Contract - May 2014 - 44

PHOTO COURTESY RICHARD POLLACK

COLUMNIST

Strategic Planning for the Design Firm
by Richard N. Pollack, FAIA, FIIDA

A key component for starting, running, and growing a firm is setting
up a strategy that provides clear direction, yet it's a component that's
often absent. Just think how unprepared a professional baseball team
would be without a carefully determined plan that addresses the
starting pitcher rotation and batting order. Without a strategy, the
team will win games, but they won't win a World Series. Many interiors
and architectural firms operate without the guidance of a long-term
business or strategic plan.
To me, the most compelling example of a clear strategic vision is
the plans for Larry Ellison's new yacht. Ellison is the CEO of the software
company Oracle, and his yacht's stateroom had an eight-foot-diameter
circular space off to one side. I thought it might be the base of a satellite
dish, but it turned out to have a very special use: It was where Ellison
could display the America's Cup when he won it. Not if-when. The
visualization of a goal is a powerful tool for achieving an objective,
and since designers are visual people, it becomes even more potent.
An effective plan does not need to be dozens of pages filled
with graphs. Here are steps to help organize your thinking:
1. Decide what you and the firm want to be when you grow up.
Without a clear image of where the firm is going, you are unlikely
to get there.
2. Include detail. The image of the future firm must be unambiguous,
but the specific tasks to get there must be particularly well-defined
and clear.
3. Create winnable tactics. There will be many components needed
to achieve the goals of the strategy, so make the tasks manageable
enough that they can be accomplished.
4. Develop measurable milestones. Based on the strategic objective
and the tactics to get there, you must establish waypoints that can be
used to measure success or failure. Without objective measurement,
you cannot truly affect outcomes.
5. Build a schedule that includes each identified task. Critical path
tactics and measurements should be built into a schedule to ensure
effective tracking. And just like you would for a project schedule, allow
for bumps along the way, as well as potential shortcuts to make up for
any lost time.
6. Create a visual representation. Again, we are visual people, and the
strategic and tactical components should be shown graphically. That
document might start as a long roll of trace paper initially hung on a
wall during an off-site retreat, then condensed for easier sharing-and
it should be shared with the entire office.
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7. Validate efforts against the schedule. Make regular status reports
to staff and share successes and failures. For example, report that you
may have missed an important deadline, but have come up with an
alternative approach. Staff will recognize that you are including
everyone in the process and will be appreciative.
8. Deal with distractions. When you run into unforeseen business
exigencies and speed bumps, do your best to handle them in a way
that will not significantly disrupt the practice.
The steps outlined above show a straightforward and concise
process for strategic planning, but success or failure depends upon
honesty and communication. Let's say that there are two principals who
have been working together for some years but are not satisfied with
revenue, profit, work/life balance, type of projects, etc. The principals
decide that they need a plan that will get everyone focused on specific
goals and objectives. They schedule an off-site meeting to start the
process; however, one or both are not being open about their business
intentions. The resulting strategic plan will never be truly effective,
owing to lack of honest discussion from the outset.
One solution is to have an objective third party participate in the
early conversations to act as facilitator and foil. The facilitator meets
with each principal separately, then both together, to help develop
clarity about the principals' goals. The outside enabler might use
a Socratic "listen, challenge, champion" methodology to hear each
partner's goals, question the stated objectives to be certain that any
hidden agendas have been revealed, and then act as an advocate to
help the strategic planning process move to successful completion.
But remember: The plan is never really finished and must be reviewed
and updated periodically.
Richard N. Pollack, FAIA, FIIDA, writes a regular column for
Contract on business practices in design and professional
development. Pollack is the CEO of San Francisco-based Pollack
Consulting, which supports firm growth and success through
improved business development, winning presentation techniques,
recruitment of top talent, business coaching, and ownership
transition implementation.

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MAY 2014
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Contract - May 2014

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