Strategic Career and Life Planning

The ABCs of The Systems Thinking Approach

By Stephen Haines, Founder and CEO of the Haines Centre for Strategic Management
The ABCs of Strategic Life ManagementTM

THINKING BACKWARDS
TO THE FUTURE

Goal Setting is the #1 criteria for success in all the literature.

In todays complex and dynamic world,

developing your future career direction
and living your life through incremental
growth of your present skills, assumptions,
and day-to-day tasks no longer works. The
usual strategy of merely building on the
present is defunct. Worldwide markets and
instant global communications are multiplying all our opportunities, both personally
and organizationally.
Today, in order to thrive, we must continually learn and keep pace with changes in our
environment. And with time as our most
precious possession, its important that we
plan for our own future. We need to use our
time wisely to begin thinking backward to
this future with the correct strategies needed
to achieve our lifes goals. Current trends
indicate that people are expected to have
at least three careers during their lifetimes.
Thus, committing passionately to the disciplined planning and management of the
changes you want to achieve in your life and
career is a key to multiple careers, lifelong
success, and personal fulfillment.

THE ABCS OF
STRATEGIC LIFE PLANNING
Our work at the Centre has led us to look
for simple, yet systematic, ways to focus on
Strategic Life Management (Planning and
Change) both for our clients and ourselves.
Many times when helping our clients with
Strategic Plans for their businesses, we have
found they need Strategic Plans for their
lives first. As a result, weve clarified and
simplified these ideas into a Strategic Life
Management System with three goals:
Goal #1: Develop a Strategic Life Plan for
yourself and your spouse or family.
Goal #2: Ensure its Successful Implementation to live your life more purposefully.
Goal #3: Continually Improve and Achieve
Your Lifes Goals, year after year.

Stephen Haines
To achieve these goals, first it is important
to get an understanding of the three simple
elements that form the basis for our Strategic
Life Planning.
#1. Planning Is Part Of Living A Fulfilling
Life
Strategic Life Planning will lead to a significant change in the way you conduct your life
day to day. This is an important difference
between our model and others, which tend
to suffer the fatal SPLOTS Syndrome (Strategic Life Plans On Top Shelvesgathering
dust). Strategic Life Plans are the blueprints;
you must also fill in implementation details
based on your strategic life perspective and
vision. Living a more fulfilling and purposeful life is the result.
#2. People Support What They Help Create
The core Life Planning Team is usually composed of only the people involved: i.e., yourself, if youre creating an individual life plan,
or you and your spouse or family, if youre
creating a family life plan. In any case, this
team of 1-2 or 3-4 people does the hard work
and makes the tough decisions. However, a
crucial planning and change task is what we
call the Parallel Processinvolving other
key people who know you well and with
whom you feel comfortable opening up to
in a meaningful way. In the Parallel Process,
you gather their input on all your draft documents and invite their feedback on the plan.
These key people might include other family
members, close friends, financial or tax planners, your spiritual or religious advisor, etc.
#3. Customer-Focused Systems Thinking
True Systems Thinking provides some very
clear concepts for creating a successful life.
While there is no single answer or Holy Grail
to be found for any of us, it is apparent that
those who have clarified how they serve others lead very fulfilling and satisfying lives.

Our Systems Thinking Approach provides a

simple A-B-C-D-E framework to make Strategic Life Planning become a reality.
A system is defined as a set of components or
life activities that work together for the overall objective of the whole. Our Strategic Life
Planning Model has been developed, based
on research in General Systems Theory, our
own Centre experiences in life planning, and
constant practical application and refinement
from our clients and their lives. Thus, our
Strategic Life Management (Planning and
Change) Model is a true systems model.
Our Systems Model is comprised of five
distinct phases (A-B-C-D-E). We call these
the ABCs of Systems Thinking. Any living
system (individual-married couple-family)
can be described by these five phases.

SO, WHERE TO BEGIN?

Step #1: Begin with the PLAN-TO-PLAN
step. Before beginning overall Strategic Life
Planning, there is some prework to complete.
1. Assess how you are doing today personally (complete our body-mind-spirit
questionnaire).
2. Read and understand this article and the
overall Strategic Life Planning Process.
3. Establish what kind of a life plan you intend to do (i.e., individual-couple-family)
and which individuals will assist with the
planning and with the Parallel Process.
4. Set aside the time and a quiet location
to do this life planningand designate
specific timeframes.
This educating, organizing, and tailoring
time ensures that each individual involved
in the process has the same foundation
concerning our A-B-C-D-E Strategic Life
Planning Model and terminology.

