...is to help a company develop and sustain advantage in
the marketplace through unique resources, agility, superior products and/or
superior service. Strategic planning is "strategic" because it requires an
understanding of how the external environment impacts a firm's ability to
create value. What are our competitors doing? Are consumer tastes changing?
What businesses should we be in? How do the various parts of our company fit
together? Strategic planning is "planning" because it recognizes that
decisions made today will produce important results at a later date.
"You may not be interested in strategy, but strategy is
interested in you."
Leon Trotsky
Why in the world would I want to do all this planning?
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features a clear and concise written format that will equip you with a
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Seize this extraordinary opportunity to achieve your highest potential.
Every aspect of business requires planning;
sales planning is no exception. A business without Strategic Sales Planning
is a business without direction. A business without direction has less of a
chance for success. The time it takes to create or update your Business or
Strategic plan is well worth the effort. Whether you are a small business or
multinational corporation business planning is essential.
Business planning is the key to growth and
profitability. The only way to avoid crisis management is through planning.
There is a need for careful planning which requires a reasonable time frame
before any business strategies can be implemented. Planning begins with
brain storming sessions focused around company goals and objectives.
Planning should involve decision makers as well as people who will feel the
results of the implementation of the Strategic Plan. Teamwork is crucial to
the success of implementation of any Strategic Plan.
Successful companies use Strategic Plans to position their
products, increase sales, streamline costs and increase efficiency. It
requires a lot of planning and effort to effectuate change. Planning
requires the gathering of information such as the companies' strengths,
weaknesses, as well as companies' competitive advantages, and core
competencies. The business environment and corporate culture should also be
considered when formulating any strategic plan.
Below is a library containing a wealth of
information. Hunt through this enormous amount of information to pick
out maybe one or two ideas to implement down the road.
Simply put, strategic
planning determines where an organization is going over the next year or
more, how it's going to get there and how it'll know if it got there or not.
The focus of a strategic plan is usually on the entire organization, while
the focus of a business plan is usually on a particular product, service or
program.There are a variety of
perspectives, models and approaches used in strategic planning. The way that
a strategic plan is developed depends on the nature of the organization's
leadership, culture of the organization, complexity of the organization's
environment, size of the organization, expertise of planners, etc. For
example, there are a variety of strategic planning models, including
goals-based, issues-based, organic, scenario (some would assert that
scenario planning is more a technique than model), etc. Goals-based planning
is probably the most common and starts with focus on the organization's
mission (and vision and/or values), goals to work toward the mission,
strategies to achieve the goals, and action planning (who will do what and
by when). Issues-based strategic planning often starts by examining issues
facing the organization, strategies to address those issues, and action
plans. Organic strategic planning might start by articulating the
organization's vision and values and then action plans to achieve the vision
while adhering to those values. Some planners prefer a particular approach
to planning, eg, appreciative inquiry. Some plans are scoped to one year,
many to three years, and some to five to ten years into the future. Some
plans include only top-level information and no action plans. Some plans are
five to eight pages long, while others can be considerably longer.Quite often, an
organization's strategic planners already know much of what will go into a
strategic plan (this is true for business planning, too). However,
development of the strategic plan greatly helps to clarify the
organization's plans and ensure that key leaders are all "on the same
script". Far more important than the strategic plan document, is the
strategic planning process itself.NOTE: Much of the following
information is in regard to goals-based strategic planning, probably the
most common form of strategic planning.NOTE: For a more
recent breakthrough on strategic planning, see the topic
Free Micro-eMBA
learning module,
Developing Your Strategic Plan.
This complete, "nuts and bolts", free training program is geared to leaders,
managers and consultants who work with for-profit organizations.For Nonprofit
Organizations: This topic is also included in the
Free Nonprofit Micro-eMBA
learning module,
Developing Your Strategic Plan.
This complete, "nuts and bolts", free training program is geared to leaders,
managers, consultants and volunteers who serve nonprofit organizations.Tell Friends! Local
Professional Organizations! Spread the Word! Tell friends and professional organizations about these free programs!
