Business and Individual Foresight
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. Far more important than a strategic plan document, is the planning
process itself. There are a variety of perspectives about strategic planning and
a variety of approaches used in strategic planning processes. Planning services
offer guidelines for the entrepreneur to carry out according to the nature and
needs of their organization.
Quite often, an organization already knows much of what will go into a
strategic plan (this is true also for the business plan and the marketing plan).
However, development of the formal strategic plan greatly helps to clarify the
organization's plans and ensure that key leaders, team members, advisors and
decision makers are all "on the same page".
Benefits of Strategic Planning
Strategic 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. These goals must be consistent with the
company's mission in a defined time frame and must be within the
organization’s capacity for implementation.
2. Communicate those goals and objectives
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.
Other benefits of strategic planning:
* Provides clearer focus of organization, producing more efficiency and
effectiveness
* Bridges staff and board of directors (for corporations)
* Builds strong teams in the board and the staff (corporations)
* Provides the glue that keeps the board together (corporations)
* Solves major problems
When 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.
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.
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. The frequency
of review depends on the extent of the rate of change in and around the
organization.
Arise Business Services
- Strategic Planning and Consulting Services - 503-690-7727
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