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Our A-B-C-D-E
Strategic Life Planning Phases start
with Phase A, as
we want to be proactive in creating
our Ideal Personal
Future. Once you
create this future
in your mind, you
work backwards
from the future to
today and then go
forward to make it
happen.

THE SYSTEMS THINKING APPROACH

Step #4: This Current

State Assessment step
is where your internal
Strengths and Weaknesses and external Opportunities and Threats are
analyzed (the so-called
SWOT technique). In
addition, there may be a
number of other self-assessments you decide to
use (see book reference
at end of article for
details).

"A New Orientation to Life" Our Core Technology

STRATEGIC THINKING
"From Complexity to Simplicity"
Systems:

Systems are made up of a set of components that work

together for the overall objective of the whole (output).

C. Inputs

D. Throughputs

A. Outputs

TODAY

THE
SYSTEM

FUTURE

B. Feedback

Step #5: This Strategy

Development step crev
ates core strategies to
n
E
E.
bridge the gap between
your Ideal Future Vision
and your Current State.
This results in the development of 3-7 core strategies to be implemented by you as the main way to achieve
your vision.
en

Feedback Loop

PHASE E
Step #1 also includes a scanning of your
future career and life environment.

PHASE A

Challenge #4. Develop a Rallying Cry

and Position Statementa crisp and
concise statement (eight words or less)
of your entire Strategic Life Plan. Focus
it on your competitive advantage or
unique talents you want to use in the
world in which you choose to live and
work.

Creating Your Ideal Future

Step #2: This Ideal Future Visions
main purpose is to formulate personal dreams
that are worth believing in and fighting for. At
this stage, the cry of It cant be done! is irrelevant; how to turn those dreams into reality is
pursued after your vision is created. There are
four challenges to be met during this step:
Challenge #1. Conduct a personal visioning process and then develop a Vision
Statement of your hopes, dreams, and
desired future.
Challenge #2. Develop a Mission Statement describing why you exist here on
earth, what purpose you have, and whom
you serve in your life.
Challenge #3. Articulate the Core Personal Values that guide your day-to-day
behavior and, collectively, create your
desired style, personality, and reputation.

PHASE B

Quantifiable Outcomes (Life Success

Measures)
Step #3: The Life Success Measures or
goals step develops the quantifiable outcome measurements of success for achieving
your personal vision, mission, and core values
on a year-by-year basis. Ten is the maximum
preferred number of Life Success Measures
(goals), forcing a focus on whats really essential for success.
Your goals should always measure whats really important to you and your success (not
just whats easy to measure) including, as a
minimum, one for each of the major roles
you play in life.

nm
iro

Some of these strategies might include

furthering your education, reexamining or
changing your career, personal self-development, and exploring other ways to enhance
each of the roles you play in your life.
Step #6: This next Annual Plans And
Finances step is now needed. Each core
strategy needs a set of action items to provide
assistance in achieving that strategy over the
planning horizon. These become the major
activities and changes required to meet your
goals. A brainstorm list is important here.
Be as creative and comprehensive as possible.
Further, from this list you need to identify
the top 3-5 action priorities for each strategy,
which you intend to focus on over the next
12 months. These strategies and action priorities become your organizing framework
and focus for the next year.
This Annual Plans and Finances (or Budgets)
step is also where the rubber meets the road.
It is where you clearly commit to these prioritized actions, with timelines for completion,
and identify the financial and time resources
needed to actually implement them. Then
it is time to change the way you budget your
finances. The tension created between current ways you spend your money vs. future

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2

Converting Strategy to
Operations (The Input
to Act)

TM

www.HainesCentre.com World Leaders in Strategic Management

priorities is normal and desired, as weve now

forced you to make the tough choices for
success. Focus-Focus-Focus!!!
Step #7: The Plan-to-Implement step, the
bridge from Goal #1 to Goal #2, is a one-day
session between the Strategic Planning and
difficult implementation processes. Installation of the following crucial concepts is
critical:
1. Create a Strategic Change Follow-up Team
and establish regular meetings (even if the
team is just two of you).
2. Develop a yearly comprehensive road map
of the implementation process, including
when you will do Step #9, your Annual
Strategic Life Review (and Update).
3. Finalize communications and formal
rollout of your Strategic Plan publicly
to those in the Parallel Process.
4. Allocate your resources to support the
change process and new priorities.
5. Develop a game plan to reinforce these
priorities and ensure a critical mass in
support of your change.

