“Measuring the progress of a strategic plan is not just a monitoring exercise: it’s an essential lever for guaranteeing the success of the transformations the organization wishes to carry out.”
Frédéric Monomakhoff
Managing Director of Virage group
The aim of a strategic plan is to transform an organisation. Measuring progress is a crucial step in ensuring that the organisation is making progress towards its objectives. A well-structured strategic plan sets out a clear roadmap but it is still important to know whether the actions implemented are really transforming the organisation as planned.
Without rigorous monitoring, it becomes difficult to make adjustments, prioritise resources or correct any deviations.
Frédéric Monomakhoff helps us to understand why and how to effectively measure the progress of a strategic plan, whether we are just starting out or already familiar with this type of management.
Structure of a strategic plan
A strategic plan is generally based on an overall intention that defines the direction to be followed to achieve an organisation’s objectives. It is broken down into strategic objectives, which are in turn broken down into operational objectives, etc. Although the terms may vary – we sometimes speak of ambitions, focus areas or themes – the hierarchy remains similar, with several possible levels depending on the complexity of the plan.
To successfully implement the plan, “actions” need to be taken on the ground. An action is something to do which will bring about a change. The success of the strategic plan then depends on the implementation of concrete actions on the ground. Each action aims to bring about a tangible change.
For example, “deploying electric car charging points” is an action where the direct benefit is the provision of charging points, and the spillover benefit (the impact) is the greening of a car fleet.
Monitoring the progress of a strategic plan
The simplest way of monitoring the progress of a plan and which is suitable for organisations just starting this type of approach is to consolidate the declared progress on each action.
Each action manager must indicate the estimated progress of their action in a simple way by declaring a percentage of completion. An even simple method is to indicate a status, for example: to be started (0%) – first steps (25%) – action in progress (50%) – results in sight (75%) – action completed (100%). It is basic but it works well. Remember that a plan generally comprises dozens or hundreds of actions, and that estimates at the level of each action can offset each other.
In this case, the average progress of the actions a plan covers is calculated to calculate the progress of the plan itself. If a plan has three actions with progress rates of 25% and 100%, the average progress rate is 50% (25 + 25 + 100 / 3). It’s really quite simple!
As not all actions are equally important, weighting can be applied to each action, but this complicates interpretation somewhat. It is preferable to choose actions with the same “weight”.
Measuring progress using KPIs
It is advisable to define KPIs / performance indicators for each action and for each plan.
In the case of the “deploy electric car charging points” action, there will be a result KPI (the number of charging points deployed) and an impact KPI (the reduction in CO2 emissions linked to this action).
To measure the progress of the action with the KPIs, it is necessary to define the target to be reached, for example 500 terminals to be deployed. With 300 terminals deployed, 60% of the action is complete. If the terminals are deployed but not used, the impact indicator will be 0%, because no CO2 will be saved. Clearly, this is more complicated, because in this case, what is the progress of the action? 60%? 0%, the average of 30%?
Another difficulty is that monitoring very different KPIs can be like comparing apples and oranges. If the “electric terminal” project is 60% complete and another project, which aims to run awareness-raising sessions on climate change, is 100% complete, what progress has been made?
To measure the effectiveness of a plan, it is therefore preferable to consolidate similar KPIs. It will be easy for a savings plan that aims to save euros, for example.
Dual management: progress and results
For mature organisations which are familiar with evaluation, a good practice is to define a progress indicator for each action which measures the achievement of the “things to be done” and a results indicator, the KPI.
This will make it possible to monitor both whether the plan is progressing, i.e. whether the actions are being carried out successfully, and whether the plan is delivering results by tracking KPIs by major area.
Conclusion
In conclusion, measuring the progress of a strategic plan is not just a monitoring exercise. It is an essential lever for guaranteeing the success of the changes that the organisation wishes to carry out.
Whether you use a simple method based on the progress of actions or a more sophisticated approach with KPIs (performance indicators), what is important is to adapt the management tools to the maturity of your organisation. Regular monitoring makes it possible not only to check that the plan is progressing, but also to maximise its impact by taking the necessary decisions at each stage.
By adopting a structured approach and measuring both actions and results, you are giving yourself the best chance to successfully achieve your strategic objectives.
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