Strategic planning, career growth, and the Singapore PME

Recently, I read with interest an article published by SBR on 15 July that strategic thinking ranks as the highest skill a CFO needs to acquire. This finding coincides with what I shared in a question-and-answer session when the commentator asked me what I thought was a critical skill a Singapore PME needs if he wants to prove himself invaluable to the organisation and therefore achieve both the purpose of career growth and being recession-proof.

I shared that the critical skill needed by a Singapore PME to achieve these goals is the ability for strategic planning. Why? Because being able to think strategically is to speak the language of leaders.

So what is strategic planning?

These are two very misunderstood words. To some, it is vague, fluffy nonsense; yet to others, it is growth, breakthrough, and value creation. It is considered nonsense or fluff because usually those who indulge in it have little idea how to turn strategy into results. In a meeting with some very influential business owners in Singapore, one of them joked that strategic planning often fails because 'top executives all want to be strategic, but none know how to turn it into results'.

So if strategic planning is looked upon with scepticism, how could it be a game-changer for both our careers and the organisation we work for?

So what is strategic planning and how can it help the Singapore PME to become indispensable to their organisations?

For brevity, I will break strategic planning into three bite-size parts. Strategy is about:

a. Winning, and winning continuously
b. Creating value
c. Soft skills

Winning is a deliberate, conscious choice. Often, we think that strategic planning is merely to put together a series of action plans, or to cobble together an 'execution-able budget'. Thus a lot of strategic plans lack the distinct choices one has to make to beat the competition and win.

Let's take a step back and study the precedence of business strategy – military strategy. Military strategy is created for one singular purpose – victory and the domination of the competition.

So in short, PMEs who want to excel and increase their value to the organisation need to demonstrate that they are capable of helping the company make the right choices to win. And this can be demonstrated at every level of career – within our sphere of influence and control, how can we make the best choices that yield the best results within our resource limitations?

Recently I worked with an international bank based in Singapore to help their Relationship Managers (RM) become more strategic. In today's challenging times for the financial sector, their business unit head decided that to develop an edge over competitors, his RMs need to see their work, and therefore their value, beyond just closing a sale.

As one of the RMs said, sometimes they need to make choices that are good for the bank in the short term but detrimental to the customer in the long run – do they have the strategic insight and will to make the correct choice, with the longer term and therefore higher customer life-time value as priority?

So I worked with the bank to help the RMs evaluate their job from a strategic view rather than a sales view. Whether they remain as RMs or if they progress up the value chain, the ability to size up the situation and make difficult but value-maximising choices will do them good in the long run. Strategic planning is about making the best choices to win with the limited resources we have, regardless of what level we are in the hierarchy. One does not need to become a boss before one becomes strategic.

The second point is about value creation. Creating value is different from merely working hard. Singapore PMEs are one of the hardest working in the work, but are they creating the most value? In today’s cutthroat employment situation, our pay is no longer justified by experience, qualifications, long working hours, or seniority within an organisation, but by the amount of value we create.

So how do we create value exponentially? By leverage. As the director of corporate strategy in Adam Khoo Group, my overarching responsibility is to increase the overall value of the company through strategy. Thus I am constantly looking for leverage points that could amplify our company's innate strength to create value for our customers.

Looking for leverage to scale value is something we need to know so that we don't get stuck in the rut of merely working hard. Although diligence is good, it is not enough to scale the value-chain. It is more important to be diligent at those things that give us leverage so that our efforts are multiplied.

For every PME, at every juncture of their work, do they have the skill or mindset to look for the leverage points? Strategic planning teaches one to look for leverage, and to make the choices that amplify that leverage.

And lastly, to be a successful strategic planner, the real skill you need to develop is the soft skills that Minister Ong Ye Kung spoke of. In his recent speech to Singapore graduates, he talked about the need for PMEs to develop their soft skills, because grades are no longer enough to guarantee a job.

In fact, he pointed out that numerous senior executives gave him the feedback that our PMEs need to excel in soft skills, which are lacking because Singapore's education system seemingly focuses more on hard skills and knowledge. So how does strategic planning fit in?

After a strategic plan is crafted, we need to get buy-in. To be able to convince others to implement strategy, soft skills like getting buy-in, negotiation, collaboration, empathy, teamwork, and communication all come into play.

Strategy, no matter how well-thought out, cannot function without buy-in and support of the entire organisation from top to bottom. It is the job of the strategic planner to be able to convince, and then guide the company to execute the strategy.

If strategic planning is the left hand, then surely soft skills must be the right. Coming up with the right strategy is not difficult, convincing people and managing their expectations, emotions, and agendas is. A strategic planning or thinker who cannot influence people to join him in executing strategy is a failure.

Thus for one to value-add to the entire organisation, one needs to be able to look at things from a strategic point of view and then have the communication skills to convince and lead the rest. This is different from merely giving an inspiring vision or year-end motivational speech to the company, but to be able to lead others through the daily grind of executing strategy, convincing them to stay the course when things get tough, and constantly harnessing the strength of the whole organisation towards its goals.

By doing so, a PME can stand out among peers as someone not just able to see things from a higher perspective, but also to lead others towards results. Such a PME moves up the value-chain and becomes hard to replace.

Strategic planning and producing results are hard work. It is also fulfilling because it essentially helps the organisation to find answers amidst competition and produce value.

Singapore companies and PMEs are feeling the heat from both challenging economic situations as well as dwindling career opportunities. The squeeze will get tighter and only those who have the right skills will continue to shine.

Financial sector or beyond, sound strategic planning and all it entails will help Singapore companies and PMEs continue to maintain their edge.