An Appreciative Approach to Strategic Planning

1. An Appreciative Approach to Strategic Planning Bob Roberts Director of Organization Development Chicago Region, McDonald’s & Jim Ludema Professor of Organization Development Benedictine University

2. Strategic Planning: A key process to all aspects of business growth • Determines… • Degree of Organizational Sickness or Organizational demise & death and the... • Degree of Organizational Health • Competition is getting more aggressive and bright • SP is key process toward attaining high achievement

3. Strategic PlanningWe need a process that can... Have immediate impact on substantially increasing regional results Assure we will meet or exceed the Regional 2005 Vision Allows us to learn along the way - the most critical success factor in all strategic plan accomplishments!

4. 2005 Vision is a risk - Why? Few if any real innovations have come from the traditional strategic planning process - name one that came out of the process versus from a high performing individual Our Regional Manager is the catalyst for almost all meaningful innovations - retail items, store hours, DD/T; 100 days of summer; Outrageous Value Days; others -- we need innovation at all levels!

5. Strategic Planning: This process has to... • engage everyone in the region/market to plan and execute the plan • create a critical mass • Give people ‘meaningful’ goals that enlist massive levels of motivation/commitment as a system

6. Strategic Planning • Traditional Strategic Planning processes are not good for creating innovation • Does not engage the entire system in developing the system plan • Data is usually limited to the team itself rather than from the entire system • No real accountability for results from Regional Teams • No Feedback mechanisms to assess progress - no way to learn

7. Strategic Planning • We have to ‘super-charge’ this organization for increased innovation and high achievement. • The super-charge needs to result in high levels of motivation and commitment from all regional staff, store employees, and Owner Operators

8. Strategic Planning - A Proposal • Use the Appreciative Inquiry Process • Used by many companies with great success • Creates greater innovation - A Key! • Creates considerably higher levels of motivation and commitment • Focuses and builds upon what is going right or has gone right • Identifies the times when the organization was at its best

9. Appreciative Inquiry • Faster method to create new ‘bests’ for regional performance • New bests come from increasing the utilization of members best strengths & competencies • People want to build and create, not get mired down in only focusing on what is wrong or broke; individuals prefer to create greater ‘bests’ • Aim is to constantly replicate the organization’s ‘bests’

10. Appreciative Inquiry • Accelerates change due to ‘critical mass’ & by engaging entire organization • Produces greater motivation & commitment • All members have broad access to information from multiple levels of people in the organization • Total organizational mindset - individuals see how their individual/team contributions fit