What is digital transformation? For some, it the application of digital technologies to business processes to improve efficiency and deliver value to customers. To others, it may induce fear and anxiety that their jobs will be lost. Hyacinth suggests that leaders must:

• Clearly articulate the purpose behind the transformation to all employees
• Emphasize with the affected employees and actively listen to all concerns
• Show appreciation and recognition for those working through the new processes and technologies
• Provide an environment of psychological safety, and
• Be inspiring to the troops by leading with hope, being present, showing encouragement and focus on the possibilities of the transformation.

These thoughts are similar to those of Claire Atwell who leads Prudential’s Agile Center of Excellence. Atwell emphasized the importance of the values and principles of agile software development. She also highlighted the importance of engagement and building good habits. Doing so helps build a learning organization and a culture of trust. In her view, transformation is never done. Perhaps each transformation should be seen as an installment or release.

The Deputy Chief Veterans Experience Officer, Barbara Morton, during her panel discussion on “blueprints for modern government” also echoed the importance of paying attention to those affected by the transformation project. She uses a human-centered design approach to transform the veteran (or user) experience for the better. She and her team created an end-to-end customer journey map focusing improvements in the “moments that matter most.” The VA created what Barbara calls the “cookbook” of best practices and lessons learned for getting the customer experience (CX) right. She also echoed Atwell’s notion of the importance of trust. In fact, VA produces a “trust report” quarterly. As she says, “trust is our main currency” with our veterans and VA can’t lose that trust.

One of my favorite consultants to learn from is Rick Mauer. Rick likes to tell stories. Funny ones based on real projects he has been called on to help deal with change. His seminal. “Beyond the Wall of Resistance, was a go-to for organizational development consultants in the 1990’s. In his new video, Rick urges us to be a “barista” making that perfect blend of espresso and steamed milk. He is referring to a tendency I have noticed time and time again where technical projects – perhaps a digital transformation – bolt on change management well after the project plan is developed. In some cases, mot even considered. That is why I was heartened by Hyacinth, Atwell, and Morton’s focus on people and human-centered design. Ideally Rick would have change management activities woven into the technical project plan from the start. He also emphasized the importance of recognizing potential challenges with the transformation efforts, and if there is enough psychological safety, talk candidly about the challenges. Know your audience and seek to understand their hopes and fears and concerns with respect to the change. Rick speaks to three typical levels of resistance when presented with a change:

• Level 1: “I don’t get it.” This level calls for more communication and clarity, just as Hyacinth suggested.
• Level 2: “I don’t like it.” This level calls for empathy and more dialogue.
• Level 3: “I don’t like you.” This level of resistance is the most difficult to deal with, because it is couched in deeply personal feelings.

Energy and forward momentum for the change to go well is important and may take a “change barista” to perfectly blend in the good change practices a little over time.

This month, the ASP Board of Directors have made some significant decisions that set us on this trajectory in very real ways.  At its October meeting, the board accepted two recommendations from the ASP Search Committee for interim management services with a new firm based in the US. 

1. AMR (Association Management Resources) is our selected association management firm to carry us through a transition of services, including webinar and conference services, membership marketing and communication, database management and website supports.  This decision will result in a new look for our website as well as this communication.  We expect that this move will also bring an enhanced level of customer service to our members.

2.  Member Dean Black, SMP, has accepted the role of Certification Manager.  For the ASP certification program, this is a huge step forward. Dean is a strategist and a certified SMP.  He has been engaged in leading the SMP item writing over the past month and has done an amazing job in bringing forward the technical strategy expertise into our advanced SMP certification as it develops into a scenario-based exam.

The Search Committee’s work is still not completed.  Our next task is to address the strategy content needs of our association. Our vision for the coming years is to create a website that contributes to the value proposition we deliver to strategists around the world, in addition to coordination of content delivery across all of ASP’s activities, including webinars sponsored by our component entities, professional development owned by ASP, our global conference and Strategy Magazine.  Our vision also includes alignment across all of our entities from the chapter experience to Community of Practice networking and learning, to our global value proposition. We believe this vision could be realized in one of two ways: ASP engages a strategist Executive Director or we identify a content manager who would coordinate content across all ASP activities with an association management professional as the Executive Director who focuses on an aligned culture and solid management processes.

So during these next months, as we transition out of our current management firm and guide and evaluate performance of our next generation of professionalism as a global organization, we commit to configuring a management team that will offer depth of content, efficiency in processes, and effectiveness in relationship-building with our individual and corporate members, strategic partners, and our invaluable volunteer leaders. 

My learning centers on the need for ASP to create processes and systems that connect all of the elements of ASP that have generally acted in silos.  Questions that come up for me are:

• How can we create a membership process that creates a consistent, engaging experience for new members, regardless of the member’s entry point, e.g. chapter, at-large, or corporate membership?
• How can we create a robust user experience by thinking creatively about our webinar delivery? I believe we need to incorporate new ways to network into our virtual delivery system to better connect our member communities. What could that look like?
• ASP’s management system is being reconfigured to allow for collaborative conversation. We expect this project to be complete by December 31.How can we leverage and blend our webinar activity with follow-on dialogue in this collaborative technology?
• How might we think about ASP’s activities/structures in a holistic and interdependent field of delivery to enhance the value proposition for our members?

These are big questions and the answers may require strategic investments.  We are on a path to crack the code of these burning questions.

In the next month, I expect a delivery of some new opportunities for all of ASP. 

As you may be aware, ASP’s Body of Knowledge is under revision.  This effort is being led by ASP members Pierre Hadaya and Jim Stockmal.  At our 2021 annual business meeting, we shared a timeline for the release of this revision with the promise of the entire body of work by May 2022. 

• Watch for two chapters of Body of Knowledge 3.0 to be released by month end. I have it on good authority that the Strategy Formulation and Governance chapters should be posted for member download within the next 30 days.
• Another huge development is the launch of our new Approved Learning Provider/Certification Preparation Provider (ALP/CPP) program.ASP members Eddy AbuChakra, Jihad Mohammad, and Daniel Omara have been hard at work preparing a comprehensive process to make this all happen. ALP designees are strategy educators, offering coursework related to any aspect of our Certification Competencies. CPPs are strategy educators who have designed and offer an education program specifically aligned to the totality of our certifications with the intent to prepare SPP or SMP candidates for the exam content and experience.

This development opens many opportunities to create visibility for ASP in new ways around the world.  It also will create a standard for upgrading strategy education.  It is my hope that the ASP “seal of approval” will raise the bar on strategy education occurring in the marketplace. 

If you are interested in becoming a curriculum reviewer for this program, please contact membership@strategyassociation.org.

Our certification competencies define the entire range of tasks that effective strategy management requires, from contributing to a performance culture to strategy formulation, preparing for strategy transformation, strategy execution, governance and evaluation.  This published range of activities sets the stage for quality education along the full range of strategy management. 

It is my hope that through this holistic view of strategy, we can begin to change the commonly-told story that 70% of strategic plans fail! 

ASP is definitely on the move to fulfill on our vision – to be the global standard bearer for organizational transformation and success through strategy – and our mission -- to lead and support people and organizations through the promotion of a holistic approach to strategy management and by setting standards for strategy through certification, thought leadership and professional development.

• Organizational structure
• Knowledge Sharing and Experimentation
• Decision-Making
• Leader Actions
• Process Management
• Roles
• Norms and Expectations.

In their discussion, they challenged the participants as to what we felt was the most difficult lever to pull in the government setting. It was a lively discussion. I offered that at the Federal level, organizational structure is often written into regulations and this might be the most challenging lever to pull. However, there is a recent example of and organization structure change from the Veterans’ Benefit Administration.

Another interesting discussion led by Sarah and Shelley was around the “tension” between flexibility and stability that exists within organizations as they execute agility. Participants highlighted several examples where this occurred in the pandemic. The Department of Veterans Affairs and the Internal Revenue Service were two called out.

Agility doesn’t mean chaos, it is about sensing and responding – perhaps making a pivot like many agencies and business had to do last year (and still doing as Covid-19 variants continue to challenge us all.) Shelly suggested that agencies build in “slack” to enable pivoting, even with the practice of lean management. Participants thought this was a good suggestion and could work if leaders focus on effectiveness responses not only swift ones. So, start building in agile practices and routines. If government agencies can, your organization probably can as well.

In both 2004 and 2012, ASP leadership engaged in pursuit of a new name for the association.  Both attempts failed to find a resolution.  Why? Our research suggests that the pursuit was based in differing opinions and preferences, rather than a data-based decision-making process.

In 2021, we are again in pursuit of establishing a visual identify that speak to who we are as an association.  However, we are starting in a very different place. 

Let’s start at the beginning.  Our website says that ASP was formed in 1999.  That is true.  We were incorporated under that name in California at that time.  But ASP was actually the result of an evolution:

The journey to ASP actually began with the National Society for Business Budgeting in 1951.  The organization morphed into the Budget Executives Institute in 1963, and in 1968, the concept of planning was introduced into the name with the Planning Executives Institute.  In 1985, the organization shifted into the Planning Forum and 10 years later became the Strategic Leadership Forum.  Finally in 1999, the name Association for Strategic Planning emerged and stuck. 

At the time, Strategic Planning was focused on Strategy Formulation.  Today we consider the whole range of activities far beyond formulation.  We see strategic transformation that includes activities from formulation through execution. It includes intentional performance culture and organizational development which leverages the interdependence of all elements and people in a system.  It includes change management, accountability, governance, and evaluation of effectiveness.  This range of activities that swirl in the world of strategy goes far beyond planning. 

As a result, ASP’s leadership has embarked on a process to establish our brand.

Our brand is far more than our name and logo.  Defining our brand is understanding our essence, our differentiation from others in the field, and our personality as an organization. Our brand is not how we see ourselves; it is the perception of the customer that determines our brand. We first have to understand how the world sees us, then we can determine the path to transformation through our visual identity, our messages, and the value we deliver to our members. 

And so what’s in a name?  Data, intelligence gathering, and a branding process! 

The process that is now in play involves several elements to collect data.  In the next few weeks, we will be engaging in focus group activity to understand how we are perceived by customers and prospective customers.  The data collected will inform decisions about a new name and logo.  The timeline for this intelligence gathering is in the next 30 days.  At its October meeting, the ASP Board will have opportunity to review the conclusions of the data collection incorporated into a creative brief.  Once approved, the naming and logo design will be pursued.  Our timeline projects this phase of our identify will be completed by year end. 

Then in early 2022, members should see significant shifts in the visual display and organization of our website.  The website wireframe and new skin will be informed by the branding decisions made.

It is our intent that by the end of our fiscal year, the following will have been achieved:

1. Brand definition
2. New visual imagery to be our outfacing identity.
3. A new skin for our website
4. A restructured website with valuable content available and easily searchable, including  BoK 3.0.

Many transformational projects are occurring within ASP.  At the top of the list are Corporate Memberships and University Partnerships, the launch of our Approved Learning Provider program, and a major leap for certification.  Domestic and International Chapters will feel stronger support.

If you are interested in stepping up your involvement to help in this transformation, we have many opportunities available.  From participating in a branding focus group to a seat on the committee overseeing university partnerships to writing certification exam questions, there is a place to demonstrate your ownership for this process.

Here are specific areas where we need committed follow through:

• Content Management Lead/Task Force
• Professional Development Lead including Global Webinar Planning
• Conference Team Member
• ALP/CPP Application Reviewer
• CAPS team member (Corporate Membership, Advertisers, Partnerships, Sponsorships)
• Task Force on Pricing Strategy (1-2 meetings to formulate recommendation)
• Participants for our Focus Groups on Branding
• Item Writers for Certification Exams (must be ASP certified to participate)
• Certification Marketing Co-Lead

Send in your name and area of interest to Ejona@strategyassociation.org.  Join the fun!  Make a difference!  Get involved in a transformational experience! 

The truths:

• Culture is king (remember Peter Drucker’s famous line?)
• Everything hinges on the modeling of behavior of the leader
• Nothing about culture is on the checklist.

In the field of organizational development (OD,) these truths have been widely recognized, but I especially like the truth about the checklist. In the rewrite of ASP’s body of knowledge (BoK) a critical competency is the ability to create and maintain an agile culture; specifically, “Design processes and drive a culture of strategic management and agility enterprise-wide and at all levels of the organization using a whole system approach.” I am very excited to be collaborating with several ASP members to build out the “engagement” set of activities in the BoK 3.0 which will include the concept of psychological safety.

The three deceptions:

• Training and tools will save you
• Culture is a workstream
• A communications plan can transform culture.

OD has also long noted these as well. Ed Schein has said, “Culture is a pattern of shared basic assumptions learned by a group as it solves problems of external adaptation and internal integration.” Schein continues, “leadership is the source of the beliefs and values and the most central issue for leaders is to understand the deeper levels of culture and deal with the anxiety that is unleashed when those assumptions are challenged.” So, to me, it is a no-brainer that leadership plays an incredibly important role in creating a more agile culture.

In LBL’s “Mastering Agile Organization Design (MAOD) program, we spend a lot of time upfront discussing psychological safety. Organization design experts like Richard Thayer, William Zybach, and Monique Carnino provide personal stories of how any organization, whether a directed, top-down and hierarchical organization or a more participative one, agile practices can be put into motion and help create that culture of “strategic management and agility.”

Tim Clark’s definition of psychological safety focuses on the ability of being vulnerable, that is, “…an environment of rewarded vulnerabilities.” Dr. Shelly Kirkpatrick of Mitre, who also cameos in the MAOD program, has a slightly different definition, but it still speaks to the same theme: “psychological safety is “a belief that an individual/team is safe for risk-taking in the face of being seen as ignorant, incompetent, negative, or disruptive.” Further, when psychological safety is present, “team members feel confident that no one on the team will embarrass or punish anyone else for admitting a mistake, asking a question, or offering a new idea.” Tim Clark also talks about four stages of psychological safety. Stage one is at the individual level where s/he feels safe. Stage two is what Tim refers to as learner safety. Stage three is contributor safety and stage four is challenger safety. That is the safety to challenge the status quo without retribution. Very similar to Shelley’s point of view. In essence, Tim’s model is a function of both respect and permission.

Some “how tos” offered by Tim include rewarding acts of vulnerability, never embarrass or marginalize, and formally assign dissent to a team member and rotate that role. All of this requires trust and courage. And of course, leaders must model the behaviors desired.

I enjoyed re-learning some old OD lessons listening to the webinar last week and I look forward to make sure BoK 3.0 includes the key concept of psychological safety. Otherwise, the competency would be in name only.

Congratulations are extended to the following individuals:

About the Association for Strategic Planning (ASP)

This was told to me by upperclassmen all through my four years at my Alma Mater. The class they were warning me about was Strategic Management. This class was a pass or fail. It required you to take all the knowledge you have gained in the first three and a half years of your undergrad.

Well, I had barely passed Accounting 101 and Calculus freshman year so yikes, I was in for a treat.

After two years of taking the basic business classes, with other electives, I had begun my junior year in 2009. These classes were starting “making sense” (no offense to History of Rock and Roll) and pertained to my actual degree, which was Business Management. My favorite courses junior year were Organization Development and Sales Management. I learned from those classes that I enjoyed people, the psychology of organizations, and implementation plans.

The final semester of my senior year had begun. It was January 2010 and I walked into the dreaded Strategic Management course.

The pass or fail test of the course was a strategic audit. You select a company, analyze their entire business with a strategic recommendation for their company. Your recommendations were to either remove dead assets, penetrate your winning spots, stay the course/no change, or sell/close the business.

I chose a company that unknowingly would be the industry I am in today - the multibillion-dollar American Food Distribution industry. After two months of reviewing the company via their website, sources of news, the competition, and wrapping it all up into a clear and actionable strategic audit - -it was my turn to present to the class.

This was over a decade ago, so I cannot imagine the plethora of information now readily available for students these days.

My strategic recommendation was penetration. I proposed the company acquire a new channel of business with future outlook numbers and needs from consumers to drive my reasoning. Along with the ROI and how logistically, the company can make it happen. I learned then how to match day-to-day business models, projected and current company numbers, with industry outlook. I was 22 at the time. And at 33 today, I am still doing the same but with the top 10% of my industry, not to undergraduates and a professor like the first time.

After class, I got my results and passed with flying colors. As I left that class, my professor gave me his card (I still have it to his day) and said:

“You are walking out of here a true management major. Here is my card if you need a reference.”

I walked the stage as a recipient of a Bachelor’s Degree a week later on May 15, 2010, at Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, Texas, USA. A week before this day, I was starting my first post-grad job two days after as an event sales manager at a nationwide chain restaurant. But I always kept this accomplishment in the back of my mind –

Where does this discovery of myself fit in? And do we really use our major in ‘the real world’?

Since I gave that strategic audit, this has been my career journey:

As an Event Sales Manager, I was leading a team with my other restaurant managers to execute events and team up to sell our product and services and exceed corporate quotas and make a margin.

As a Merchandising Analyst for a buying group, I was collaborating with directors daily on RFPs and managing them. I was also presenting to VPs across the nation these RFPS and strategic recommendations on what manufacturers were the best fit based on 4 specific areas of business.

As a Corporate Marketing Specialist, I was streamlining company-wide processes in addition to having a seat at the table with executives and collaborate to create and implement multi-million dollar customer-facing strategic initiatives.

As a Marketing Manager, I was a lead and member of various teams that were designing and executing a very large industry merger, with the company I am with today.

And today, as Area Marketing Manager, I lead goto market team meetings with my executive staff varied across the company to drive substantial market share growth, after the terrible year of 2020 where my industry was hit hard. All before 35.

As a millennial in corporate strategy, I have found myself the change agent, the solution provider, the inquisitive seeker of industry insights. And also sometimes, the first name executives think of to make really big things happen.

I have been the brunt of jokes as a millennial from older generations. But when I let my actions speak for my generation – people were proved wrong.

As an emerging professional, there were days I doubted myself. Since I graduated, I have been lucky enough to find the right mentors. Also, following through on my word/commitments helped get me noticed.

To close, this is my advice to anyone new to the workforce and is beginning their journey in strategy..

Behind every large-scale vision is a brain (or two) putting all the pieces together to make it happen – which is you! Strategy found you, so answer the calling!

An online Community of Practice dedicated to Emerging Professionals around the strategy world, will be launched soon. Keep an eye on your email and in the meantime sign up here to be notified when registration opens.

Back in May, I had the good fortune to listen to a fascinating discussion between Marsha McNutt, the former President of the National Academy of Science here in Washington, DC, and Chris Field of Stanford University’s Woods Institute. Marsha is a geoscientist by training and her specialty is volcanoes. She led the development of a 2015 research report on Solar Geoengineering (SGE.)

The big take-aways from the 2015 report were:

• We collectively didn’t know enough about the impacts of SGE
• There are no international laws or treaties to prevent any actor from deploying SGE technologies.
  

Chris Field led the 2021 study which included over 2000 papers detailing the studies and lab experiments. The essential research question was “does it make sense to have additional research on deploying SGE to combat climate change?” One of the premises of the report is that climate change is real. Another is that there are three potential actions:

• Adapt – move away from the coast
• Mitigate – stop releasing greenhouse gases
• Conduct Climate Interventions – how can SGE be used.

Cliff and Marsha loosely defined SGE as “…a grab bag term for technologies to moderate sunlight to mitigate solar warming.” Essentially SGE tries to change the equation of climate change by changing the amount of energy that is being added to the atmosphere. Among the scientific community, SGE is believed to help ocean acidification that has been increasing in recent years. But there is uncertainty on the impact on the ozone layer. It might actually deplete it. The new report emphasized that a “coalition of the willing” need to come together internationally to “test drive all the concepts” related to SGE. There have already been protests in Nordic countries from testing out technologies and studies.

The two speakers offered that there might be several local impact experiments that could be feasible:

• Cloud Brightening with Sea Water – a method to generate a fine mist of salt from seawater and deliver it to banks of stratocumulus marine clouds that would make the clouds more reflective (shiny) of the radiation
• Stratospheric Aerosol Injection – with the intention to make the clouds brighter and more reflective
• Study Cloud Plumes from Ships on the Ocean – to study how particles disperse in the atmosphere
• Carbon Capture – which is less controversial than Solar Geoengineering, but it is more expensive with available technology.

No matter what experiments gain public trust to conduct, they both emphasized the need for “exit ramps” which needs to be part of the governance structure. The information on the results should be open for all to see and to demonstrate that science is serving the public.

Solar Geoengineering may not be exactly what Leokum and Posnick dreamed up in Weather Wars back in 1978, but Stephen Quayle in his 2021 book takes it even further. Finally, both agreed that the development and deployment of solar geoengineering methods and technologies are national security issues. As a recovering geographer and strategist, I would love to help nations develop meaningful strategies and have a little fun with science to help to mitigate the impact of a warming atmosphere.

This month, the ASP Board has focused on steering and direction.  

Keep in mind the ASP vision is to be the global standard-bearer for organizational transformation and success through strategy. Our mission is to lead and support people and organizations through the promotion of a holistic approach to strategy management and by setting standards for strategy through certification, thought leadership and professional development.

In order to achieve our vision and mission, ASP’s targets for this year are all outfacing. Building on our current strategic plan KPIs, the Board has agreed to focus and fund the following strategic initiatives: 

• Logo/Identity Refresh: We have long known that our name indicates only one piece of the strategy puzzle. This logo and identity effort will strategically position us to be the standard-bearer for the entire range of strategy management as our mission mandates.
• Website Upgrade: Our website has limited our ability to attract the attention of strategy professionals. Strategically, we need to upgrade our appearance and approach to our website. As the initial point of visibility to the marketplace, we want to communicate visually that we are a leader in the strategy field. Our website's look and feel needs to grab the attention of multi-national corporation strategists.  
• Corporate Membership Marketing: Corporate membership recruitment feeds so many of the dreams held for ASP. Increased membership, increased certification applicants and the subsequent increased impact to the practice of strategy worldwide is contained in our ability to recruit corporate members and to achieve our vision and mission. Please let us know if your corporate organization might have an interest in our corporate membership. ASP’s CAPS Committee has resources available to communicate the value of a corporate membership.

Certification Marketing Support: Now that we have made significant upgrades to our entire certification process and content, it is time to invest in a global rollout of our “new and improved” certification. 

• ASP certification is key to our global impact.

Focus on membership and certification renewals. 

• To increase our impact, we have to work on keeping people inside our strategy tent. What good does it do to bring people in the front door if they simply walk out the back door? ASP desires to create a reason and an invitation to stay. All of our efforts in thought leadership and professional development have been geared toward creating the value proposition to stay inside our tent. We now need to assure people are invited to stay.  

• Conversion efforts focused on non-member participants: Through our Communities of Practice and certification, we have hundreds of people participating in ASP who are interested in our content. Our Global Membership Committee has committed to creating a system to assure an invitation into membership with follow-up communication to close the sale.   

Stronger support to our 7 chapters and 5 Communities of Practice: ASP was built on the commitment of chapters to increase membership and create value for their local members. ASP continues to value its chapter volunteers who have done the hard work of keeping the chapters as a vital feature of ASP’s network. 

• ASP’s leadership wishes to thank chapter and community of practice leaders for the work you do. ASP leadership commits to supporting you in advancing your local and special interest entities in new ways.  

 
ASP has a full agenda moving into this fiscal year. 
We hope that you will support our efforts and be an advocate for ASP with your colleagues and inside your organizations. We have value to bring to every organization.

• Janice Laureen Outstanding Service Award – The Janice Laureen Outstanding Service Award recognizes individuals for their exemplary service to the association.

• Lynne Brown - Recognized for co-chairing both the 2020 and 2021 ASP Annual ASP Global Conferences, which included taking the Conferences virtual.  Lynne also has continued to support and help coordinate/lead the Nonprofit Community of Practice.
• Pierre Hadaya – Recognized for his tireless work both as editor-in-chief of Strategy Magazine, and as a leader for the revamp (still in progress) of the ASP Body of Knowledge 3.0.  Additionally, Pierre as served as co-leader of the ASP strategic plan Thought Leadership Pillar.
• Chinue Uecker – Recognized for her work with the startup of the Women in Strategy Community of Practice, as well as serving as the first lead for the Communities of Practice affinity group. Additionally, as board Secretary, Chin advanced that role by serving as the Strategic Plan Oversight Champion, ensuring that quarterly progress assessments were conducted and reported for each Strategic Pillar.

• Member of the Year – The Member of the Year Award recognizes overall outstanding commitment to - and involvement in - ASP during the previous program year.

• Jen Bigos – Recognized for her incredible time and effort in revamping the ASP website (still an ongoing project that she is committed to complete), including tireless coordination with a number of other volunteers and staff across the extensive functions represented throughout the website.
• Jihad Mohammad – Recognized for his outstanding support, tireless efforts and stepping up to leadership with the Certification Commission. Additionally, he has led the REP policy revamp, and provided tremendous ongoing board support on multiple projects.

• Distinguished Service – The ASP Distinguished Service Award recognizes an ASP member who has demonstrated dedicated service and an untiring commitment to furthering the development of the organization and its members through donated time, influential leadership and sustained service to ASP. Nominees for this award must be members in good standing of ASP for a minimum of 5 years.

• Lauret Howard – Recognized for co-chairing both the 2020 and 2021 ASP Annual ASP Global Conferences, which included taking the Conferences virtual.  At the same time, Lauret has served as the Atlanta Chapter President.

• Chapter of the Year - to recognize the chapter that contributed most significantly to the professional growth of its members during the previous program year.

• Australia Chapter and Chapter President Nick Hadjinicolaou – Nick and the Australia Chapter leadership team have made a tremendous impact in their early life cycle, continuing to bring ongoing member value with highly attended events. Furthermore, they conducted a successful regional conference this year, tied to the ASP Annual Global Conference.

• Hall of Fame - Each of these inductees to the Hall of Fame was selected in recognition of their lifetime of achievement at the highest level, to both ASP and the strategic planning profession.

• Tom Carter – has long been an incredible asset to ASP. Examples include helping champion the ASP certification initiative, as well as serving on the board in multiple capacities, including treasurer where he helped us build enough cash reserve to make it through the pandemic. He has also helped with our marketing and membership efforts, and offered a plethora of counsel to other ASP leaders. For all these reasons and more, Tom has earned his place in the ASP Hall of Fame.
• Jim Stockmal – Jim has led and participated in multiple initiatives throughout the organization over more than the past decade. He served as a board officer, including President for several years, leading a relook at our business model and marketing efforts, as well as supporting the evolution of the Certification Commission. He has always been at the leading edge of our Thought Leadership efforts, from his 60+ “Strategic Stockmal” articles in Strategic Edge, his leadership support in the creation of the new BOK V3.0, to his co-leadership of the ASP strategic plan Thought Leadership Pillar. He also recently joined the Strategy Magazine, editorial board. For all these reasons and more, Jim has earned his place in the ASP Hall of Fame.

• Special Presidential Recognition: This unique award provides special recognition from the ASP President. Whether considering the challenges of adapting to the disruptions driven by the COVID-19 pandemic, or ongoing volunteerism with the association, this award recognizes members that have stood up and offered incredible support with efforts to help advance the ASP Mission and Strategic Plan implementation.

• Caitlin Akers- Recognized for serving as the start-up co-lead for the newly formed ASP GMC – initially “Global Marketing Committee” it has now evolved to the “Global Membership Committee”.  Additionally, Caitlin has served as marketing support to the Strategy Magazine editorial board for 2 years.
• David Booth – Recognized for leading an incredible group of volunteers in efforts to build an active UK affinity group, as well as conducting a highly successful 2021 ASP Regional Conference, tied to the ASP Annual Global Conference.
• Fiona Carter – Recognized for serving as the board liaison and co-chair of the 2021 ASP Annual Global Conference, where she had a great influence on the design and coordination of the first series of affiliated ASP Regional Conferences.
• David Crain - Certification Pioneer – Special recognition to David Crain for his pioneering work on the creation of the initial certification program. Dr. Crain was inadvertently not included on the certification pioneering list, and we want to formally apologize for that omission, and give our deep appreciation for his significant contribution to this foundational work for ASP.
• Jim McComb – Recognized for serving as Certification Marketing Lead. Thanks to Jim and his team, this activity yielded the greatest interest and participation in certification to date. Jim has been a significant contributor to ASP for many years, and for that, we will be forever grateful to him.
• Marie Muscella - Recognized for serving as the co-lead for the ASP Government Community of Practice, which has been incredibly active with very engaged members and highly successful events this past year.
• Daniel Omara - Recognized for leading the Uganda Chapter, as well as conducting a highly successful 2021 ASP Regional Conference, tied to the ASP Annual Global Conference.
• Linda Parker Gates – Recognized for serving as the co-lead for the ASP Government Community of Practice, which has been incredibly active with very engaged members and highly successful events this past year.
• Anthony Taylor – Recognized for serving as the start-up co-lead for the newly formed ASP GMC – initially “Global Marketing Committee” it has now evolved to the “Global Membership Committee”.

Again, congratulations to all our award winners. I can’t begin to thank you enough for your service and the positive impact you have had on ASP!

A new client of mine came to me for assistance in translating the Board’s priorities and ten-year outcome goals (Zooming Out) and their mid-range five-year outcome goals to actions/initiatives they can do within the next six to 18 months (Zooming In) that move the organization towards the long term outcomes desired to maintain their industry leadership. They hired me to help bring consistency, transparency, and focus. Some lessons to make this work in practice:

• Hold a kick-off meeting with the leadership team (and record if virtual) so that everyone gets the same messaging and instruction
• Provide concrete process steps including the sources for thinking about annual goals
• Highlight other best practices including focusing on the agreed long term outcomes desired, their current projects and initiatives, and their success or shortcomings of last year’s activities
• Provide real and relevant examples of SMART goals, ideally with one or two from their organization
• Offer time to meet with their priority teams and ask clarifying and probing questions focused on the outcomes desired from their proposed goals/actions
• Challenge them on target completion dates (not everything needs to be rushed in a year-end frenzy to complete the goals!)
• Look for dependencies within their priority area among the goals as well as dependencies with other teams’ goals and activities
• Create a safe space for focused dialogue.

I am looking forward to seeing their results in a few weeks when I facilitate an all-hands session to discuss and confirm what the entire organization wants to accomplish next year. Then the hard task begins. Once the Board approves the organizational level goals, I will be working with 20+ leaders and executives, including the CEO, to craft their personal goals for next year. My charter is to challenge them for meaningful stretch goals to help incentivize higher performance beyond their normal job duties.

It was fun dusting off my organizational development chops working with the Director of HR and the CEO to craft a clear and compelling incentive compensation philosophy for all staff since every employee can qualify for incentive compensation. I am hoping they will focus on a few SMART goals that will drive organizational performance that will fund the incentive compensation pool. Don’t overlook the role of HR in helping to align the organization to its new strategy. It is all about the people in any organization.

Over the past several years, the board has been working through the strategic concern of the value proposition of ASP.  While I do not discount the importance of value to the members, I believe there is an important piece missing in this discussion. My perspective is informed by my governance work in the not-for-profit sector.

There is a component to the world of associations that is significantly different from private sector business.  It is the nature of ownership.  ASP is “owned” by the membership as a collective body.  ASP’s customership is, in large part, that same group. So it is key to distinguish our value proposition from those two perspectives.

As the owner of ASP, the collective membership holds certain values that drive expectations for what the organization should deliver to its beneficiaries.  We understand that the collective ownership expects high quality delivery of strategy content and high quality presentation of everything ASP. We understand that the membership also expects to receive enough value that offsets the cost of membership.

A gap in this information is that the input for our decisions is coming from a small group, primarily based in North America. If ASP is going to reach its potential in its global footprint, we need to gather intelligence from all the segments of our membership.  In an association, the board’s job is to be the informed agent and voice of the ownership.  We need to hear from the broader membership to more fully understand what creates value for you.

The COVID-19 pandemic opened the door for us to leverage the virtual world and gain expertise in virtual delivery.  It allowed us to reach people globally rather than relying solely on events hosted by chapters or ASP itself.  In effect, the pandemic pushed us to construct what we needed in order to reach our global audience. 

For the most part, however, communication still remains one way. Education through ASP follows the model of “sage on the stage” rather than creating space for dialogue about things that matter.  In a recent townhall meeting sponsored by the Global Membership Committee, I heard a call from a seasoned strategy professional that we need less theoretical education and more practical application to fulfill strategy implementation and execution.  We need dialogue to more deeply advance our profession.  I have seriously taken this suggestion to have more dialogue. I don’t quite know what that looks like yet, but I can say that we need to understand what it means to be a global organization if we expect to scale up and be the core organization for strategy professionals around the globe.

I also hold the belief that the core concept of an association is to “associate”.  That informs my thinking to create efforts to network with each other in new ways, leveraging our virtual platforms so that more professionals can become part of our overall connected network.  So stay tuned for developments that will allow all members a convenient avenue to share what’s important to us professionally. We desperately need this input so that the board, as an informed agent of the entire membership, can make decisions aligned with those values.

When members become active owners of the association, they exhibit pride in what they own.  Pride of ownership leads to investing resources into what you love.  Chapter leaders and volunteers are investing in the association.  They are active owners.  People who advocate for others to join ASP or participate in ASP events are active owners.

Maybe if you read our publications and emails, you are an active member-customer, but ownership goes beyond consumption. Ownership is about co-creation.  People support what they help to create.  I hope to lead us to strong co-creation.

In my mind, active ownership includes:

• responding to surveys,
• volunteering to support chapter, communities of practice and global events,
• volunteering to serve certification needs such as item-writing, application reviewing and promoting our program,
• advocating for ASP—telling your colleagues about what you gain from ASP education/networking and inviting them to join you,
• starting a study group to prepare for certification,
• encouraging your company to become a corporate member,
• paving the way for innovative partnerships between ASP and universities or other corporate partners.

I can say, without a doubt, taking ownership of  ASP’s success is how you gain the most value from your dues dollars.  Associating and collaborating with other strategy professionals in shaping and creating the association you wish to see develops lifetime relationships with people who understand your world, provides opportunities to be recognized for your contributions and is truly self-fulfilling.

ASP is an association of members. You can choose to be a member as a consumer and buy what’s on the shelf, and you can choose to be a member as an active owner, taking pride in what’s on the shelf because you helped to create it.

Susan Siers Radwan, SMP, CAE, ARM,

ASP President

Radwan has served on the ASP Board of Directors since July 2013. She led the development of ASP’s first Community of Practice, was instrumental in the development of ASP’s current business model, revision of the bylaws, and, most recently, ASP’s certification program, chairing the inaugural Certification Commission and leading the launch of Certification 2.0.

She is the co-author of Governing by Principles: An Approach to Unleash the Power of Policy Governance © 2020 Leading Edge Press and Executive Editor of Professional Practices in Association Management: The Essential Resource for Effective Leadership of Non-profit Organizations, Fourth Edition © 2021. ASAE

ASP has a volunteer opportunity for you.

JOB SPECIFICATION

Certification Marketing Committee Lead

(A volunteering position reporting to

the Chair of ASP’s Certification Commission)

ABOUT THE ASSOCIATION FOR STRATEGIC PLANNING:

The Association for Strategic Planning (ASP) is a non-profit professional society whose mission is to lead and support people and organizations by promoting a holistic approach to strategy management and setting high standards for strategy through certification, thought leadership, and professional development.

Founded in 1999, ASP is the leading global not-for-profit professional association dedicated to advancing thought and practice in strategy development and management for business, non-profit, and government organizations. ASP provides opportunities to explore cutting-edge strategy management principles and practices that enhance organizational success and advance members' and organizations' knowledge, capability, capacity for innovation, and professionalism.

ASP is the only global strategy association with a certification program that aims to establish a high level of quality and consistency within the fields of strategy planning and management so practitioners can assist organizations in meeting and exceeding the challenges of the 21st century. In accordance with the ASP bylaws, certification activity is governed by the ASP Certification Commission.  

POSITION SUMMARY:

Plan, direct and govern, and collaborate where appropriate, the certification marketing efforts and programs that will increase the awareness and spread of our certifications globally, improve applicants’ and certificants’ experience, and improve the branding of our certifications.

KEY ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES:

1. Develop marketing strategy, action plans, success metrics, and reviews quarterly to ensure its effectiveness and efficiency in full collaboration with the Certification Commission.
2. Promote ASP’s certifications in interaction with contracted staff, volunteers, and potential partners to increase awareness and branding globally.
3. Conducts surveys to identify applicants' and certificants’ levels of satisfaction, then plans and executes strategic initiatives/ programs accordingly.
4. Layout plans for advertisements on the association’s website, earned and bought media and developing general guidelines for ads and the target group.
5. Set marketing and communication standards and processes for the recruited staff and train them whenever needed.
6. Conduct surveys with certificants on the impact of obtaining ASP’s certifications on their income, career progressions, suggestions to new certifications per market need, etc.
7. Enhance the recertification process and experience. Also, checks with the recruited team on the quality of work through structured reports.

REQUIRED EXPERIENCE:

• Not less than 10 years of proven leadership experience in director and managerial roles in marketing.
• Ability to work with graphic designers under a very limited budget.
• E-marketing & SEO

   

  QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor’s degree.

JOB TIME COMMITMENT:

Understanding this is a volunteer position, we appreciate the need for flexibility.  We anticipate on average 8 to 10 hours/month, with some weeks being much more time-intensive, with others having little or no time requirements.

JOB LOCATION:

Online, serving a global population.

TO APPLY:

Send a cover letter and resume to ASP Board Member & Certification Commissioner Mr. Jihad A. Mohammad at jihad@strategyassociation.org by June 30, 2021. 

Lead and support people and organizations through the promotion of a holistic approach to strategy management and by setting standards for strategy through thought leadership, professional development and certification.

As I write this final article in my role as board president, I am amazed at the incredible contributions that so many ASP members have made to make so much of our strategic plan come to fruition. In the Strategic Edge Board Perspectives Section on January 1, titled ASP Strategy Management – Taking the Mission to the Next Level – Thanks to Our Volunteers. I recognized many of those folks for their continued contribution. Looking at the list of accomplishments today, I am humbled and extremely proud to be a part of this stunning collective effort!

The following provides a summary of both our strategy management process, as well as key accomplishments over the past year+ that continue to advance member value and the ASP mission.

As it should be (after all, we are THE Association for Strategic Planning), we have put into place a robust strategy management process that is aimed at advancing our mission, while being good stewards of the funds entrusted to us. Our strategy management process has closely followed the process outlined by our new ASP Body of Knowledge (BoK 3.0):

• Formulate Strategy: Devising a new or adjusting an existing strategy. Includes environmental assessment (Internal and external), defining the drivers and measures of success, identifying strategic alternatives and creating a strategic plan.
• Transform Organization: Often overlooked but critical to success, aligning the operating model (how the organization functions – its structure, processes and practices) with its newly formulated strategy. Includes designing the target enterprise structure, elaborating the transformation roadmap, capital and workforce planning, and advancing transformation projects.
• Execute Strategy: Delivering on the value propositions defined in the strategy. Includes executing all primary and secondary processes at the heart of the organizations’ operating model in alignment with the strategy, leveraging business intelligence and committing to continuous improvement.
• Engage Stakeholders: Engaging and building commitment to strategy among stakeholders across the organization (employees, board, and leadership) and removing barriers to successful strategy execution. Includes change management, strategy facilitation, collaboration and diversity, equity and inclusion practices.
• Govern Strategy: Directing and overseeing all strategy activities within the organization. Includes implementing, overseeing and evolving governance mechanisms and processes, overseeing strategy and strategic transformation such as allocating resources, monitoring risk, and assessing and responding to strategic performance.

To formulate the strategy, the ASP Board of Directors considered the internal and external environments including our members’ desires and needs, as well as trends, research and innovations in strategy management and related fields. We created explicit KPIs to track and demonstrate our progress and success while transforming some of our operating model to support the strategic priorities. All operational efforts have been focused on executing our strategy, and explicitly engaging stakeholders in this process. Our volunteerism through members stepping up to further engage in the association thought leadership, professional development and networking activities have been profound and certainly has been key in our continued progress to achieving our KPI’s. (Read more about this later in this article.) And, from a governance perspective, we created an explicit execution process with ongoing oversight and quarterly review and reporting of progress towards plan accomplishments – both outputs and outcomes. This process has also further enabled us to adjust more quickly when conditions changed. This entire strategy management approach certainly drove our resource allocation decisions as well as allowed us to pivot quickly when that agility was needed during the pandemic, while not losing sight of our longer-term goals.

We have structured the ASP strategic plan content under the following 5 pillars:

Mission Driven Pillars:

1. Thought Leadership: Create and curate relevant theory and practice, introduce high-level and innovative strategic thinking and approaches, and create new knowledge and high-impact tools.

2. Professional Development: Deepen ASP’s content offerings, expanding the value ASP brings to members and continuing to use this information as an opportunity to connect with potential members and leaders in the strategy field.

3. Member Experience: Offer worldwide and local networks to enhance experience where people share experiential knowledge and ideas in strategy.

4. Certification: Establish a high level of quality and consistency within the fields of strategic planning and management so that strategic planners and those responsible for developing and deploying strategy can assist organizations in meeting and exceeding the challenges of the 21st century.

Foundational Pillar:

5. Foundation: Financial Sustainability/Operational Excellence/People: Deliver value and impact for our members through operational efficiency, transparency and stewardship.

The following provides an overview of many of those accomplishments over the past year that have further enriched the value ASP brings to members and to the field of strategy management. 

1. Thought Leadership – ASP is clearly contributing to thought leadership in the field. Both goals under this pillar have made tremendous progress. Goal 1.1. Body of Knowledge: the revamp of the entire BoK is well underway and will be fully published and available before the end of 2021. Goal 1.2. Strategy Magazine: The Spring 2021 Edition was mailed from ASP to members across the globe just last week.  The digital version is available here.  Furthermore, a previous goal regarding ASP research, which had been set on the back burner, moved forward thanks to our partner researchers, and the first of two significant sets of research findings was just submitted this week to a peer review journal for publication. This relates to a tool that will provide researchers and practitioners a validated measure of overall organizational capacity that can be used across nonprofits, thus allowing researchers to make cross-organizational and research comparisons in a systematic way that is currently lacking from the field.

2. Professional Development – Professional Development is key to delivering value to our members. Over the past year, we have continued to deliver highly attended and rated programs that represent thought leadership throughout the strategy management sector.  While our annual global conference shifted to virtual in 2020 and 2021, our conference volunteer lead team adapted quickly and created outstanding events that attracted more participants than anticipated given the circumstances of the pandemic, and more registrations than previous conferences in 2021. Furthermore, Chapters and Communities of Practice have continued to offer outstanding programs, reliably offering new ideas/innovations, insights, tools and techniques. In process also, is the revamping of our former certification Registered Education Provider (REP) program, expanding it to build two enhanced programs for Approved Learning Providers (ALPs) and Certification Preparation Providers (CPPs).

3. Member Experience – ASP Chapters, Communities of Practice and Annual Global Conference have continued to grow, as well as offer multiple opportunities for members to interact, network and learn from each other. A number of enhancements to the typical virtual/webinar environments have been employed to increase two-way interface for participants. Member feedback has been very positive, particularly regarding the opportunities to meet new people and learn from others’ experiences shared during these highly interactive events. Members engaged in various plan execution committees, task forces and the like are voicing high satisfaction with the experience and opportunity to build their network of peers and colleagues. Two new geographic chapters, in Uganda and Australia were established, as well as three Communities of Practice for Women in Strategy, Small / Medium Sized Businesses, and Emerging Professionals. Our UK group is well on its way to growing as a tremendous resource for networking and professional development, while further advancing opportunities with the ASP Preferred University Partner Program. Additionally, partnerships are in the works with three great organizations in the Middle East to further advance the ASP mission. Finally, a significant volunteer effort is going into improving the strategyassociation.org website experience, making it more user-friendly and interactive.

4. Certification – The opportunity to earn a credential that certifies your competencies in the field of strategy management can be a tremendous career booster. And, at the grander scale, raising the bar of proficiency of those professionals leading these efforts, will further enable organizations in meeting and exceeding the challenges of the 21st century. Over the past 2 years, ASP has been making tremendous strides in further advancing our certification program through a rigorous process to revamp both the SMP and SPP exams, as well as the application process. This is a game changer for our mission. The best testament to this is that 2021 is on track to have more than three-fold the number of applications for the exams than any previous year in our exam history.

5. Foundation: Financial Sustainability/Operational Excellence/People – While building member value is paramount to our mission, how we go about doing this is equally crucial.  Of course, we continue to strive for operational excellence and fiscal soundness. Furthermore, we need to ensure we do this respectfully and inclusively, and as a global organization, we must be ever mindful of the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion, as well as social justice. ASP is in process of developing a statement, policy and procedure here, which will influence all decisions made across the organization and help to ensure consistency in our practices, and soundness in our organizational culture. We have continued to be explicitly mindful of inclusion and representation of our global membership community in our volunteer recruitment for all committees and task forces, including our current Board of Directors [DM5] is the most diverse in ASP’s history.  Finally, and of utmost importance to the sustainability of the association, two related and important efforts are underway with 1) establishment of a robust Global Membership Committee (GMC), focusing on building member value and growth, and 2) the CAPS Committee, focusing on building a consistent program for corporate memberships, advertising, partnerships and sponsorships.

Yes, despite the pandemic, we have been busy!

At the time of the writing of this article, leaders are in process of collecting the data for reporting on the KPIs of all our strategic goals. The results of this reporting will further demonstrate the quality and volume of opportunities offered to our members.  Additionally, members can join ASP’s Annual General Meeting of Members (AGM) on Friday, June 25th, 2021, from 10 – 11 AM US ET to hear the results for YE FY2021. (Click here to Register)

Coming full circle, it can only be through a robust strategy management process that a small, global organization, even amid a pandemic, can achieve so much with such limited resources. I will be forever grateful to our engaged members who volunteer their time and talent to bring this all to realization! And also, deeply thankful to the Managing Matters staff team who have further supported our execution. I have been proud to serve you all these past two years as president and look forward to watching the continued growth that I believe all these efforts will bring.

• Go slow to move fast – take time to assess your readiness for embarking on a new strategic plan; General Electric’s change accelerator process of the ADKAR model was mentioned as a key approach.
• Be proactive and adopt an iterative approach – include budgeting and enterprise risk management into your process.
• Focus on utility – based on your constituents' needs, evaluate which strategic planning tools are most useful to address them; consider logic models or the Cynefin model, a “sense-making device” to aid leaders to make decisions.
• Culture – often trumps strategy, so she recommends engaging with all levels of the organization as well as external experts; celebrate your culture publicly.
• One size does not fit all – evolve your approaches over time as you build organizational capacity for strategic planning and management; use a variety of techniques including visuals to depict your strategy or use a “world café” approach to include as many stakeholders as possible.

Jen offered additional tools embedded in her presentation and I can’t wait to “dig in.”

Similarly, I had many takeaways from Dr. Kathryn Ritchie’s discussion on her “Ignition” framework for transforming organizations. Part of her firm’s approach is based on systems thinking focused on gaining clarity on the what and why of transformation, cohesion and alignment around the clarity, and discipline in sequencing and executing those initiatives to achieve the intended results. Kathryn has found that her approach helps provide better focus, engagement, and the removal of “waste” in time and effort. With the lens of clarity, cohesion, and discipline, she believes that it allows an organization with enough space to be organized, yet enhances organizational learning and growth. Similar to Deloitte’s “zoom out and zoom in” approach (that I have previously written about in the column) her approach takes a ten-year outlook, then a three- to- five-year perspective, and finally a focus on what actions the organization needs to take over the next twelve to eighteen months to move toward the longer-term outlook.

Dr. Ritchie also highlighted the role of culture in transformations and urged everyone to sense and look for the "from-to shifts" addressing the issues of:

• What major shifts are needed?
• What must the organization stop doing?
• What must the organization start doing?

Finally, akin to Ed Schein, she emphasized the importance of leadership as “culture shapers.”

I also had the opportunity to hear from Cathy Hackl, whom Forbes considers one of the leading futurists on the planet as well as from Marsha McNutt, former head of the National Academies of Science (NAS), and Chris Field of Stanford’s Woods Institute. Cathy provided a review of the applications of new technologies and how we, as strategists, must keep up with the latest developments since many of the technologies are “game-changers.” She presented five things that we need to keep track of:

• Employee experience (EX) is becoming as important as customer experience (CX) with the developments in gaming technologies and the expectations of GenZ.
• Digital twins everywhere - that is the creation of virtual “you” through the advancement of hologram technologies and the rise of telemedicine. Opportunities also exist for seeing responses to experimental treatments.
• 5G enables what Cathy refers to as the “metaverse,” that is the convergence of the physical and virtual world
• Emerging technology to unlock data’s potential for immersive storytelling
• Cybersecurity should be top of mind, especially impactful on how to do defense in the metaverse.
  

Over the next twenty-five years, she sees the potential for advanced human-centered AI in the fields of healthcare training, childcare, and brain-computer interfaces, both implants and externally.

Lastly, I had the opportunity to listen in on a discussion with Marsha and Chris on the pluses and minuses of deploying a variety of solar geoengineering techniques, concepts, and technologies as a means of fighting rising global temperatures. Chris authored NAS’s 2021 report calling for more research since attempts to modify the sun’s rays has come under scrutiny. According to Chris, we don’t know enough about the impacts of solar geoengineering (SGE,) there are no laws or treaties to prevent a rogue actor from deploying SGE, and there are unknown consequences. For example, SGE may deplete the ozone layer. Marsha, a volcanologist by training, wrote the previous report drawing from her understanding of the impacts of large volcanic eruptions, like Mount Pinatubo, where the temperature of the planet dropped as its flume of ash traveled around the globe. Some of the things they would like to see research include:

• “Cloud Brightening” with seawater, thinning clouds at high altitudes
• Dispersion of particles in the atmosphere by studying the flumes from smokestacks on ocean liners
• More simulation of volcanic impacts.

Both Chris and Marsha believe that these studies should not be done in isolation, but rather in an international “coalition of the willing.” They also believe that there should be exit ramps or stoplights on the research built into the governance model. SGE has positive aspects of mitigating solar warming and it could change the equation on climate change. We just don’t know enough.

So, where does a strategist fit in? On a macro level, in such an ever-increasing intertwined global economy, we need to understand the technologies that exist today, those in R&D, and those forecasted out 25 years. On a micro-scale, we should be building up our organizational capacity to track these technologies, understand their potential, and understand their downsides. Then we can help leaders make better decisions.

• Convergence – that is the coming together of different technologies
• Speed of change
• Democratization of technology
• The weaponization of information – and first-mover advantage
• The dichotomy of everything observable and trying to make sense of it.

To them, with the internet of things (IoT), there is nowhere to hide. Competition and conflict are blurring because of this. More information campaigns, more use of cyber and less large-scale systems and greater use of unmanned systems which are cheaper, scalable, and disposable. They also recognize that policy changes are slow to make to deal with these disruptions in the operational environment.

The Mad Scientist Laboratory’s ecosystem includes academia with Georgetown, Georgia Tech and William & Mary all playing a vital role, as well as, think tanks such as the Atlantic Council, and US intelligence agencies. This year they are planning several virtual events including videos, writing contests, and, if possible, an in-person convening of William & Mary’s project participants on International Peace and Security. If interested, check out madsciblog.tradoc.army.mil for more information about their events and thinking.

I also had the opportunity to listen in on an interesting panel discussion on “Perspectives on the Post Pandemic Workplace” featuring the HR directors of three award-winning organizations – The Motley Fool, CircleK, and Databricks. Each of these firms uses data from employee surveys during the pandemic to understand their anxieties and issues. Each of these firms adopted an approach to empowering their employees with information very intentionally as they plan for having staff return to the office. They also have created “COVID fatigue plans” to help drive conversation at a team level to discuss mental health. They have also created programs for managers to deal with their anxieties and issues overseeing their staffs in a remote environment. They have adopted an employee-first position on returning to the office. It is okay for some to stay remote, others to work a hybrid model of in-person and remote. No one expects it will be mandatory to return to a physical office.

One key issue for them is how to effectively engage staff when some remain remote and others in person. They are using office re-design and technology so that everyone can be engaged. Improved meeting space and the creation of “collision spaces” as Lee Burbage from The Motley Fool refers to those spaces that foster one on one conversations.  The big lesson they have learned during the pandemic is to focus on work outcomes not “time in office” and come together in person when really needed focusing on the power of purpose.

Lastly, I had an opportunity to enjoy a remembrance of the life of Kurt Lewin and his lasting legacy on the field of organizational development (OD.) The talk featured Lewin’s grandson and great-granddaughter, both OD practitioners. I have an article coming out later this month on Lewin and how the values of OD can help organizations in their transformations. Lewin was a big believer in “planned change” and the involvement of those impacted by the change in the planning of the change. Though recently questioned in a VUCA world, his three-stage model stands the test of time, some 75 years later. The “unfreeze, change, refreeze” model is a powerful way to think of implementing a new strategy. The approach is scalable and can be used on any cycle – fast or slow. It was an important conversation to have for the upcoming generation of OD and strategy professionals. Sometimes a reemergence is what we all need in a very divergent world.

Substantive change takes time.  And that is the case with ASP Certification 2.0.  You may have read about the release of the new content outlines based on job analysis research sponsored by ASP’s Certification Commission.   You may have heard about or even contributed to the new BoK that is in progress.  You may have heard that we have partnered with a new vendor to more effectively deliver our certification exams.  So here is the rest of the story.

ASP is about to launch into the final phase of Certification 2.0.  We are now pulling all the elements together so that we have a user-friendly, timely and consistent application process and eligibility determination, a legally defensible and reliable exam, and availability of the exam world-wide through remote live proctoring.  Getting to the point of launch has been a major investment for ASP.

The certification initiative we are about to launch is the first step in fulfilling a dream for ASP’s reach.  Those involved see that certification is key to ASP’s worldwide presence and overall impact.  In order to achieve that status, we have to make certain that the entire process-- from application, study, examination and results notification-- is world-class.  World class in our estimation is achieving accreditation by ANSI – an international accrediting agency whose credentials are recognized by ISO worldwide.

Our Transformational Journey

Our overarching goal is accreditation for ASP’s certification process. The Certification Commission has set its sights for accreditation by 2025. The steps we have taken to date toward this goal include:

1. To initiate, ASP needed to establish a Certification Commission which required a change in ASP’s bylaws.

2. A professional certification exam must be based on actual job functionality. ASP needed to conduct job analysis research to assure that the competencies identified are related to actual job tasks rather than focused on theory. It should be noted that the job analysis research resulted in shifting our positioning of the former ASP core domains of Think, Lead, Plan, Act.  The researchers acknowledged that those actions are part of each phase of strategy management.  The scope of Certification 2.0 incorporates four new domains, identified as Engagement, Strategy Formulation, Strategy Transformation, and Execution including Governance and Strategy Evaluation.  These four domains encompass 64 itemized competencies for Strategic Management Professional (SMP) and 62 tasks in the scope of a Strategic Planning Professional (SPP).

3.  Once the competencies were identified, we needed to assess how to weight the domains and sub-domains on the exams.  For a valid exam, we needed to conduct additional research to assure that the number of questions in each domain is commensurate with the percentage of time a professional would spend in that area. To achieve that, once again we needed to conduct a survey of our subject matter experts to assess how much of their actual jobs were related to each domain. 

 3.  Once we received the results of that research, we needed to evaluate the items in the exam bank that were relevant to the new competencies.  We also needed to assure there were questions in the bank related to each competency.  To achieve this, we engaged with currently certified members to write and process new exam questions.  Two different teams were assembled to construct new items for the recalibrated exams.  The submitted items needed to be validated by a different team of subject matter experts to assure there was agreement on the correct answers and to assess whether the questions were easily understood. 

4.  Concurrently with the job task research and exam development, we needed to address the application process which was very cumbersome both for candidates as well as for administration.  So we conducted an efficiency assessment to learn how we could streamline and automate the entire process. One of the recommendations from that assessment was to change our exam provider.  We identified a new provider that offered a simple, timely process for registering to take the exam and submitting an application.  We dramatically streamlined the processes for SPP applications and simplified the process of assessing SMP eligibility. 

5.  A new automated application needed to be created that focused on determining eligibility.

6.  With a new application, application reviewers needed training so those involved in determining eligibility to sit for the exam provided a consistency in their reviews. 

7.  In the meantime, we needed to think about how candidates would prepare for this exam.  The Body of Knowledge efforts were reassigned to ASP’s Thought Leadership Team and the Registered Education Provider program was transferred to ASP’s Professional Development Team.  This was an important reassignment because certification accreditation requires separation or a firewall between exam preparation and the certification examination process.

8.  Board members Jihad Mohammad and Eddy AbouChakra championed the reformation of ASP’s program to provide education support for all things of strategy education.  In the near future, we will be launching an entirely new approach for strategy education providers to obtain status as an Approved Learning Provider (ALP) offering general strategy education courses aligned with the ASP Body of Knowledge and/or a Certification Preparation Provider (CPP) whose coursework aligns with the totality of exam competencies.  The program sets up a partnership between the Approved Providers and ASP.  We anticipate a great response worldwide to this initiative. 

9.  The ASP Body of Knowledge is currently in development.  This body of work goes far beyond certification competencies, and will include Concepts, Activities and Tools (Methods, Approaches, Techniques).  It will truly be the standard bearer for Thought Leadership inside ASP.  This effort is being championed by Board member Pierre Hadaya and Past President Jim Stockmal.  The timeline for completion of this primary resource is May 2022. 

It was never anticipated that a certification upgrade would take three years, a significant investment in research and dozens of volunteer subject matter experts to achieve the outcome.  But again, substantive strategic change takes time.  We formulated the strategy and orchestrated the transformation. Now we execute, monitoring our key performance indicators along the way and responding accordingly. The May 2021 exams will test the new system we have built.

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic upended the plans and strategies of development organizations globally. But the destabilizing health and economic crisis is but one of many significant events and trends that are remaking the context for development cooperation. Indeed, there are several economic, environmental, social, and technological disruptions transforming the world. The pandemic has accelerated the pace of change, as highlighted by the rapid take up of digital technologies and new ways of working and interfacing with clients and partners over the past 12 months.

As international development organizations regroup and reorient themselves for what will transpire after COVID-19 has been brought under control, they need to prepare to function in a world characterized by volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (“VUCA”). In this new normal of constant and unpredictable change, they can empower themselves by embracing Strategic Foresight (or simply, Foresight).

Foresight is a structured, systematic way of using ideas about the future to anticipate and better prepare for change. It involves exploring different plausible futures that could arise in the medium to long term and the opportunities and challenges they could present. Using a range of tools and methodologies, Foresight helps organizations test the validity of assumptions underpinning current policies, collect and interpret data and information, and spot weak signals of emerging change that are harbingers of something greater.

A typical Foresight exercise will analyze trends and how key drivers of change interact with each other — and create more changes. By studying these interactions, one can formulate different scenarios of alternative plausible futures. Foresight is not a projection based on past experience, straight-line forecasting, an elaborate guessing game, or predictive exercise. It does not yield a single, pseudo-precise picture of what will happen. Rather, it draws on multidisciplinary expertise and knowledge to study and probe a range of ways in which things may unfold.

In short, Foresight helps development organizations anticipate changes, reveal options for policy innovation, and stress test proposed plans and strategies. It is used to anticipate credible future pathways in a wide array of important policy areas, like climate change, migration, food security, funding of healthcare, aging, and the labor market. In doing so, it provides valuable insights to improve today’s policymaking for tomorrow.

The Development Cooperation Directorate of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has assessed that Foresight can help the development community explore how changes — whether slow, compound annual trends or fast and disruptive shifts — might threaten communal well-being and achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. Elsewhere, the United Nations Development Programme has published a guide to assist developing country government officials in using Foresight tools.

The German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development has recognized that Foresight tools, like horizon scanning and scenario analysis, can help it gain a better sense of uncertainties, prepare for possible developments and futures, and generate an openness for alternatives and different paths that form a basis for strategic decision-making and planning of German development policy.

The French Agency for Development (AFD) involved hundreds of staff and outside experts in a Foresight exercise that generated four plausible scenarios for the global environment in which international development assistance would be delivered in ten to fifteen years. The exercise studied the practical consequences for AFD in the event of each scenario coming to pass. One of the scenarios depicts a world where ecological tipping points have been reached, leading to a series of crises around the planet.

Last October, USAID’s then-acting administrator announced that the agency will create a Foresight unit to scan the horizon for future crises and prepare USAID for uncertain and complex operating environments. The unit will support the agency’s field missions with scenario planning, enabling them to become more responsive and adaptive.

Several international organizations have also recognized the contribution that Foresight can make to their activities. For example, the Asian Development Bank published a compilation of lessons from applying futures and Foresight tools in seven developing Asian countries. The International Monetary Fund is using scenario planning and policy gaming to inform its strategy and policy.

A little over four years ago, the Inter-American Development Bank teamed up with the Foresight team at the Atlantic Council to formulate six scenarios for Latin America and the Caribbean in 2030, underscoring how greater integration and better governance hold the key to greater prosperity. UNAIDS conducted a highly participatory scenarios development exercise to help decision-makers prepare for the fight against AIDS in Africa in two decades.

The disruptions that are shaking the world will reshape the way that development cooperation is carried out. International aid bodies need to embrace agility, a growth mindset, and a culture of learning — all traits that support the effective use of Foresight. By systematically performing the work required to discern plausible alternative futures, and then taking action to prepare for such futures, forward-looking development organizations will be far better prepared to perform and deliver on their missions.

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As strategy management trainers and consultants, we frequently hear the question: “What is the difference between KPIs and OKRs?”
Or, just as frequently, “Which is better: KPIs or OKRs?” As we learned in Strategy Consulting 101, our response is often “It depends!” Which is “better” between OKRs and KPIs depends on your organizational complexities, overall strategy cadence, and performance culture. In many situations, both OKRs and KPIs may live happily together, and complement each other, within a strategic management performance system. We find great value in considering the utilization of both OKRs and KPIs within your organization’s strategy framework.

Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) are a performance management tool to increase focus, engagement, alignment, and agility. An OKR consists of two parts: 1) Objective: The intended “outcome” the organization, unit, or individual seeks to accomplish in a short period, often 90 days. 2) Key Results: The measures the organization, unit, or individual will use to document progress made toward achieving the objective.

 “OKRs is a critical thinking framework and ongoing discipline that seeks to ensure employees work together, focusing their efforts to make contributions that drive the company forward. (Niven and Lamorte, p.6).

“A management methodology that helps to ensure that the company focuses efforts on the same important issues throughout the organization. An OBJECTIVE is simply WHAT is to be achieved, no more and no less. By definition, objectives are significant, concrete, action-oriented, and (ideally) inspirational. When properly designed and deployed, they are a vaccine against fuzzy thinking—and fuzzy execution. KEY RESULTS benchmark and monitor HOW we get to the objective. 

Effective OKRs are specific and time-bound, aggressive yet realistic. Most of all, they are measurable and verifiable.” (John Doerr, p. 7)

With roots tracing back to Peter Drucker’s “management by objectives”, OKRs were first introduced by Andy Grove in his tenure as CEO of Intel Corporation, and then energized and popularized by John Doerr at Google.  

The primary benefits of utilizing OKRs are, increased clarity of purpose, focus, alignment, agility, engagement, accountability, transparency, and most importantly, aligning short-term results with stated objectives. OKRs will only deliver intended results with sustained team effort.

The purpose of OKRs is to connect organizational, department level, and personal (or small team) objectives to measurable results while having all team members and leaders work together in one, unified direction. A large part of OKRs is making sure everyone in the organization knows what’s expected of them at work. OKRs are visible to everyone as the organization moves towards the same overarching goal and enterprise objectives so that everyone is aware of what others are working on. OKRs are typically part of a quarterly planning cadence.

Key features of OKRs include: 

• Agile: OKRs have become increasingly popular, especially for organizations seeking to build more agility into their strategic management and performance system. This is enabled by a faster cadence of reviewing performance, revising assumptions, and resetting O’s and/or KR’s, typically quarterly.

• Ambitious: Objectives should be a “stretch” and feel somewhat uncomfortable with an expectation that not all OKRs will be met each quarter. Seek to establish the sweet spot between aspirational and realistic.
• Measurable: Each OKR should be measurable and easy to grade with a number (Google uses a 0–1.0 scale to grade each key result at the end of a quarter. The “sweet spot” for an OKR grade is .6 — .7; if someone consistently gets 1.0, their OKRs aren’t ambitious enough. Low grades shouldn’t be punished, they should be seen as data to help refine the next quarter’s OKRs.)
• Transparent: OKRs should be visible to all in the organization, both vertically and horizontally, so that everyone in the organization is able to see what everyone else is working on
• Easily Understood: The value of a well-stated OKR is articulating in clear language exactly the outcome that is desired with what quantifiable result.
• Focused Change: OKRs focus attention on what changes need to be made to reach key results stretch targets.
• All Organizational Levels: OKRs may be used at the corporate level (Tier 1), department level (Tier 2), and employee level (Tier 3).
• Engagement: The single most important benefit of OKRs is their ability to generate a sense of urgency around commitment. This fast-cadence process engages each team’s perspective and creativity.

Example:

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

A Key Performance Indicator (KPI) is a measure for which the organization has data to quantify and evaluate the results of a strategic objective.

“Measurement is the first step that leads to control and eventually to improvement. If you can’t measure something, you can’t understand it. If you can’t understand it, you can’t control it. If you can’t control it, you can’t improve it.” (H. James Harrington)

“Organizations often get this wrong. They use the following planning process: Strategy è Initiatives è Measures (of initiative completion and cost). 

Their strategy consists primarily of a list of initiatives that will be undertaken, and their initial business measures are milestones – time and cost metrics - about initiatives. Such a planning process is backwards! Strategy is not about managing initiatives.” (Kaplan & Norton, Strategy Focused Organization, p. 294)

“Selecting the right measures means identifying the vital few rather than the trivial many.” (Speculand, p. 168).  

Improvement in organizational performance cannot occur unless leadership intentionally measures and manages strategic performance. The key to improved performance is to put in place strategic performance measures (KPIs) and targets at the objective level prior to defining initiatives and initiative measures. Both levels of performance measurement and management are important but begin by assigning performance measures at the strategic objective level. Helpful questions to consider when selecting key performance indicators:

• Is the indicator valid?
• Is the indicator of value?
• How difficult will it be to track the indicator?
• Does the indicator send the correct message to key stakeholders?
• Does the indicator hold the team to an appropriate level of accountability?
• Is there a blend of leading and lagging indicators?

Once KPIs have been selected and approved by leadership, establishing meaningful performance targets comes next. Foundational to doing this is for leaders and managers to understand four performance measurement terms to be used consistently with the team:

• Baseline - The organization’s actual performance for the most recent reporting period.
• Benchmark – An external comparison point, such as an industry-wide statistic. 
• Target – The specific performance level the organization seeks for an indicator within a predetermined time.
• Threshold – A specific level of performance that is deemed either acceptable or unacceptable.

In general, performance measures can be developed within four major categories and there is a logical relationship among these different measurement categories.

1. “Input” measures are used to track items in production or workflow processes. 
2. “Process” measures are used to monitor the quality and efficiency of processes. 
3. “Output” measures are used to monitor what is produced.
4. “Outcome” measures are used to monitor what is accomplished over the lifespan of an approved strategic plan (i.e. a planning horizon). When measuring results of strategy execution, focus first on the outcome measures.

A difficult task in performance measurement is establishing stretch targets for KPIs. Targets should be aspirational and challenging while being realistically achievable. Targets are tools leadership deploy to monitor and evaluate effectiveness in organization level strategy execution by revealing the gap between actual and desired levels of performance.  When defining targets, it will be helpful to:

• Use data that your organization already has to establish a baseline.
• Consider using information from outside data sources to benchmark and compare your performance data with those of other comparable organizations.
• Set targets that seem reasonable considering BOTH the baseline AND the benchmarking information gathered.

When setting a target, maintain that delicate balance between challenging and realistic. A stretch target is intended to "raise the bar" enough to inspire. That said, be mindful targets must be set at a level at which your team will have the skills, knowledge, and company resources required to achieve it. Meeting a "Stretch" target should indicate significant effort has been made to achieve it. Ask yourself how much of a stretch will motivate without causing people to become overwhelmed or demoralized. Always be clear about how long your team believes it will take to achieve your desired level of performance. Finally, never set KPI Targets alone. Target setting must be a team effort.

As we provide clients strategic planning and strategic management consulting services, we find this area of developing valid and valuable KPIs can be extremely daunting. Strategy practitioners must work closely with their team to understand that performance measurement and management are integrated processes, not an event. Collecting, reporting, and visualizing performance information is the easy part. Learning from the performance information to continuously improve processes and systems is the hard part. Strategy practitioners have a leading role to play in this regard.

Performance indicators should include a mix of leading and lagging indicators to provide a balanced portfolio of outcomes to be analyzed. Leading indicators are predictors of future success, whereas lagging indicators document what has occurred in the past.

Strategy practitioners must work closely with their leadership team to agree upon the appropriate indicators and set realistic targets or target ranges.

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References:

• Doerr, J. Measure What Matters: How Google, Bono, and the Gates Foundation Rock the World with OKRs (New York: Penguin Random House, 2018)
• Kaplan, R. & Norton, D. The Balanced Scorecard: Translating Strategy into Action (Boston: Harvard Business Press Publishing, 1996)
• Kaplan, R. & Norton, D. The Strategy Focused Organization: How Balanced Scorecard Companies Thrive in the New Business Environment (Boston: Harvard Business Press Publishing, 2001)
• Marr, B. Key Performance Indicators - The 75 measures every manager needs to know (United Kingdom: Pearson, 2012).
• Montgomery, D. Start Less Finish More: Building Strategic Agility with OKRs (Boulder: Agile Strategies Press, 2019)
• Muller, J. The Tyranny of Metrics (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2018)
• Niven, P. & Lamorte, B. Objectives and Key Results: Driving Focus, Alignment, and Engagement with OKRs (Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2016)
• Rollinson, R. and Young, E. Strategy in the 21st Century: A Practical Strategic Management Process (Chicago: Looking Glass Publishing, 2010), 275-280
• Speculand, R. Excellence in Execution: How to Implement Your Strategy (New York: Morgan James Publishing, 2017), 164-175.

Eight societal drivers of change were discussed based on Toffler’s latest research:

• Infrastructure Adaptation
• Power Shifts
• Societal Collisions and Coalitions
• Bio-digital Convergence
• Security
• Trust
• Resource Scarcity
• Disaggregation of Location and Activity

We didn’t have sufficient time to go into each of these drivers in-depth, but at a high level, we got a taste of the potential implications on the nature of work. For example, the Covid-19 pandemic has demonstrated that it doesn’t matter where work gets done for the white-collar, non-front-line worker. Soon, 7.5 billion people will be connected with high-speed internet access and real-time language translation. From a hiring perspective, there is no geographic limit that vastly increases the potential pool of resources, whether a full-time employee or a gig worker. This in turn has implications on cultural fit (collisions or coalitions highlighted above,) evaluation of performance, employee experience, and employer experience, to name a few. How does a globalized workforce become a high-performing team? This global workforce might lend itself to a more diverse and inclusive workforce, especially with STEM professions. Issues of trust may also arise. Toffler suggests there may be other downstream impacts on security as the “…threat surface” increases.

These drivers also have implications on an employee’s career and drive the need for life-long learning as we morph into more “non-linear” career professions. Toffler suggests that the “half-life” of skills is shortening, but with more and more online education, technology will soon be able to “personalize” our education using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML.) AI and ML will be able to offer refresher modules based on our answers on tests, assuming bias in the algorithms aren’t a factor.

We didn’t address the issue per se from a Federal government perspective as many US Federal jobs require citizenship and some level of security clearance (e.g., public trust.) But it does have implications on the hiring practices of government contractors.

One attendee said, "This was the best webinar I have participated in, in a long time.” I have to agree. It was very thought-provoking and gave us all a lot to think about.