These funds are included in budget planning for the coming fiscal year. However, not all phases of strategic planning need be fully completed each year.
A Dose of Strategy.
The full strategic planning process should be conducted at least once every three years. As noted above, these activities should be conducted every year if the organization is experiencing tremendous change. Each year, action plans should be updated. Note that, during implementation of the plan, the progress of the implementation should be reviewed at least on a quarterly basis by the board.
Again, the frequency of review depends on the extent of the rate of change in and around the organization. Although there are separate sections listed below for many of the major activities in strategic planning for example, the sections "Developing a Mission", "Developing a Vision", etc. The reader might scan of the articles to get a basic feel for strategic planning processes and the diversity of views on the processes.
However, do not conclude that you can learn the most important aspects of strategic planning by reading some of the following articles -- many of them are by authors who write about certain aspects of strategic planning, but not all aspects, so be sure to review resources in other subtopics of this overall topic of strategic planning. Strategic Planning Strategic Planning: Strategic plans come in a wide variety of formats, depending on the nature and needs of the organization.
What is strategic planning?
See a video about how to customize the planning process to suit your organization's nature and needs. Many managers spend most of their time "fighting fires" in the workplace. For these managers -- and probably for many of us -- it can be very difficult to stand back and take a hard look at what we want to accomplish and how we want to accomplish it.
We're too buy doing what we think is making progress. However, one of the major differences between new and experienced managers is the skill to see the broad perspective, to take the long view on what we want to do and how we're going to do it. One of the best ways to develop this skill is through ongoing experience in strategic planning. The following guidelines may help you to get the most out of your strategic planning experience.
The real benefit of the strategic planning process is the process, not the plan document. There is no "perfect" plan. There's doing your best at strategic thinking and implementation, and learning from what you're doing to enhance what you're doing the next time around. The strategic planning process is usually not an "aha! It's like the management process itself -- it's a series of small moves that together keep the organization doing things right as it heads in the right direction.
In planning, things usually aren't as bad as you fear nor as good as you'd like. Start simple, but start! It's best to have a team of planners conduct strategic planning. Therefore, it's important to have skills in developing and facilitating groups. You may want to consider using a facilitator from outside of your organization if: Your organization has not conducted strategic planning before.
For a variety of reasons, previous strategic planning was not deemed to be successful. There is no one in the organization who members feel has sufficient facilitation skills. No one in the organization feels committed to facilitating strategic planning for the organization.
Leaders believe that an inside facilitator will either inhibit participation from others or will not have the opportunity to fully participate in planning themselves. Leaders want an objective voice, i. Also see Consultants using. Strategic planning should be conducted by a planning team. Consider the following guidelines when developing the team.
Note that reference to boards of directors is in regard to organizations that are corporations. The chief executive and board chair should be included in the planning group, and should drive development and implementation of the plan. Establish clear guidelines for membership, for example, those directly involved in planning, those who will provide key information to the process, those who will review the plan document, those who will authorize the document, etc.
A primary responsibility of a board of directors is strategic planning to effectively lead the organization. Therefore, insist that the board be strongly involved in planning, often including assigning a planning committee often, the same as the executive committee. Always include in the group, at least one person who ultimately has authority to make strategic decisions, for example, to select which goals will be achieved and how. Ensure that as many stakeholders as possible are involved in the planning process.
Involve at least those who are responsible for composing and implementing the plan. Involve someone to administrate the process, including arranging meetings, helping to record key information, helping with flipcharts, monitoring status of prework, etc. Consider having the above administrator record the major steps in the planning process to help the organization conduct its own planning when the plan is next updated.
Note the following considerations: In general, where there's any doubt about whether a certain someone should be involved in planning, it's best to involve them. It's worse to exclude someone useful then it is to have one or two extra people in planning -- this is true in particular with organizations where board members often do not have extensive expertise about the organization and its products or services.
Therefore, an organization may be better off to involve board and staff planners as much as possible in all phases of planning. Mixing the board and staff during planning helps board members understand the day-to-day issues of the organization, and helps the staff to understand the top-level issues of the organization.
How To Write a Strategic Plan | OnStrategy Resources
New planners usually want to know how many meetings will be needed and what is needed for each meeting, i. The number of meetings depends on whether the organization has done planning before, how many strategic issues and goals the organization faces, whether the culture of the organization prefers short or long meetings, and how much time the organization is willing to commit to strategic planning. Attempt to complete strategic planning in at most two to three months, or momentum will be lost and the planning effort may fall apart. Have each meeting at most two to three weeks apart when planning.
It's too easy to lose momentum otherwise. The most important factor in accomplishing complete attendance to planning meetings is evidence of strong support from executives. Therefore, ensure that executives a issue clear direction that they strongly support and value the strategic planning process, and b are visibly involved in the planning process. One example of a brief planning process is the following which includes four planning meetings and develops a top-level strategic plan which is later translated into a yearly operating plan by the staff: In the retreat, the organization may then begin the next step in planning, whether this be visiting their mission, vision, values, etc.
