By Akintola Benson-Oke

AN unknown author wisely observed that, “In absence of clearly defined goals, we become strangely loyal to performing daily acts of trivia.” The famous genius, Albert Einstein said, “If I had an hour to solve a problem, I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions.” Also, William A. Foster noted that, “Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives.” And, of course, popular wisdom says that only the unwise embarks on a journey without a map.

At the end of any rigorous enquiry, one finds that to have an effective strategy is half the battle and to effectively manage a good strategy is everything. This is evident from the writings of Aristotle to the compiled wisdom of Oriental philosophers such as Sun Tzu, and from the ancient history of Europe to regnant modern-day business philosophies.

Indeed, the importance and indispensability of strategy, strategic planning, and strategic management has been proved and validated over the years and, in fact, over the centuries. This is why, in pursuit of the vision of the administration of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode for the Lagos State Civil Service, enormous value and investment have been given to the impartation of knowledge and skills.

Those who have carefully followed the programmes of the Governor will rightly identify this training as critical to realising an essential piece in the jigsaw of organisational productivity. Since assumption of office in 2015, the Ambode administration  has exposed Lagos State Civil Servants to a number of workshops designed to increase, and in some cases, deepen the soft skills essential for success in a 21st century public service. These include soft skills such as office etiquettes, communications skills, office relationship skills, emotional intelligence skills, and problem-solving skills, amongst others.

Akinwunmi Ambode

The Ambode  administration also identified the ministries, departments, and agencies where core new hard skills were needed, and initiated trainings and workshops required to augment skills and knowledge in these ministries, departments, and agencies. Furthermore, the administration’s strategy for retooling the Lagos State Civil Service led to the exposure of a number of officers and officials to international trainings for the purpose of obtaining the comparative knowledge that will stand them in good stead to aspire to global best practices while pursuing the objectives of the Lagos State Civil Service.

After engaging in all of the above, why is it necessary to now emphasise and teach the values and benefits of strategic planning? It is precisely because strategic planning is the essential piece in the puzzle to institutionalise the framework for productivity in the Lagos State Civil Service.  I will emphasise three concepts that have been suggested and, in fact, established  as sine qua non components of any strategic planning framework. Thereafter, I will give an overview of the best practices for the development and implementation of a strategic plan for institutions such as the Lagos State Civil Service.

The first of the components is the understanding of, and adherence to, a thought-out code of corporate governance. It has been said that an effective organization is often one that has initiated programmes and services within its structure that ensure open communication, good management and effective leadership.

Without these hallmarks of corporate governance, it is difficult to plan strategically because the basic framework of goal-setting and decision-making are missing. Setting up a control and reporting mechanism is also important to strategic management as part of a wider corporate governance push. This allows the organization to make changes when they are needed to constantly monitor its own progress.

The second component is the identification of, and capitalisation on, an organisation’s or department’s core competencies. As Edward Russell-Walling notes in his book, 50 Management Ideas You Really Need to Know, a core competency has three key factors: it is not easy for others to duplicate, your organisation, department, or unit can use it in a number of different products or services, and it provides a benefit to your customers.

Thus, each department and unit of the Lagos State Civil Service needs to identify and capitalise on its core competencies. These competencies then have to be developed and enhanced. After this, the public service must ensure that the competencies are not unnecessarily duplicated unless when compelled by exigencies.

The third component of strategic planning is a framework for creating and adhering to clearly defined set of goals for the organisation. Knowing what your core competencies are is good from the standpoint of understanding your strengths in the global scheme of things, but this also helps you to identify areas for improvement and set goals and objectives based on those weaknesses.

If you know, for instance, that your department is lagging behind in utilizing the power of the Internet to serve our esteemed citizens, one of your goals can be to revitalize or introduce an online platform to connect or communicate with the segment of the population that your department serves. Importantly, the goals set should be measurable, specific and have a time frame attached to them. Setting goals in this way helps to strategically position the organisation for continuing and future successes.

