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For years, financial services providers have been able to rely on a stable environment and landscape as the foundation to build their strategic plan. In the current environment, they must think differently.

Now, it’s hard to see where things are headed — or to predict how technology and other factors might upend the industry. A three-year plan sounds like an impossibility. A creative thinking exercise, at best.

Stability used to be a constant in the financial services industry. Now it’s a pipe dream. In a world of constant, rapid change, it’s more important than ever to be able to adapt and flex with the times. The old days of everything being laid out precisely over a three- or five-year period are long gone, and the firms that withstand the storm will be the ones who have transitioned to an agile planning approach.

An agile approach to strategic planning for financial services

CEOs need to embrace change and be humble enough to step away from “the way it’s always been done.” Instead of laying out a detailed, 100-page strategy, they need to pick a handful of North Stars. These are the unwavering objectives, ideally centered around clients and employees.

When they’re clearly defined, North Stars become the litmus test for tactics and decisions. They tell you what to measure, as well as the types of skills and people you need to execute on these tactics. North Stars drive your strategy, without dictating how to achieve it.  

Choose your champions

Every North Star needs an executive champion or sponsor, aside from the CEO, to lead the effort. Pick people who are passionate about the objective and encourage them to pursue it creatively. This is a great way to show your larger team who is truly involved with your efforts, and who has the pulse on the future.

This is also an ideal time to consider your broader team, not just the executives directly involved with the planning. If your executives are the champions of your North Stars, they should be delegating the tactical execution to the next-generation talent on your staff — those high-potential individuals who may be the future leaders of your organization.

A people-centric philosophy

Professional development is a worthwhile investment in an agile environment, as is a focus on talent retention. If your three-year plan is a map, your people are the compass. They are the ones who will help you navigate the terrain and mitigate risk.

Approach your strategic planning with your people in mind. Don’t just ask, “Where do we want to go?” but also consider “Who do we have to help get us there?”

Your employees are also essential data points for strategic objectives. Incorporating employee listening and engagement surveys into your planning can help identify shining stars in your organization, as well as where you’re struggling.

When your people feel engaged and listened to, they can be confident that their concerns are being addressed, which helps mitigate the risk of human error due to feeling disengaged.

Put yourself in your clients’ shoes

A people-first philosophy also applies to your clients. When is the last time the executives on your planning team actually walked through the financial products you offer? Tried to open an account or transact business?

If you are not putting your clients at the center of your planning, you run the risk of losing them entirely. They have options. And without clients, you don’t have any business. A focus on the customer experience, and a strong emphasis on listening to and learning from your client-facing employees, is essential to a successful strategic plan.

Your strategy should filter down to the lowest levels of your organizational chart. Everyone from your call center to your front-line workers should be able to align with and understand your strategic priorities. If they don’t know where you’re headed, and who is championing it, then how can they explain it to your clients?

This is another advantage of moving away from a complicated 100-page, three-year plan approach to strategic planning and towards a more agile methodology.

Why ditch the three-year plan?

Presumably, you are planning on being in business longer than three years. Why shift away from the tried-and-true method of strategic planning?

Just think about the past three years. Everything from the uncertainty of COVID-19 to the rapid rise of AI upended a lot of the industry in ways that nobody could have foreseen, even with a solid plan in place. Three years ago, digital currency was barely on the horizon. Now it’s here. Did your last three-year plan account for that?

Being handcuffed to a static document that may become irrelevant six months into the future negates the entire point of strategic planning. You need the flexibility to change with the times, and that’s the advantage that the agile approach provides.

Stability is comforting, but the realities of the market dictate a need for flexibility. So, identify your priorities, map out a course and determine which metrics you will use to measure success, but leave the dusty 100-page documents to the previous generation.

Decisive leadership in an uncertain world

Teams are looking to their executive leadership to come up with ways to foster growth and provide stability amid times of constant change. Executive leadership is looking at strategic plans as tools to deliver results, define acceptable levels of risk, execute goals, and attract and retain both clients and employees.

Let’s face it — no one anticipated the level of disruptive change caused by the pandemic or the opportunities that come with rapidly advancing technology. Nor did anyone have to address them so quickly. In situations like these, how do executives and leaders know what the next best move is?

To stay relevant and competitive as a financial services provider and an employer, executive leadership needs to embrace change and learn to navigate uncertainty.

Change is now inevitable, and a CEO who can’t — or won’t — flex to fit the times is going to run the risk of breaking the entire process of your strategic planning. Conversely, a CEO who is willing to embrace new thinking is going to see their team rally behind them to drive the ship forward.

Bringing it all together

When you have the people, the processes and the technology all together, you’re ready to start approaching your strategic planning from an agile perspective. Keep your North Stars in sight, empower your champions and your employees to execute on those objectives, and be willing to flex when necessary.

No matter how detailed, no three-year plan is going to predict the uncertainties that the future brings. But if you move forward with the mindset of embracing the unknown, you’ll be better prepared for a rapidly changing business landscape.

How Wipfli can help

Changing with the times? It’s a necessity, not a fad. Wipfli can help you sail through change and find your stride. We help financial services firms build agile strategic plans, calculate and mitigate emerging risks and build powerful people advantages. Learn more about our strategic planning for financial services.