The Campaign Plan

05Jan11

I recently read Tim Brown’s article in HBR Agenda 2011 about “Granting Permission to Innovate,” in the article he cautions against the “one-strategy trap,” and its unintended effect of stifling innovation. As I read I began to think about how to create a framework for an enterprise that provides the strategic guidance required to synchronize an enterprise’s many activities without creating an atmosphere that is adaptable to the various forces that effect the organization.

I often reach back to my military roots when trying to make sense of the world around me. In this case, I have to believe the planning framework used by the military could greatly enable large enterprises in accomplishing their strategic objectives. Military planners use various planning tools to unify operations and synchronize the ends, ways, and means of subordinate organizations to accomplish strategic goals. The campaign plan is a tool used to ensure alignment and synchronization of activities across the entire operating environment. It provides vision and intent through broad, operational concepts for operations and sustainment throughout the time frame necessary to achieve the commander’s assigned strategic concept and objectives. The key to designing a campaign plan is the understanding of the capabilities of the organization, the competitive and economic forces and desired strategic end state.

Some of the critical elements of a campaign plan include:

Mission Statement, which translates to “intent”
Enterprise Objectives
Lines of Operation (or lines of business) objectives and priorities
Enabling resources (IT, Core Capabilities, Financials, etc)

The campaign plan should lay the foundation for business decisions over a long period of time. If the campaign plan accomplishes this, the leaders within the enterprise will be empowered to not only make decisions, but to develop innovative solutions. They will be given the “permission to innovate.”