s some of you may know, I have been involved in Strategic
Planning since the late 1960s, when I introduced the use of Strategic Planning
in the management practices of a Defense Industry Contractor that I was
employed by. This contractor was
a major provider of equipment to The Department of Defense, who utilized
Strategic Planning in their procurement procedures. In early 1969 I left the employment of this defense
contractor but retained them as an accounting and consulting client while I
developed my own Consulting and Accounting Practice.
From the 1970’s through the 1990’s I operated within this practice
and subsequently in 1993, we merged into a national Accounting and Consulting
Firm. Throughout that time my
area of responsibility in the Firm, in addition to Marketing, was to help
clients develop their businesses. In
a good majority of these cases, I utilized Strategic Planing to help these
companies expand into the future.
In 1986 my firm shifted its
focus from a for-profit construction and real estate clientele to
not-for-profit corporations, servicing persons with developmental
disabilities. The need in this industry for the use of Strategic Planning as a
management tool was evident and most apparent when the New York State
Education Department issued a requirement for providers to develop a Business
Plan to address a redirection of a percentage of its students to less
restrictive settings. In many
instances, this Business Plan was a provider’s first introduction to
Strategic Planning. We, in turn, have for many years incorporated the use of
Strategic Planning for many of our clients, as an integral component of an
agency’s operations.
In focusing agencies on the
future, we developed Business Plans to map out a plan of growth.
As a component of Strategic Planning, we have assisted our clients in
the recognition, development and expansion of their “core competencies” -
the skill or subset of skills that an agency must possess in order to excel at
their business.
Of interest is the case of a
not-for-profit agency, who in 1988 retained our consulting firm to reset their
management system into a Strategically
Focused Organization; to
develop an activity based Cost System, and to help develop a plan to expand.
In 1988 this agency provided services to youngsters with developmental
disabilities within their center-based special education program and some
auxiliary programs. The budget
for this agency was approximately $1,000,000 generated from a base of 100
clients. Today this agency
provides service to 1,300 developmentally disabled youngsters through their
programs with 800 full time employees, and purchase of service personnel,
generating a revenue base over $25,000,000.
The commitment of the CEO and Executive Staff in maintaining a planned
growth resulted in this rapid expansion without compromise to the quality of
services, ensuring both program and fiscal integrity.
Recently, in our quest to find
the best methodology to conduct Strategic Planning, along with TAG’s
Executive Vice President-Dean Tischfeld, and the Director of Strategic and
Business Planning-Gina Maranga, I have been exploring use of a “Balanced
Scorecard” approach to Strategic Planning. The Alliance Group has come to
utilize elements of the "Balanced Scorecard" methodology created by
Drs. Robert S. Kaplan (Harvard Business School) and David P. Norton,
co-founders of The Balanced Scorecard Collaborative, Inc. The "Balanced
Scorecard" concept provides a comprehensive alternative to organizational
planning tools and performance measurement resources that focus primarily on
accounting data. The “Balanced Scorecard” is a performance measurement
system, derived from an agency’s vision and strategic goals that employs the
premise that intangible assets, relationships and capabilities increasingly
determine the prospects for organizational success.
Within the concept of a “Balanced Scorecard” the actions of all
parts of an agency are interwoven and framed around a common understanding of
the organization’s goals. Expressed
most simply, the "Balanced Scorecard" is a concept that aids
organizations in translating strategy into action.
For this purpose Kaplan &
Norton introduced four different parameters from which a company's activity
can be examined, aligned and evaluated. Within
the framework of these parameters, we can seek answers to these and other
critical questions relevant to our operations:
1.
The Financial Perspective
- How do we affect our “bottom line”?
2.
The Customer Perspective
- Who are our stakeholders? How
can we improve their benefit from our services?
3.
The Internal Process Perspective - In what organizational
processes should we excel to succeed?
4.
The Learning and Growth Perspective - How will we sustain
our ability to change and improve?
Within
our industry, I have identified the following unique characteristics, which
determine an agency’s ability to maximize its operational and growth
potential:
Ø
A high concentration of value, attributed to intangible assets
Ø
The use of Activity Based Costing and Budgeting
Ø
A multifaceted Customer Perspective that includes the following
stakeholders:
v
Clients, Parents, and Advocates of the services provided.
v
Various Government agencies that regulate and fund provision of
services.
v
Banks and other lending institutions.
v
The Public, including the community and a Board of Directors.
v
Those stakeholders that generate support revenue, including
corporations, foundations and other sources of grants and donations.
Today, I regard strategic
planning as not simply advantageous but necessary.
I am a staunch proponent of developing sustainable strategies that
support organizational missions, financial stability and growth.
Furthermore, I have gained the expertise to show clients how best to do
this. Those agencies that take
the opportunity to become a Strategic Focused Organization will benefit well
into the future with the essential tools necessary to manage your agency into
the 21st Century.
We at TAG are available to assist you in assessing your agency’s
adaptability to meeting the challenges of becoming a Strategically Focused
Organization. Please contact us
at 516-932-0846 for additional information and a consultation.
Yours truly,
Gerald N. Tischfeld
President