Advertise them in your newsletters and web sites so that others can save
training dollars, too!GAINING UNDERSTANDING OF STRATEGIC PLANNINGRecommended Approach to Learn Strategic Planning First, a Point About For-Profit and Nonprofit
Strategic Planning Major differences in how organizations carry
out the various steps and associated activities in the strategic
planning process are more a matter of the size of the organization --
than its for-profit/nonprofit status. Small nonprofits and small
for-profits tend to conduct somewhat similar planning activities that are
different from those conducted in large organizations. On the other hand,
large nonprofits and large for-profits tend to conduct somewhat similar
planning activities that are different from those conducted in small
organizations. (The focus of the planning activities is often different
between for-profits and nonprofits. Nonprofits tend to focus more on matters
of board development, fundraising and volunteer management. For-profits tend
to focus more on activities to maximize profit.)Also, in addition to the
size of the organization, differences in how organizations carry out the
planning activities are more a matter of the nature of the participants in
the organization -- than its for-profit/nonprofit status. For example,
detail-oriented people may prefer a linear, top-down, general-to-specific
approach to planning. On the other hand, rather artistic and highly
reflective people may favor of a highly divergent and "organic" approach to
planning.Therefore, the reader is
encouraged to review a variety of the materials linked from this page,
whether he or she is from a nonprofit or for-profit organization. Items
below are marked as "nonprofit" in case the reader still prefers to focus on
information presented in the context of nonprofit planning. (Readers from
nonprofits might consider getting the "Facilitators Guidebook for Nonprofit
Strategic Planning", which is one of the few (if any) books which include
focus on assessing if the board is ready for planning and on getting and
working with a planning facilitator. Call (651) 647-1216.)Recommended
Approach for the Reader to Learn Strategic Planning
The reader should first read
Guidelines for Successful Planning.
This document provides a very basic overview of the general planning process
-- a process that is the basis for almost any form of planning (strategic
planning, business planning, project planning, etc.). It also suggests a
basic framework and set of guidelines to ensure success in any form of
planning.Next, read
A Basic Description of Strategic Planning
(goals-based). This document provides a
basic overview of the major activities and key terms in strategic planning.Then the reader should
return to polish their understanding of strategic planning by reviewing the
materials referenced by the links below.Benefits of
Strategic PlanningStrategic planning serves a variety of purposes in
organization, including to:1. Clearly define the purpose of the
organization and to establish realistic goals and objectives consistent with
that mission in a defined time frame within the organization’s capacity for
implementation.2. Communicate those goals and objectives to the organization’s
constituents.
3. Develop a sense of ownership of the plan.4. Ensure the most effective use is made of the organization’s resources by
focusing the resources on the key priorities.
5. Provide a base from which progress can be measured and establish a
mechanism for informed change when needed.
6. Bring together of everyone’s best and most reasoned efforts have
important value in building a consensus about where an organization is
going.Other reasons include
that strategic planning:
7. Provides clearer focus of organization, producing more efficiency and
effectiveness8. Bridges staff and board of directors (in the case of corporations)
9. Builds strong teams in the board and the staff (in the case of
corporations)10. Provides the glue that keeps the board together (in the case of
corporations)
11.Produces great satisfaction among planners around a common vision12. Increases productivity from increased efficiency and effectiveness
13. Solves major problemsWhen Should
Strategic Planning Be Done? The scheduling for the strategic planning process
depends on the nature and needs of the organization and the its immediate
external environment. For example, planning should be carried out frequently
in an organization whose products and services are in an industry that is
changing rapidly . In this situation, planning might be carried out once or
even twice a year and done in a very comprehensive and detailed fashion
(that is, with attention to mission, vision, values, environmental scan,
issues, goals, strategies, objectives, responsibilities, time lines,
budgets, etc). On the other hand, if the organization has been around for
many years and is in a fairly stable marketplace, then planning might be
carried out once a year and only certain parts of the planning process, for
example, action planning (objectives, responsibilities, time lines, budgets,
etc) are updated each year. Consider the following guidelines:
1. Strategic planning should be done when an organization is just getting
started. (The strategic plan is usually part of an overall business plan,
along with a marketing plan, financial plan and operational/management
plan.)
2. Strategic planning should also be done in preparation for a new major
venture, for example, developing a new department, division, major new
product or line of products, etc.3. Strategic planning should also be conducted at least once a year in order
to be ready for the coming fiscal year (the financial management of an
organization is usually based on a year-to-year, or fiscal year, basis). In
this case, strategic planning should be conducted in time to identify the
organizational goals to be achieved at least over the coming fiscal year,
resources needed to achieve those goals, and funded needed to obtain the
resources. 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. 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.
4. Each year, action plans should be updated.5. 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.Various
Overviews of Strategic Planning (basics, models, skills to have)
NOTE: 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.), this
section "Various Overviews of Strategic Planning" also includes information
about developing mission, etc. General Overviews
Basic Description of Strategic Planning (this link is
also referenced above and is in reference to goals-based planning) FAQ
on Strategic Planning (general and focused on top-level questions)
Strategic Planning: A Ten-Step Method (very basic, general, top level)
What is Strategic Planning?
