Planning for the Future
You probably have a plan for your life and some idea of how you are going to get there. Most business owners do; otherwise, their plans would never get off the table. Are you ready to look at your plan in a big way?
Introduction to Strategic Planning
As a process, strategic planning describes how your company will create ongoing value for your stakeholders. Unlike a project, which has a defined beginning and end, the strategic plan is threaded through the organization and is part of the ongoing operation of the business. Strategic planning helps to take the high-level concepts described in your mission, vision, and values statements and have them brought to life by the activities and attitudes of every member of the organization.
Sometimes, we think that stakeholders are automatically our customers, but unless they are also shareholders, that’s not really the case. Your customers are your customers, and they purchase the products or services that your company sells, but they may not have a stake in the company at all.
To help you figure out who your stakeholders are, consider these questions:
Are there investors in your company? If so, those investors are stakeholders, and they want to get a return on their investment.
Are you supported by taxpayers (through a government department perhaps, or a non-profit agency that is supported and paid for by government)? If so, taxpayers are stakeholders and they are represented by government ministries. Although they may not expect a monetary return on their investment (like a dividend), they will expect that their investment is protected and used appropriately.
Are you a non-profit or not-for-profit company? If so, members of the board of directors are stakeholders, and trustees can be as well.
Are you a part of a privately held and managed company? If so, the owner(s) are the stakeholders. They want a profit so they get a return on their investments (which may include money and time).
It’s essential that you agree on who the stakeholders are before proceeding with strategic planning.
Strategic planning has to be a balanced approach in order to properly represent what is actually achievable. You need to be very aware that some of these areas might be competing for resources and attention, which can create some big challenges in the planning process. People responsible for the strategic planning sessions need to create an open, balanced forum for discussion where all areas are heard and represented within the plan. Failure to do this properly and well means that you won’t get the support for the strategic plan when it is ready to be launched.
Your strategic plan will define four or five key areas of focus for the duration of the plan. These key areas will be used to achieve the mission while reflecting the company’s values and vision.
In addition to creating a strategic plan for the company, individual departments may create a plan to complement the organizational one, and are structured in a similar way. In larger organizations, it is not uncommon to see that the areas of human resources, customer service, sales, marketing, and others may all have a strategic plan that reflects the company plan.
