World-renowned planning expert Paul Smith to visit Sri Lanka
View(s):Paul Smith, UK-based author of the globally accepted SOSTAC planning model and consultant to Fortune 500 companies and start ups, is conducting a workshop on “International Planning” in Sri Lanka organised by Synergy London and Colombo on March 30 at the Cinnamon Grand.
Mr. Smith is also a trainer and founder of the Sportsmanship programme used by leading brands such as Arsenal and FIFA, and this is his first visit to Asia.
On March 31st Mr. Smith will conduct an inspirational session to school students on sportsmanship. This session is hosted by the Rotary club of Colombo Midtown in association with the Interact Club of St. Joseph’s College.
In an email communication with the Business Times, here are some of the thoughts and issues that Mr. Smith shared which would be useful to Sri Lankan audiences:
On the uniqueness of workshop:
At the end of the workshop, every delegate will be able to write the perfect plan using the unique, globally accepted, SOSTAC® planning system. They’ll also know how to make great decisions. They’ll be able to avoid the classic mistakes that are made by business after business. Finally, a lot of tips and techniques will be shared to boost results.
They will feel a real sense of clarity and a new confidence to present plans that boost results and that are accepted by boards of directors, and that are realistic and workable.
On the importance of planning in an rapidly-changing world:
Although it is a fast changing, hyper competitive world without borders (and incidentally, with increasingly blurred categories of business), businesses must plan from basic clarification of their raison d’etre, or their mission which can energise and mobilise all employees (if you get it right) and it can also help make quicker and better decisions around your choice of strategy and subsequent tactical choices. 90-day planning can be accommodated and certainly monitoring relevant KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) some on a daily basis and some on a monthly basis – helps to keep you close to a fast changing market.
Also you’ve got to carry out a detailed analysis of your competitors, alliances, middlemen, market trends, strengths and weaknesses, and of course, your customers (and prospect customers). You effectively have got to know them better than they know themselves.
Paul Smith
I know it’s a cliché – ‘fail to plan = plan to fail’, but I really do believe basic plans are important, save money, speed decision-making, allocate resources more effectively and, most importantly, boost results by getting more bangs for your buck.
On some consultants and consultancy companies being ineffective and causing more problems and resolving issues:
Well yes, particularly some of the big boys, who may charge very large fees. Sometimes clients ‘discover’ what they already knew, or felt, but weren’t sure. They are then reassured by the ‘experts’ and pay large fees for this. To be fair some large consultancies do genuinely do good analysis and generate some alternative strategies before getting into the tactical detail. But, I say, why don’t businesses have the confidence to do this themselves?
Sometimes the client (or local management) feels inferior, particularly with reference to planning or say, digital marketing planning. So they can get bullied, or feel ‘slightly’ intimidated by big words or slick models.
On the sportsmanship programme:
I’ll be speaking to 1,000+ final year students hosted by Rotary club of Colombo Midtown in association with the Interact Club of St. Joseph’s college. These types of students are Sri Lanka’s future. Some will be leaders, creators, scientists, artists, workers and hopefully many will be lucky enough to have their own families. One thing they all should be, and can be, is global citizens.
It’s amazing, young people live in a sometimes more difficult world than the one I grew up in (in Dublin, Ireland). Sometimes they struggle for self esteem, maybe find school difficult, lose their confidence and lose their enthusiasm. In Europe, I work in tough areas, where tough kids don’t have a lot. In fact ‘some of them have a chip on both shoulders’ (in Ireland we say they are nicely balanced!!). These hard kids absolutely love the sportsmanship stories. They argue over whose turn it is to read the book, etc. The ‘milk of human kindness’ is alive and well but sometimes it’s buried deep down inside kids who find life tough. When they hear these stories, they light up. They want to read more. Explore more and they start feeling good about the world we all live in.
The Great Sportsmanship Programme is a Not- For- Profit Programme designed to inspire a new generation of global citizens, and boost literacy (reading and writing/posting comments) through short stories about sportsmanship posted online Students (and teachers/coaches, parents, grandparents) alert us to sportsmanship stories which we then check and share across different platforms. We try to publish one story everyday on facebook. I’m looking for some Sri Lankan cricket sportsmanship stories.
On his future plans in Sri Lanka:
I want to explore your beautiful country. This trip is a short trip.
I have been invited to set up the PR Smith Foundation in Sri Lanka with the twin objectives of developing the soft skills of youths (through the Great Sportsmanship Programme), and separately, developing business skills of business professionals through the SOSTAC® Planning Books and by offering a new valuable advisory programme to the corporate sector and the SME sector.
I (also) want to introduce a new concept of corporate consultancy in association with Synergy. This will be unique in that the companies do not have to invest large sums of funds by using expensive large, long term consultants.