Key components of a strategic plan

Everyone knows the saying that any road will do as long as you don’t know where it is going. And it certainly is true when it comes to achieving company goals. If you have not set goals, write them down, communicate them well and measure, there is a very high probability that you will never reach them. Hence the importance of having a quantifiable, measurable and well-communicated strategic plan.

Road map

Strategic planning is like creating a map for an exciting journey. A map helps you stay on course, but it’s not so strict that you can’t see a minor road along the way. Every year in the fall, I map where I am, where I want to go, and how I want to get there. Throughout the year, my plan becomes my guide as I make business decisions and discover new opportunities. It helps me decide if the new opportunities and options I find will bring me closer to my goals or if they are detours to be avoided. It’s critical to review your plan at least once a year to accommodate new developments in technology, customer requests, the economy, emerging trends, and your own interests.

Key components

1. SWOT: the first step is to determine where you are through a SWOT analysis: identify your internal Strengths and Weaknesses and your external Opportunities and Threats. Make a grid and fill in the blanks. Use two columns and two sections. Internally analyze human, financial, technological resources, culture, etc. Externally examines economics, political / regulatory, social / demographic, technology, competition, etc.

2. Vision, Mission and Values ​​- Create a short statement that quickly and easily describes your purpose (Mission) and your ultimate future (Vision). Who are your clients / clients, what makes you different, how would your clients describe you, what do you offer, how are you unique, how will you be tomorrow? Here’s a quick template to follow: “The purpose of ABC Company is to _________________ for the company and our stakeholders to benefit from ____________________________. This quickly indicates who you are, why you exist, and what benefits are produced as a result of your business It can be smart later, for now get it on paper. Now list the guiding principles that underpin the behaviors you expect of yourself and others to achieve results. Trust, honesty, creative solutions, integrity, customer service, and so on. , are examples of guiding principle values.

3. Goals – Identify the key goals that must be met to achieve your vision, mission, and goals for the year. State them in specific, quantifiable and measurable terms. They must be ambitious, but realistic. Focus on “what, not how.” Your list will grow, but narrow down to the 4-5 most important critical items to moving your business forward this year.

4. Action planning: now we will see the “how”. For each goal, create a detailed action plan for how you will achieve this goal. For each target state:

-Desired results: what should happen or what benefit will be produced

-Potential obstacles / barriers: what could get in your way or impede progress

-Support: what resources, people, tools do you have or need

5. Implementation process – what steps need to be taken – indicate who will do what and by when. I do a quick monthly review to see what is on target, what is lagging behind, what follow-up is needed, etc. This gives me a visual update and reminds me of my goals and how I am progressing.

6. Evaluation and Measurement – How will you know that you have successfully achieved your goals? (So ​​each must be stated in a way that is specific, quantifiable, and measurable.) As you get more sophisticated, a balanced scorecard set of measures is an ideal way to track, measure, and communicate your progress, but for now just determine how each objective will be measured.

This sounds like a lot of work, but if you chart each goal, you will have a clear idea of ​​where you are going, how to get there, and reach your goals faster, avoiding unnecessary and costly detours.

The simplicity of these steps and descriptions belies the difficulty of this task. I have facilitated many top management teams struggling to achieve even the first two steps. However, if you reserve quiet moments with your key colleagues and valuable advisers, this doesn’t have to be a monumental task. Once you have it in place, the annual review, review and update process becomes not only much easier, but also very beneficial. You walk away from this exercise with a sense of direction and satisfaction in how you are going to achieve your business goals with the assurance of avoiding at least some unnecessary and costly detours.

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