Strategic planning and Sustainability

Another excellent review article by Miguel Setas, available online, this time focused on strategic planning.

Starts by underlining the notion of two great Brazilian executives who basically refuse strategic planning today, saying that "it’s a way to destroy value in companies that have a role and essentially" motivational". The author does not agree with this notion, so do I, because strategy is not just about how to navigate the lots, and need not be fundamentalist. On the other hand, agrees with the fact that we must evolve in relation to last century’s management processes and strategy, especially in the form of blind trust following these same procedures.

For new routes to be followed, Setas points to a path that, I think, meets Sustainability, particularly in the social field, focusing on people. Miguel Setas suggests that "Now, in these uncertain times, what appears to be unanimous is the use of collective wisdom through the so-called crowdsourcing. Therefore, the new processes of strategy formulation are collective and open to multiple stakeholders’ participation, both internal and external, rather than manage only in the closed circle of the Boards of Directors and consulting firms."

To me, strategy is essential, and if discussed with stakeholders, especially with employees’ participation, not only integrates itself across the entire organization in pursuit of common interests, but also can motivate and encourage the whole team.  

The future is clearly in the focus, but also in the balance, of the three pillars of sustainability: economic, social and environmental. But in recent decades, the focus has been between economic and environmental development of this theme, focused on mitigation, on ideas such as ecological footprint, neglecting the social dimension, somehow forgetting people. Thus it is necessary to strengthen the social dimension, the development, focusing on people, internally and externally to organizations, due attention to the communities, partnerships and synergies, stakeholders as participants involved not just as spectators.