Showing posts with label definition of strategic planning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label definition of strategic planning. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 05, 2013

What is strategic planning?

Strategic planning is something many people think they know because they have seen it done badly.  Strategic planning is NOT:

-SWOT analysis
-A list of objectives
-A book prepared for your board of directors
-Budgeting
-A nice looking document that no one looks at after completion
-A balanced scorecard
-A mission statement

Strategic planning is a process of setting the course and direction for an organization or other endeavor.  A well done strategic plan focuses the resources of the endeavor on those activities which will yield the best results.  For businesses, this means optimizing profitability, survive-ability and growth-ability.  

The best way to assess the quality of a strategic plan is to ask these questions:

-What did you do as a result of the plan?
-What difference did it make for your organization?

Considering the answers to these questions, how would you improve YOUR strategic planning?