Pierre Bertrand is an organisational efficiency consultant who has done extensive work with public institutions and not-for-profit entities. In a recently-published article, he argues that anyone who has experience in managing organisations understands the importance of excellence in strategic planning. He further stated that “every few years, or at least upon the occurrence of a fundamental change in the organisation, it is essential to sit back with the right internal and external stakeholders and take stock of where the organisation has come from, where it currently stands, and where it is going in light of its opportunities and challenges.”

Based on this consultant’s approach and experience, I would like to suggest the  following five key practices to developing and implementing excellence in strategic planning in an institution such as the Lagos State Civil Service:

(a)The first key practice is to have a plan to develop and implement the strategic plan. Like any major project, it is essential to have objectives, a timeline, a budget and the right leader(s) and team to develop the strategic plan. Many planning exercises have been sub-optimised, derailed and / or delayed simply due to the lack of planning.

(b)Strategic planning should involve the right people. Building on the first point, the decision makers should take the time to think about and engage the right people both internally and externally in the development of the plan. In order to do this, a list of officers, advisers, and specialists (such as management consultants, accountants and lawyers) whose expertise and experience will be essential to the successful development and implementation of the plan should be made. This larger group may then be divided into core teams that will be fundamentally involved in all aspects of the plan and will also form supporting rings of other stakeholders who are brought in as required to tap their knowledge and build engagement.

Ideally, all officers should participate in the exercise at some point in order to identify and develop solutions to the organisation’s main current and potential challenges. This could be done in team exercises scheduled over the necessary number of half-days. The staff should be kept informed of the progress of the entire planning project.

It is also important to make the planning process enjoyable. Although often unavoidable due to time and budget constraints, try to avoid all-day planning sessions because people lose interest and effectiveness after a half-day. Team leaders should be wisely selected and their ability to engage staff and stakeholders should be carefully considered. It must also be ensured that time is built into the process for veterans at all levels of the organization to share their knowledge of the organisation’s history and culture. Have them give five to ten minutes’ presentations of these stories. This is often particularly appreciated by those who are new to the organization and also adds to the learning benefits of the planning process.

(c)The time necessary must be allocated but a hard due-date must be set. Building on the first two points, organisations should not be tempted to circumvent the time and involvement necessary to develop an excellent strategic plan. Such circumvention will result in plans that fail to engage, fail to be implemented and fail to provide focused and wise direction. At the same time, organisations should not fall into the trap of the other extreme, which is a planning process that drags on forever and thereby loses steam and effectiveness.

It is therefore important to have a clear deadline, as well as the necessary leadership to ensure the timeline is met and that all participants properly prioritise the process during the months that will be required to complete it.

(d)The plan must be implementable, operable and subject to reviews. According to Pierre Bertrand, probably the most frequent problem with strategic plans is that they are developed at a high level with great analysis and recommendations but without sufficient thought being given to implementation and ongoing operations and review. The result is that those in charge of implementation then have to figure out how to implement and operate with strategic initiatives and performance measures and objectives that are impossible to carry out. Timelines and budgets have to be revisited, plans are delayed, and staff can become discouraged.

The main reason for this problem is either that people working on the plan do not have sufficient experience with implementation, operations and review or are not provided with sufficient time to fully develop the plan and/or are simply not interested in building the plan out fully.

The best way to avoid this problem is to involve senior officers and outside experts who have sufficient experience with implementation, operations and review, and ensure the plan is critically analyzed by them. Provide these officers and experts with the right support to ensure they are not hesitant to be constructively critical of high-level recommendations that are not feasible in terms of time, budget and effectiveness or that have not been sufficiently thought-out.

(e)Iterate until it is done. Plans have to be iterated. No one can develop an excellent plan in one sitting or writing. Plans need to be re-worked at least 2-3 times, and often more, with enough input from the team involved to ensure that the plan is comprehensive and workable. People with sufficient experience in management will understand that managing an organisation is a constant balancing act of all its key functions, resources and processes. A strategic plan must address all of these diverse elements in order to assess how each strategic initiative will impact the key management functions, resources and processes.

Dr. Akintola, Benson Oke,

Honourable Commissioner, Lagos State Ministry of Establishments, Training and Pensions.