Guidelines for strategic planning
An effective strategic plan is a critical component to running a successful organization, yet only few companies do it well.
According to a study by Bain, they asked nearly 300 global executives to rate their company’s planning process, and only one in three said that the strategy was effective.
You may be already swimming in a sea of data, PowerPoints, and debates on whether a stacked bar chart or an exploding pie chart is the best way to tell the story. Good strategic planning is a methodical process. However, it's important to keep the objective in mind and not get lost in the process of planning.
5 guidelines for effective strategic planning:
1. Align with the mission and vision of the company. This not only helps keep your organization's brand authentic, it also serves as a guide when making decisions.
2. Make strategic planning an important ongoing process, with continual process improvement, regularly managed throughout the year, and not an annual ritual that is part of a corporate to-do list.
3. Have clear objectives. Objectives that are quantifiable so everyone knows what they are aiming for and a way to be able to measure progress. Tactics follow strategy.
4. Update your insights. Your company does not live in a bubble, everything around the company; your customers, competition, the regulatory environment, and many other factors are continually changing.
5. Don’t isolate the process by managing and making decisions solely on a select group of c-suite executives that push down a plan through the organization. A strong strategic plan incorporates the views of the customer as well as employees who will be executing the plan.
Elevate your strategic planning from an annual exercise into an integrated part of your company’s business management process. Take into consideration the voice of your customers, the perspective of your employees, and the insights from market research. This could be the difference between an acceptable strategic plan vs. one that is inspirational, guiding, and effectively defines how the entire organization will work together to achieve your objectives.