Strategic Planning |
| Benefits
of Strategic Planning |
| Strategic planning serves a variety
of purposes in organization, including to: |
 |
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. |
|
Communicate
those goals and objectives to the organization’s constituents.
|
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Develop
a sense of ownership of the plan. |
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Ensure
the most effective use is made of the organization’s
resources by focusing the resources on the key priorities. |
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Provide
a base from which progress can be measured and establish a
mechanism for informed change when needed. |
|
Bring
together of everyone’s best and most reasoned efforts
have important value in building a consensus about where an
organization is going. |
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Provides clearer focus of organization, producing more efficiency
and effectiveness.
|
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Bridges
staff and board of directors (in the case of corporations).
|
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Provides
the glue that keeps the board together (in the case of corporations). |
|
Produces
great satisfaction among planners around a common vision. |
|
Increases
productivity from increased efficiency and effectiveness.
|
|
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. 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: |
|
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.) |
|
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.
|
|
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. |
|
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. |
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