to what they help to create – The non-profit’s planning summit. Persons unable to more participative the plan creation, the attend were encouraged to engage in pre-summit SPARTINA more committed people will be to interviews that probed for strategy input, such as implementation success. best practices, opportunities for improvement, and Having embraced these concepts, we exchanged aspirations for the future. SWOT for SOAR, facilitating environmental scans While inclusive by design, some board members that examined key Strengths and Opportunities were unable to engage based on scheduling conflicts. (similar to SWOT), but with an intentional focus on Further, the board was not engaged early enough in Aspirations and Results – keeping our eye on what the scoping process to agree on what was being done we wanted to move toward (outcomes most desired), and why. In presenting the plan to the directors for not the potholes and canyons to be avoided. approval, there was some disagreement with regard Secondly, we insisted on to plan layout and content, which using participative was eventually resolved, but taxing approaches to strategy By holding the image of nonetheless. Having not development, replacing top- participated in plan development, down with more whole system results they most wanted commitment from this small, yet invitations to the planning to achieve, participants critical sampling of stakeholders, table. This meant bringing naturally moved in the was not immediate. implementers to the direction of their In another example, a distribution beginning of the planning and logistics holding company process (rather than just in compelling goals, owning successfully recruited broad the end), as well as what they themselves stakeholder engagement in their gathering input from created, and not needing strategic planning process. customers, partner partners, suppliers, and organizations, policy leadership guidance customers collaboratively engaged makers, and more. beyond their own inspired in the SOAR analysis and Based on our experiences authority. planning, resulting in the creation applying a SOAR of breakthrough a mere framework to numerous internal perspective could not have clients and to our own company, we have learned envisioned alone. four key lessons. Lesson #3: Prototype and empower Lesson #1: Shift the focus to the positive Later that year we worked with a private equity firm In the fall of 2006, a public charity promoting specifically requesting a more future-focused biological conservation and ecological sustainability approach to strategy development, such as SOAR. came to us seeking a strength-based, participative During the summit, participants engaged in rapid approach to their ongoing strategic planning efforts. prototyping of key opportunities/initiatives in which They had recently conducted a SWOT analysis, they were able to boldly test new—even wild—ideas only to find their daunting list of threats—many together, gaining clarity on what might (or might beyond their span of control—left staff with feelings not) work. of hopelessness and disinterest, stalling subsequent Within two weeks of the summit, many of these planning and implementation. pilot programs had already taken shape in the office Nonetheless, they were hopeful to build on these —even with the project manager away on vacation. labors. By shifting their prior focus on weaknesses By holding the image of results they most wanted to and threats to aspirations and results using SOAR, achieve—consistent with the company’s mission/ they were able to articulate their goals around vision and supported by empowering leadership— influence, innovation, and impact in a manner that participants naturally moved in the direction of focused on what’s right, while soaring beyond what’s their compelling goals, owning what they themselves missing or wrong into new realms of possibility. created, and not needing leadership guidance This resulted in the creation of an engaging strategy beyond their own inspired authority.

2 Activity 1 Pillar Action Plans Strategy Activity 2 Metrics/Scorecard Initiative 1 Activity 3 Activity 4 Activity 1 Extraordinary Objective 1 Initiative 1 Activity 1 Activity 2 Service Delivery Initiative 2 Objective 1 Activity 2 Initiative 2 Initiative 3

CONSULTING Initiative 3 Initiative 4 Initiative 1 Initiative 1 Initiative 2 Objective 2 Objective 2 Abundant Biz Dev Initiative 2 Activity 1 Initiative 3 Activity 2 Initiative 1 Initiative 1 Objective 1 Initiative 2 Initiative 2 InnovationCompany Partners ABC Objective 3 International Initiative 1 Initiative 3 Objective 2 Initiative 4 Initiative 2

SPARTINA Uplifting Operations Objective 3 Initiative 1 Activity 1 Initiative 1 Initiative 2 Objective 4 Activity 1 Initiative 3 Initiative 2 Activity 2 Objective 1 Innovative Practice Initiative 4 Activity 1 Development Initiative 3 Activity 2 Objective 1 Objective 2 IPI Institute Objective 2 Initiative 1 Objective 3 Objective 3

Lesson #4: Sustaining the momentum – team created a 1-page mind-map that is easy to read nurturing a “living” strategy and visually appealing. This keeps subsequent planning efforts focused, inspiring action and follow- As previously noted, a key to sustaining planning through with clear direction. More than an event, momentum was the broadening of stakeholder strategic planning was—and continues to be—a involvement to include other contractors, alumni, robust and engaging process. This is the essence of a and partners, using an Integration Summit within 3 “living” strategy that can be easily communicated months of the initial summit. This also afforded the and sustained for years to come. company a quick means of “seeing the big picture” and more effectively integrating similar initiatives In Summary between goal areas. Appreciative Inquiry and SOAR approaches to Sustainability necessitated simplicity in strategy development lend tremendous potential for communicating the key components of the strategic success where traditional approaches, such as plan to the diverse parties involved. This called for a SWOT, fall short. The lessons presented in this “less is more” approach to the plan write-up and article are just a hint of the learnings yet to come, all presentation, or what we refer to as “Strategy on a of them underlining the essentiality of keeping Page,” a concept illustrated in the image above. strategy development positive, participative, empowering, Utilizing mind-mapping tools as an alternative to innovative and alive! detailed narrative and data capture, our planning

Jen Hetzel Silbert, MSOD, Partner of Spartina Consulting, specializes in applying strength-based approaches to strategic planning, innovation, culture transformation, and staff and community development. Jen’s consulting, speaking, and training services have delivered positive change results to hundreds of public and private organizations – small and large – around the world. Email [email protected] Twitter @jhsilbert About the Authors Tony Silbert, MSOD, Partner of Spartina Consulting, has over 20 years experience in organization development, change leadership consulting, training design and delivery. His areas of expertise include Appreciative Inquiry for large- scale change, strategic planning, business model innovation, team development, and organization design. Email [email protected] Twitter @TonySilbert @SpartinaLLC

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