include (1) education and learning, (2) a

focus on service to others, and (3) keeping
your personal balance (body-mind-spirit),
energy, and integrity intact.
Step #9: This Annual Strategic Life Review
(And Update) step is similar to a yearly independent financial audit and is needed to keep
pace with and be flexible to your changing
environment. This is the key to Goal #3:
Continually Improve and Achieve Your
Lifes Goals, year after year. This annual
review includes:
1. Scanning, identifying, and reacting to
changes in the environment,
2. Formally auditing and reviewing your
current Strategic Life Plan (especially
your primary goals, core strategies, and
annual action priorities),
3. Updating annual action priorities for the
next 12 months, and
4. Further understanding and updating the
Strategic Life Management System itself
as the new purposeful way to run your life
day to day.

OPTION D: Build the pieces or steps as

you feel the actual need. Since a system
is circular, you may actually enter it and
begin the Life Planning Process at any
point during the year, and just continue
on from there. Thus, you could enter into
developing a system of managing your
life more strategically at whatever point
you desire.
This might include starting with the Annual Strategic Life Review and Assessment, or a specific life or change project
you have in mind, or developing your
measurable goal, or the SWOT Analysis,
etc.
OPTION E: Conduct only the step you
need nowbut look on the next page for
a picture of what our sample Strategic
Life Plan looks like and call the Centre
for our MS Word Strategic Life Planning
Template for PC or Mac as a way to make
it even easier to build the actual Strategic
Plan document.

LIFELONG LEARNING: A WORD

ON THIS IMPORTANT CONCEPT

PHASE D

Implementation (The Processes or

Throughput: Real Actions)
Step #8: This Strategy Implementation
(And Change) step is the beginning of Goal
#2: Ensure Successful Implementation.
It results in transforming your Strategic Life
Plan into lots of individual actions, tying your
personal rewards system to it.
Implicit in this step is understanding that we
have to manage change before it manages
us (in ways we may not like). Quarterly or
bi-monthly meetings of the Strategic Change
Follow-up Team are absolutely essential. No
person or team we have worked with has
successfully implemented their Strategic Life
Plan without these regular follow-up meetings throughout the year.
In addition, you need to have weekly
or monthly reminder meetings with your
spouse or a close friend to review the status
of the top annual priorities previously
agreed upon under each core strategy.
Implementation needs to focus on the vital
few leverage points for Strategic Change
identified in our research and that of others
regarding Best Practices of successful people
and peak performers. These leverage points

In times of dramatic changes and multi-careers, a key to everyones success is a culture

or personal mindset of lifelong learningnot
just formal education! How can you gain
knowledge, increase your skills, and learn
from each of your lifes experiences, whether
good or bad? The answer is Feedbackthe
Breakfast of Champions.

The key is to just start!

Detailed Workbook:
See www.SystemsThinkingPresss.com for the
Executive Briefing Booklet on Creating the
People Edge and The ABCs of Strategic Life
Planning Workbook

HOW TO GET STARTED IN

STRATEGIC LIFE MANAGEMENT
OPTION A: Go through Parts I, II, and
III in our book Successful Career and Life
Planning as a sort of Executive Briefing
and Plan-to-Plan event (Step #1). This is
the educating, organizing, and tailoring
time mentioned earlier that prepares you
for all this. In addition, complete the exercise at the end of Part III on your personal
balance in body, mind, and spirit.
OPTION B: Use our Successful Career
and Life Planning book and workbook
over a period of 3-5 sessions and build
your full Strategic Life Plan.
OPTION C: Attend our training on
Strategic Life Planning.

Another in the
ABCs of Strategic Management
Series.
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WITHOUT EXPRESSED
WRITTEN CONSENT
For additional copies or a one-year
unlimited INTERNAL REPRODUCTION
ONLY (IRO) license, contact us at
info@HainesCentre.com
For books and comprehensive
materials, visit
www.SystemsThinkingPress.com

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Published by Systems Thinking PressTM Specialist in Systems Resources www.SystemsThinkingPress.com

YEARLY STRATEGIC LIFE PLANNING CYCLE

The Strategic Thinking Approach To Career & Life Fulfillment

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