1. An emerging cure for the plague of strategic planning
Steven E. Wallis, Ph.D.
Executive Coordinator, ASK MATT Solutions
Fulbright Specialist
Faculty, Capella University
American Water Works Association (AWWA) Fall Conference:
Water in the Wild West – Innovation and Resiliency
Reno, Nevada, October 24, 2017

2. All the problems with strategic planning
Post Strategic Planning Traumatic Stress Disorder (PSPTSD)
Symptoms:
Ignoring the plan
Avoiding planning processes
Hiding the plan in a drawer
Using the plan as a dust-catcher
Using last year’s plan
Share your horror stories
We can solve all our
problems with good plans

3. META-PROBLEM: WHY do plans fail?
Lack of information?
Lack of participation?
Lack of funding?
Lack of trust?
NO – we are simply bad at creating plans that are good

4. OUR PLANS = OUR LIMITS
20%?
No Ability to Objectively Evaluate Humanities Research in Europe (Dolan, 2008)
Failure of economics to predict crisis (FESSUD: Financialisation, Economy, Society, and sustainable Development)
Failure of Theory (Burrell, 1997; Shotter, 1994)
Failure of TQM (MacIntosh & MacLean, 1999), BPR (Dekkers, 2008), Culture Change (Smith, 2003)
Failure of theories of bureaucracy (Bernier & Hafsi, 2007)
Failure of Business Schools to Instill Ethics (Ghoshal, 2005; Shareef, 2007)
Failure of Policy (Wallis, 2011) - e.g., the “war on drugs” (Baum, 1996)
Laws are made poorly (Schrunk, 2005)

5. A VERY Brief History of Approaches to Strategic Planning
Intuition
Data
Collaboration
Systems Thinking
Mapping
Each has benefits…
and also serious limitations

6. We Live in a World of Systems
What is a system??

7. All Systems Provide Benefits Because They Are Systemic
In a system, there is little or no hierarchy – all parts are needed. It is all about CONNECTIONS. If you remove a CONNECTION, the system will stop. Water Cycle with no evaporation? No precipitation? No input of energy??

8. What if we connected the strengths?
Research into successful decision making
Research into the structure of knowledge
Breakthrough – measuring “usefulness of knowledge” not “quantity of data”
Understanding plans as “systems of concepts” we can now objectively compare and improve plans

9. Our “maps” are systemic
Disconnected = Data
Connected = Knowledge
Reno, Sparks
Roads, Highways
Rivers, Hills, Mountains
Casinos, hotels, resturants
Your phone book will not help!

10. Typical CKM after a few minutes

11. Basic Rules for Causal Knowledge Mapping
Service Interruption
Concepts should be measureable
Connections must be causal
Strive for two inputs to each concept
Bigger is better
Cost of Water Delivered
Employee Teamwork
Consumer Satisfaction
Operational Efficiency

12. Facilitation Tips D H A E C B G F Increase Score: 1 – More concepts
2 – more connections
3 – More loops
Follow-up Game H
Research key debates for extra credit A
How might you close a loop?
Explore “white spaces” E
“Drill Down” to create new map for individual departments
Can similar POIs be combined? C B G F
Discuss “Leverage Points”
How is that measured?
Is the connection really valid?
Where might we find empirical support?

13. Measuring the map D
BREADTH= 8
DEPTH = 0.25 H A C C B G F

14. Objective Evaluation Quadrant #3 Many very large firms are here
May have medium term success
Difficult to gather and interpret data
More difficult to coordinate
Quadrant #4
Few firms are here
Long term success
Few unanticipated consequences
Easier to coordinate, & adapt
Low Breadth High
Quadrant #2
Many utilities & commodities are here
Narrow focus, some large surprises
Easier to coordinate, difficult to adapt
Quadrant #1
Most firms are here
May have short term success
Many unanticipated consequences
Typical strategic plans are here
Low Depth High

15. Thank You! Using CKM you can Plan faster – (4-90 minute sessions)
Process is engaging, not frustrating
Create actionable plans
Collaborative creation process
Excellent for collaboration within and between organizations
Build transparency and trust – because everyone can see the map
Identify options and tradeoffs
Find “Leverage Points” and “Loops” for sustainable results
DOUBLE your ability to understand situations and reach goals
Thank You!

16. Extra Slides

17. Structural Meta-Map Here is where we want our students to be
Theories/ “laws” of physics and engineering
Here is where we want our students to be
Most mental models
are here
Prophecies of Nostradamus, Trivia games, etc…

18. Without structure, we loose reasoning ability
False Focus on “data”
KEY: Data is not enough.
Without structure, we loose reasoning ability

19. Key Assumption
If we live in a world of systems that world would be best understood when our knowledge is more structured

20. Empirical Base Research Streams Philosophical Base
Transformative structures support good empirical research (results are more reliable with more independent variables).
Philosophical Base
Dual description
Dialectic
Multiple variables
Partial Cause
More A
More C
More B
Research Streams
Integrative Complexity
Propositional Analysis

21. Correspondence? Coherence?
(Müller, 2012; Umpleby, 2010)
Science One
Science Two
Availability
Environmental impact
Style
Price
Happy spouse
Color

22. Pop Quiz
= 0?
= 1?
= 6?
= 9?
= ?