Strategic Planning and the Importance of the Devil’s Advocate

Have you ever wondered why some groups can get together and produce a good solid strategic plan for moving forward; and some groups produce strategic plans only worthy of a trash can?  There is no magic bullet for producing a good strategic plan.  They are hard thinking and painfully detail oriented work as you go through all possible variables and scenarios for the future.  However, one thing that will always work in your favor is asking a couple of people in the group to play the role of the devil’s advocate.

What is the role of a devil’s advocate in a strategy planning session?  They simply have one job…shoot reasonable holes in every scenario presented.  This will quickly help the group to narrow down from many potential ideas to the few solid ones that can effectively be defended against the devil’s advocate attacks.  The ideas that persevere are the ones where the group can develop either a mitigation plan or a management plan for the gaps identified by the devil’s advocates.

A mitigation plan effectively closes a gap.  In other words if you can address, through discussion, and come up with a plan to close the gap; then its an issue and it has been mitigated.  Those become the seeds of future projects.  A management plan effectively spells out how you can minimize the impact of a gap.  In other words, if you can come up plan to mange a problem that is beyond your control to close; then it’s a risk and you have a good start on managing it.

By having a few devil’s advocates in your strategy planning sessions you will come out with a better strategic plan as well as the added benefit of a two good starts on your potential project roadmap and your risk management plan.  And that’s why devil’s advocate are important in strategic planning.  Thanks for reading!