Many planners want to start the initial planning process with a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis. I disagree. While this is critical information to validate the planning content, it is the wrong starting point. To be creative and bold in planning the team must start with the future and work backward, so I prefer choose the backPlanning approach. This future orientation removes the inherent limitations placed on the thinking process. Once team members decide where they want to go, they can test the validity of their decision with the situational analysis to determine the plausibility and practicality of the plan.

If you are dead set on starting your planning process with a competitive analysis flavor, think about these two points. First, the more time you spend in competition the less time you have to accomplish your own goals. Second, why do you care about the competition, anyway? If you are accomplishing your goals, which you freely set, why should you have more than a passing interest in the competition? You need a healthy respect for your competitors and should honor them as legitimate players in the market, but don’t overdo it.

Competitive strategy actually should be called competitive obsession. Management consultants have led us astray in this area by building large, complex schemas for strategic thinking and planning based on intricate formulas for competitiveness. This approach appeals to the macho tendencies often found in the upper levels of management. You don’t need a lot of competitiveness except toward one thing—your vision and its associated strategic goals.

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