Strategic planning involves outlining the goals of an organization, the goals and methods that will be used to achieve those goals. As such, this plan is integral to the functioning of an organization, and it is important that the task of developing the plan is approached with serious consideration and attention to detail. Follow these steps to write a strategic plan for an organization.
Steps
Step 1. Propose the vision of the organization
It identifies the reason for the organization's existence, what it hopes to achieve, what its responsibilities are, which segment of the population it wishes to serve and with whom it intends to work, how it wants to be seen and what kind of development it wants to experience.
Step 2. Write a mission statement
The purpose of the mission statement is to enrich the underlying purpose, or vision of the organization. Strategic plans are extensions of the mission statement, because it is this that guides the objectives and serves as a tool for measuring the success of an organization. An example of a mission statement is: "Our goal is to be the national leader in the pet supply chain. We will accomplish this by researching, sourcing and providing our customers with the best available variety of high quality merchandise. quality, low cost, exceeding service expectations so as to promote close customer relationships."
Step 3. Evaluate the current condition of the organization
In order to plan a path to achieve your goals, it is first necessary to understand what your condition is with respect to achieving these goals. Consider the following steps:
- Determine what your strengths and weaknesses are. You will need to develop a strategic plan that makes use of your strengths in order to minimize your weaknesses.
- Identify growth opportunities. You can have a couple of investment offers on the table, or envision a particularly successful fundraising attempt. Whatever the purpose of the organization, you must be able to outline vital opportunities to achieve your goals in order to include in your strategic planning the means by which you will be able to seize and make the most of these opportunities.
- Identify the threats to the success of your strategic plans. Threats can be an economic downturn, a competitor, or a change in rules and regulations. The plan must address these threats and counter them with a viable strategy.
Step 4. List the factors necessary for success
Strategic plans must include specifications about the types of circumstances that will lead to the achievement of the objectives.
- Focus on 4 key areas when building your goals: financial goals, customer relationships, operating methods and members of the organization.
- Citing the pet supplies example, critical success factors could include topics such as relationships with distributors of quality pet products, a knowledgeable customer care team, a strong internet presence providing 24-hour service. out of 24 nationwide, state-of-the-art accounting software, and a research team dedicated to researching the latest and greatest pet supplies.
Step 5. Develop a strategy to implement each success factor
This should take the form of a detailed plan, and should outline exactly what needs to be done, over what time frame, with what investment and under whose responsibility.
Step 6. Prioritize your strategies according to growth and profitability goals
Taking into account all the steps required to achieve each of your goals, as well as the order of importance regarding their achievement, detail your strategic plan in chronological order. For example, your goal of having a fleet of delivery trucks can be considered a long-term goal, because it will be very expensive to accomplish, and you have a temporary plan for third-party shipping; as a result, you can prioritize more pressing goals on the list.
Advice
- It is advisable to involve all members of the organization, from top management to part-time employees, in developing the vision and mission. By involving everyone in this phase of strategic planning, the culture of teamwork, autonomy and responsibility in the organization is promoted.
- Reassess your strategic plan at regular intervals to make sure the plan is realizing your goals effectively, and also that your goals are still aligned with the organization's mission and values. For example, it may have been an important goal to acquire funding for adding new office equipment several years ago, but you find that employees are now increasingly engaged through telecommuting, allowing you to re-prioritize that goal. and to give space to other, more pressing goals.