(presented in the context of a nonprofit)
Strategic Planning Tools (touches on various phases of
planning)
Planning for Change and Technology (includes excellent overview of aspects
of planning)
Support Center for Nonprofit Management
provides a comprehensive overview of strategic planning in the context of
nonprofits. (At this Web site, go to the section "Answers" and then select
the topic "Strategic Planning" from the menu next to the "Open Sesame"
button.)
National Endowment for the Arts
presents extensive tools and in the typical order of the planning process.
Presents planning in the context of a nonprofit..Basic Overview
of Variety of Planning Models
sample plansample planssample strategic plan worksheetUseful Skills to
Have When Strategic PlanningIt's best to have a team of planners conduct strategic planning.
Therefore, it's important to have skills in developing and facilitating
groups.
PREPARATION FOR
STRATEGIC PLANNING
Preparation for Strategic Planning
Guidelines to Keep Perspective During Planning Many managers spend most of their time "fighting
fires" in the workplace. -- their time is spent realizing and reacting to
problems. 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.
1. The real benefit of the strategic planning process is the process, not
the plan document.
2. 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.
3. The strategic planning process is usually not an "aha!" experience. 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.
4. In planning, things usually aren't as bad as you fear nor as good as
you'd like.
5. Start simple, but start!
eed Consultant or
Facilitator to Help You With Planning? You may want to consider using a facilitator from
outside of your organization if:
1. Your organization has not conducted strategic planning before.
2. For a variety of reasons, previous strategic planning was not deemed to
be successful.
3. There appears to be a wide range of ideas and/or concerns among
organization members about strategic planning and current organizational
issues to be addressed in the plan.
4. There is no one in the organization whom members feel has sufficient
facilitation skills.
5. No one in the organization feels committed to facilitating strategic
planning for the organization.
6. Leaders believe that an inside facilitator will either inhibit
participation from others or will not have the opportunity to fully
participate in planning themselves.
7. Leaders want an objective voice, i.e., someone who is not likely to have
strong predispositions about the organization's strategic issues and ideas.Also consider
Consultants (using).)
Who Should Be
Involved in Planning?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.)
1. The chief executive and board chair should be included in the planning
group, and should drive development and implementation of the plan.
2. 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.
3. 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).
4. Ask if the board membership is representative of the organization’s
clientele and community, and if they are not, the organization may want to
involve more representation in planning. If the board chair or chief
executive balks at including more of the board members in planning, then the
chief executive and/or board chair needs to seriously consider how serious
the organization is about strategic planning!5. 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.
6. Ensure that as many stakeholders as possible are involved in the planning
process.
7. Involve at least those who are responsible for composing and implementing
the plan.
8. Involve someone to administrate the process, including arranging
meetings, helping to record key information, helping with flipcharts,
monitoring status of prework, etc.
9. 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:10. Different types of members may be needed more at different times in the
planning process, for example, strong board involvement in determining the
organization’s strategic direction (mission, vision, and values), and then
more staff involvement in determining the organization’s strategic analysis
to determine its current issues and goals, and then primarily the staff to
determine the strategies needed to address the issues and meet the goals.11. 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.
12. 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 Many Planning
Meetings Will We Need? Number and Duration of Planning Meetings1. New planners usually want to know how many meetings will be needed and
what is needed for each meeting, i.e., they want a procedure for strategic
planning. 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.
2. Attempt to complete strategic planning in at most two to three months, or
momentum will be lost and the planning effort may fall apart.Scheduling of Meetings
1. Have each meeting at most two to three weeks apart when planning. It's
too easy to lose momentum otherwise.
2. 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.An Example Planning
Process and Design of Meetings
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:1. Planning starts with a half-day or all-day board retreat and includes
introductions by the board chair and/or chief executive, their explanations
of the organization's benefits from strategic planning and the
organization's commitment to the planning process, the facilitator's
overview of the planning process, and the board chairs and/or chief
executive’s explanation of who will be involved in the planning process. In
the retreat, the organization may then begin the next step in planning,
whether this be visiting their mission, vision, values, etc. or identifying
current issues and goals to which strategies will need to be developed.
(Goals are often reworded issues.) Planners are asked to think about
strategies before the next meeting.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. The next meeting does not require entire attention to the plan, e.g., the
document is authorized by the board during a regular board meeting.
5. Note that in the above example, various subcommittees might be charged to
gather additional information and distribute it before the next planning
meeting.
