A lot of organizations are suffering from not being able to develop a clear and concise strategy, communicating it throughout the organization, and aligning all employees around it.
I just came back from an off-site strategic planning process meeting of CARE Thailand / Raks Thai Foundation, an affiliate of the NGO CARE International. Raks Thai wanted to develop a 10 year strategic plan. I recommended them to use the OGSM (Objective, Goals, Strategies, Measures) – framework that I had already used at other occasions.
The origin of the OGSM strategic planning process goes back to Japan as well as to Procter & Gamble who popularized the model among Fortune 500 companies.
What I like about the OGSM tool is the fact that the document created is very concise (usually only one page). It can be used for communication and alignment across the organization.
Raks Thai had already developed the vision and the values of their organization during workshops in the last two years. So it was a solid base for going about the whole strategic planning process. The strategic horizon as defined by CARE International was 10 years. Raks Thai decided to add two and five year horizons.
The OGSM – framework:
- Objective: First, you have to define the objective(s) of the organization within a certain time horizon. Please note that this is not numeric.
- Goals: Define numerical goals for each objective within defined time frames.
- Strategies: Define key strategies to reach each goal within defined time frames.
- Measures: Define numerical measures for each strategy within defined time frames.
Raks Thai was able to develop their OGSM strategic plan during their off-site meeting. Now, it’s all up to thorough execution, regular monitoring, and, if necessary, from time to time adjusting the OGSM strategic plan, if justified by changing circumstances.
