Strategic Planning & Management

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Let's take a closer look at this interesting set of questions!

RESPONSE:

1. What are the key elements of strategic planning?

Although different authors propose different elements, ten key elements to strategic planning include the following:

1. Communication Strategy - the development of a communication strategy is essential for the effective development and implementation of a strategic plan. In the communications strategy, you should determine who will be involved in the planning process, how they will be involved and what is being communicated to whom on the staff.

2. Strategic Planning Task Force - the development of a core team of organizational leaders is mandatory in the effective creation of a strategic plan. Each task force member should represent a key business area or department of the organization to ensure the plan has organization wide input and buy-in. The task force meets regularly with clearly defined deliverables to be presented at each meeting.

3. Vision Statement - an organization's vision statement is simply their roadmap for the future. The direction of the organization should be broad to include all areas of impact but narrow enough to clearly define a path.

4. Mission Statement - an organization's mission is a definition of whom and what they are. Often mission statements include core goals and values of the organization.

5. Values - values are the organization's fundamental beliefs in how they operate. Values can provide a guideline for management and staff for acceptable organizational behavior. Often values relate to the organization's organizational culture.

6. Goals - goals are broad based strategies needed to achieve your organization's mission.

7. Objectives - objectives are specific, measurable, action oriented, realistic and time bound strategies that achieve the organization's goals and vision.

8. Tasks - tasks are specific actionable events that are assigned to individuals/departments to achieve. They, too, should be specific, measurable and time bound.

9. