Rensselaerville Institute - What We Do - Implementor Programs

Strategic Mapping and Design

How many of us are more excited at the fifth meeting of the strategic planning group than at the first? We thought so. Not only do traditional plans seem to take more energy out of an organization than they add but they mistakenly focus on the document as the result. You know you are in trouble when:

Traditional organizational assessments tend to come in two varieties:

• a consultant is hired to write the plan
• no one doing the planning intends to go first in changing his or her behavior
• the plan is divided into components that different people write
• the plan is called strategic but contains no real strategy
• no one is encouraged to try anything new until the plan is completed
• the plan anchors in problems and needs, not in opportunities and solutions

We offer groups two fresh alternatives. We use such mapping imagery as starting point, destination, routes, and the location of obstacles (mountains and swamps) . Maps are effective visual tools readily communicated. They are more open to insight and serendipity than are plans. And they allow for clear charting of progress against milestone markers as well as time and money spent. Finally, maps become strategic in forcing out alternative routings from present locale to destination.

The other option is strategic design for programs. A key element in design is prototyping—actual early experience which tests assumptions at an early point. Prototypes keep in people with an itch to act and let final design build on experience not just inference. Planning and doing come together. Prototypes are done during the design process—and are different from pilots and demonstrations that come after design. When it is very expensive to make changes a number of great design principles (e.g. to reduce product cycle time) also come in when we replace program planning with program design.