Goals are often reworded issues. Planners are asked to think about strategies before the next meeting. The next meeting focuses on finalizing strategies to deal with each issue. Before the next meeting, a subcommittee is charged to draft the planning document, which includes updated mission, vision, and values, and also finalized strategic issues, goals, strategies. This document is distributed before the next meeting.
In the next meeting, planners exchange feedback about the content and format of the planning document. Feedback is incorporated in the document and it is distributed before the next meeting. The next meeting does not require entire attention to the plan, e. Note that in the above example, various subcommittees might be charged to gather additional information and distribute it before the next planning meeting. No matter how serious organizations are about strategic planning, they usually have strong concerns about being able to find time to attend frequent meetings.
This concern can be addressed by ensuring meetings are well managed, having short meetings as needed rather than having fewer but longer meetings, and having realistic expectations from the planning project. Too often, planners jump into the planning process by reviewing the organization's mission or then establishing a vision and goals to achieve in the future. Instead, planners should always start by doing a "plan for a plan. See a video about how to do a strategic analysis. Executing your strategic plan is as important, or even more important, than your strategy.
Critical actions move a strategic plan from a document that sits on the shelf to actions that drive organizational growth. The sad reality is that the majority of organizations who have strategic plans fail to implement. You remain in this phase of the strategic management process until you embark on the next formal planning sessions where you start back at the beginning. Remember that successful execution of your plan relies on appointing a strategy director, training your team to use OnStrategy or any other planning tool , effectively driving accountability, and gaining organizational commitment to the process.
Overview of the complete process: Introduction The strategic management process is about getting from Point A to Point B more effectively, efficiently, and enjoying the journey and learning from it. Who is on your Planning Team? Who will be the business process owner Strategy Director of strategic planning in your organization?
Fast forward 12 months from now, what do you want to see differently in your organization as a result of embarking on this initiative? Planning team members are informed of their roles and responsibilities. Planning schedule is established. Existing planning information and secondary data collected. Software to build, manage, and report on your strategic plan with confidence. Are the conditions and criteria for successful planning in place at the current time?
Can certain pitfalls be avoided? Is this the appropriate time for your organization to initiate a planning process? If no, where do you go from here? Collect Current Data Collect the following information on your organization: What trends do you see? Are there areas of obvious weakness or strengths? Have you been following a plan or have you just been going along with the market? Identify Strategic Issues Strategic issues are critical unknowns that are driving you to embark on a strategic planning process now. How will we grow, stabilize, or retrench in order to sustain our organization into the future?
How will we diversify our revenue to reduce our dependence on a major customer? What must we do to improve our cost structure and stay competitive? How and where must we innovate our products and services? Conduct an Environmental Scan Conducting an environmental scan will help you understand your operating environment. Conduct a Competitive Analysis The reason to do a competitive analysis is to assess the opportunities and threats that may occur from those organizations competing for the same business you are.
Here are a few other key ways a competitive analysis fits into strategic planning: To help you assess whether your competitive advantage is really an advantage. To provide information that will help you evaluate your strategic decisions against what your competitors may or may not be doing. Download the Complete Guide to Strategic Planning today. Identify Opportunities and Threats Opportunities are situations that exist but must be acted on if the business is to benefit from them. What do you want to capitalize on?
What new needs of customers could you meet? What are the economic trends that benefit you? What are the emerging political and social opportunities? What niches have your competitors missed? What do you need to mitigate?
What are the negative economic trends? What are the negative political and social trends? Where are competitors about to bite you? Where are you vulnerable? Identify Strengths and Weaknesses Strengths refer to what your company does well. What do you want to build on? What do you do well in sales, marketing, operations, management? What are your core competencies? What differentiates you from your competitors? Why do your customers buy from you? What do you need to shore up?
UNDERSTANDING STRATEGIC PLANNING
Where do you lack resources? What can you do better? Where are you losing money? In what areas do your competitors have an edge? Developing Strategy Want More? The team is also involved in the formulation of the strategic direction and action plans. Scheduling the strategic planning process depends largely on the nature and needs of your organization. For example, if your business environment changes rapidly, strategic planning is essential to keep afloat and should be carried out at least once a year. Subscribe to receive, via email, tips, articles and tools for entrepreneurs and more information about our solutions and events.
You can withdraw your consent at any time. Start or buy a business Business strategy and planning Define your strategy Manage your business Manage your growth Innovate Money and finance Marketing, sales and export Employees Operations Technology Change of ownership Entrepreneurial skills Entrepreneur's toolkit Blog.
Search articles and tools. What does it generally include? A strategic plan will generally include: An executive summary, which is usually written at the end of the process A company description Your mission, vision and value statements A strategic analysis that can be in the form of a SWOT analysis strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats An explanation of your strategies and tactics An action plan Budget and operating plans Detailed monitoring and evaluation methods If you're a small firm, for example, a brief strategic plan might be appropriate. It's not a business plan Don't confuse a strategic plan with a business plan , which is a much broader document and includes a strategic plan, a marketing plan , a financial plan and an operational plan.
The strategic plan, in contrast, contains an action plan with specific objectives and due dates as well as setting out who is responsible for what Who carries it out? When is the best time?
