An Easy Way to Start Strategic Planning

 

 Strategic Planning can be a difficult but necessary process for companies to complete.  Developing a strategy takes time and resources. So why do you need a strategic plan?

  • To set your company up for success by aligning priorities
  • To establish a direction
  • To sharpen your companies focus
  • To create a pathway toward breakthrough success

What is Strategic Planning?

Strategic planning is an organizational management activity that is used to set priorities, focus energy and resources, strengthen operations and ensure that employees and other stakeholders are working toward common goals in response to an ever changing environment. Strategic planning focuses on the future and helps to shape and guide what an organization is, who it serves, what it does and why it does it.   

What is a Strategic Plan?

A strategic plan is a document used to communicate the organizations goals, the actions needed to achieve those goals and all of the other critical elements developed during the planning process.

Perhaps one of the easiest ways to explain strategic planning is by using a simple analogy. The following table illustrates a comparison between strategic planning to planning a vacation to Paris.