Strategic Planning

Setting The Direction For Your Organization

Today’s highly competitive business environment is fraught with challenges that can make even the most seasoned business leader feel lost at times. Strategic planning can help you chart the right course for your organization to help it adapt and stay relevant in a constantly changing professional world.

Strategic Planning

What is strategic planning?

Mapping out the direction you want to take.

Simply put, strategic planning is mapping out the direction you want your business to take over a given period, getting everyone on board with the idea, and providing the resources that are needed to get there.

What exactly does it involve?

A roadmap of where your organization is going.

A strategic plan gives a roadmap of where your organization is going so that everyone in your organization reads from the same script and is on cue to deliver when called upon.

At the most basic level, a strategic plan addresses these 4 important questions:

1. What is the end game for my organization? The destination

2. What is my current reality? The starting point

3. How will I achieve my goals? The journey

4. How will I gauge performance? The checkpoints

To answer these questions, a strategic plan usually uses the following tools:

A statement that sets out your vision and values
A situational analysis of the existing internal and external business environment
Operational planning and execution tools such as implementation plans
A continuous feedback mechanism of your performance

How will a strategic plan help me?

It helps you adapt to changing realities.

A well thought out a strategic plan that has the buy-in of your employees and stakeholders can go a long way in achieving your organization’s objectives. Unlike a business plan, which is more tactical and designed to direct operations, a strategic plan is a dynamic and all-encompassing, a strategic plan is a dynamic tool that helps you adapt to changing realities. It can help you fulfill the following needs for your business:

Define the scope of your activities and prioritize accordingly
Leverage your strengths and safeguard against threats
Layout your strategies for everyone to understand their roles
Plan your resources
Increase productivity
Gauge your level of success

Who implements it?

Strategic plans rely heavily on teamwork

Successful strategic plans rely heavily on teamwork and getting buy-in from key players in your organization. The strategic plan is driven from the top-level, preferably by Senior Leaders, who get input from other team members whose role in delivering the plan’s objectives is clearly defined.

When is the best time to get a strategic plan?

This depends on your organization’s unique circumstances, but it is considered good practice for every organization to have a strategic plan and to update their plan every three to five years.

If you are planning to carry out the following activities, you will find a strategic plan to be indispensable.

When establishing a business or other organization
Launching a new product or service
Expanding your organization, e.g., opening a new division or branch
When the organization’s operating climate is changing