At every venue you visit for the services you need, there are credentials and certificates hanging on the wall. Behind the desk of your attorney and CPA are their degrees and licenses; your surgeon and dentist proudly display the medical credentials they worked so hard to earn. Even for professions that don’t take years of university schooling, you put your …
It is always a celebratory moment when organizations finally have strategic objectives defined after the exhausting strategic planning process they have gone through. Oftentimes, though, staff jump directly to determining “what should we do to achieve those objectives?” and put all their energies into implementing selected projects. After a year or so, organizations find either that they can’t quantify their …
Public outcry for environmental action is escalating, carbon reduction targets are not being met, and worst-case “global average” temperature rise is becoming more likely and has been declared by the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration as a “long-term global upward trend that is clear and unambiguous.” Armed with urgent warnings coming out of the climate science community, leaders from the …
Recent research conducted by George Washington University, Center for Excellence in Public Leadership and LBL Strategies points to this conclusion: The #1 reason strategy fails in the public sector is lack of leadership in executing the plan. In April 2019, several public and private sector organizations serving the public sector at the federal, state and local levels reached out to …
Albert Einstein said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. We can apply the same adage to strategy. If we always use the same input and thought process when developing strategy, will we really get a different result? How do we prepare ourselves for an uncertain future, when we …
By Jim Stockmal, Association for Strategic Planning Past President Strategic planners and strategists have for many years focused on environmental factors that may impact their organization either positively or negatively. Whether using a classical PESTEL model – that is the political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal factors – or strategic foresight, we have often considering these macro trends as …
Achieving Association for Strategic Planning (ASP) industry level certification signals you are a well-rounded and accomplished strategy professional. That said, passing an industry level professional certification exam can be stressful, expensive and time consuming; especially balancing work demands or looking for career opportunities. As you begin to prepare for your certification exam follow these tips to ensure success: Become a …
When you compare strategies between businesses, you’ll find that no two are exactly alike. Each business is trying to accomplish something another isn’t – however large or small the differences end up being. This fact could lead you to believe that a strategy professional’s talents are unique to each business too, with no transferable skills. But, when you look into …
For professionals in charge of strategic planning and management, having a Project Management Professional (PMP) certification can certainly be a boon to your resume and your career. But now that you’ve earned it, you have to keep it! What are some of the best ways to make sure you’re continuously earning the PDUs, or Professional Development Units, that you need …
“The best laid schemes of mice and men go often askew” (Robert Burns, “To a Mouse, on Turning Her Up in Her Nest with the Plough”, 1785) If poet Robert Burns were a CEO in today’s operating environment, we expect he’d use that line…often. In fact, is there a better way to manage expectations for a strategic plan with leaders …
