Blog

Many of Morrison’s clients know our People Solutions practice area as specializing in recruiting. While we do provide expertise in the recruitment function, and have for many years, we do not necessarily describe ourselves solely as recruiters. Instead, we describe ourselves as consultants that happen to do recruitment really well (check out the active recruitments on which we are currently working – we’re busier than ever).

In addition to providing expertise in the recruitment space, consultants in Morrison's People Solutions practice area also specialize in leadership and organizational development, executive coaching, training, and strategic planning. With the recent addition of Jeff Boian as Manager of People Solutions, more emphasis has been placed on providing strategic planning for our clients.

So, what exactly is strategic planning? Many scholars and practitioners respond to this question differently. For our purposes, we’ll look to Michael Porter, writing for Harvard Business Review (1996), where he states there are three underlying strategic positions that organizations need to be aware of:

1. Strategy is the creation of a unique and valuable position, involving a different set of activities
2. Strategy requires you to make trade-offs in competing – to choose what not to do
3. Strategy involves creating ‘fit’ among a company’s activities

Complementing Porter’s three underlying strategic positions listed above, A.G. Lafley and Roger Martin, in their book Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works (2013), indicate that “strategy is an integrated set of choices that uniquely positions the firm in its industry so as to create sustainable advantage and superior value relative to the competition”. Lafley and Martin elaborate even more by stating that “strategy is a coordinated and integrated set of five choices: a winning aspiration, where to play, how to win, core capabilities, and management systems.”

Strategic planning involves making choices – sometimes difficult ones – that will shape the future of an organization. All organizations – big and small – are faced with making these decisions in one way or another.

Professor Peter Drucker famously said, “If you want something new, you have to stop something old.” What choices are you and your organization currently facing? Are there practices that you need to decide to no longer carry out? Are there items that you need to decide to no longer produce or grow or focus on? How might these decisions impact your future? While the future is unknown, it is essential that organizations make every effort to make strategic choices and plan for what could be the next phase of their operations.

At Morrison, our focus has always been on recognizing, respecting, and meeting the needs of our clients; we would love to come alongside you and provide strategic planning assistance in order to help you meet the needs of your organization as you plan for a successful future.  For more information on how the process works and how we can help, please contact Jeff Boian here.