6 Note, too, that the staff may take this document and establish a yearly
operating plan which details what strategies will be implemented over the
next year, who will do them, and by when.
7. 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.How Do We Ensure
Implementation of Our New Plan?A frequent complaint about the strategic planning
process is that it produces a document that ends up collecting dust on a
shelf -- the organization ignores the precious information depicted in the
document.The following
guidelines will help ensure that the plan is implemented.
(Note that reference to boards of directors is in regard to organizations
that are corporations.
1. When conducting the planning process, involve the people who will be
responsible for implementing the plan. Use a cross-functional team
(representatives from each of the major organization’s products or service)
to ensure the plan is realistic and collaborative.
2. Ensure the plan is realistic. Continue asking planning participants “Is
this realistic? Can you really do this?”
3. Organize the overall strategic plan into smaller action plans, often
including an action plan (or work plan) for each committee on the board.
4. In the overall planning document, specify who is doing what and by when
(action plans are often referenced in the implementation section of the
overall strategic plan). Some organizations may elect to include the action
plans in a separate document from the strategic plan, which would include
only the mission, vision, values, key issues and goals, and strategies. This
approach carries some risk that the board will lose focus on the action
plans.
5. In an implementation section in the plan, specify and clarify the plan’s
implementation roles and responsibilities. Be sure to detail particularly
the first 90 days of the implementation of the plan. Build in regular
reviews of status of the implementation of the plan.
6. Translate the strategic plan’s actions into job descriptions and
personnel performance reviews.
7. Communicate the role of follow-ups to the plan. If people know the action
plans will be regularly reviewed, implementers tend to do their jobs before
they’re checked on.
8. Be sure to document and distribute the plan, including inviting review
input from all.
9. Be sure that one internal person has ultimate responsibility that the
plan is enacted in a timely fashion.
10. The chief executive’s support of the plan is a major driver to the
plan’s implementation. Integrate the plan’s goals and objectives into the
chief executive’s performance reviews.
11. Place huge emphasis on feedback to the board’s executive committee from
the planning participants.Consider all or some
of the following to ensure the plan is implemented.
12. Have designated rotating “checkers” to verify, e.g., every quarter, if
each implementer completed their assigned tasks.
13. Have pairs of people be responsible for tasks. Have each partner commit
to helping the other to finish the other’s tasks on time.
ONDUCTING
STRATEGIC PLANNINGStrategic Analysis (Environmental Scan and SWOT) A frequent complaint about strategic plans is that
they are merely "to-do" lists of what to accomplish over the next few years.
Or, others complain that strategic planning never seems to come in handy
when the organization is faced with having to make a difficult, major
decision. Or, other complain that strategic planning really doesn't help the
organization face the future. These complaints arise because organizations
fail to conduct a thorough strategic analysis as part of their strategic
planning process. Instead, planners decide to plan only from what they know
now. This makes the planning process much less strategic and a lot more
guesswork. Strategic analysis is the heart of the strategic planning process
and should not be ignored.
(Note that some planners
prefer to identify/update the mission, vision and values statements before
conducting the strategic analysis. Others prefer to identify/update these
items after the strategic analysis. In this library, these items are
addressed as part of the next major section "Setting Strategic Direction".)Environmental
Scan (taking a wide look around)Basics
Basics in Developing a Values Statement Suggestion: Use your browser to do a search for "values
statements". This likely will result in numerous links to a wide variety of
organization's values statements that you can review as samples of values
statements.Action
Planning (objectives, responsibilities, timelines) Strategic planning can be exhilarating when coming
up with new visions and missions and values, talking about long-standing
issues in the workplace and coming up with new and exciting opportunities.
But without careful action planning -- and diligently ensuring actions are
carried out -- the plan ends up collecting dust on a shelf.
Basics of Writing and Communicating the PlanMonitoring,
Evaluating and Deviating from the Plan As stated several times throughout this library
topics (and in materials linked from it), too many strategic plans end up
collecting dust on a shelf. Monitoring and evaluating the planning
activities and status of implementation of the plan is -- for many
organizations -- as important as identifying strategic issues and goals. One
advantage of monitoring and evaluation is to ensure that the organization is
following the direction established during strategic planning. That
advantage is obvious. However, another major advantage is that the
management can learn a great deal about the organization and how to manage
it by continuing to monitor and evaluate the planning activities and the
status of the implementation of the plan. Note that plans are guidelines.
They aren't rules. It's OK to deviate from a plan. But planners should
understand the reason for the deviations and update the plan to reflect the
new direction.
