Strategic planning is truly about executing a continuous process improvement plan. Ideally, specific strategies (thoughts) and tactics (actions) usually created within the C-Level Executive Team cascade down throughout the organization touching each and every department and employee.

Within most executive business management teams, there are the following individuals (in smaller companies these roles maybe combined):

* CEO – Chief Executive Officer
* CFO – Chief Financial Officer
* COO – Chief Operating Officer
* CIO – Chief Information Officer
* CTO – Chief Technology Officer

These C Level Executives are responsible for managing the strategic plan and answerable to the Board of Directors, the shareholders and their employees.

What is consistently missing from the C-Level Executive team is the CPO or the Chief People Officer. Robert H. Waterman wrote that "Organizations exist for only one purpose: to help people reach ends together that they couldn't achieve individually." Since organization are comprised of people and people are needed to execute the strategic plan, does it not make sense to have a Chief People Officer?

The exclusion of the Chief People Officer from the C-Level business management team and overall operations truly reinforces that the things within the business are more important than the people. During the last 20 years as technology exploded in the business world, companies were quick to identify a CIO (Chief Information Officer) and a CTO (Chief Technology Officer). Now in the 21st Century almost every company has someone in these roles.

Yet, people, the mainstay of any organization, are still not given the same recognition as bits of information or pieces of hardware. Is it a wonder that the execution of the strategic plan still foils many organizations?

Human capital is a far greater asset than information and hardware. Without people, the need for all the currently identified C-Level executives would not exist. For it is the people who market, sell, make and deliver the products and services.

If you are a CEO, maybe now is the time to reconstruct your C-Level Executive team to reserve a place at your management table for your Chief People Officer (CPO). Who knows, you may find executing your strategic plan just a tad easier?

Are you where you want to be? Are you experiencing repetitive challenges? If you could overcome those challenges, what would that mean to your bottom line, your daily productivity or sense of personal achievement?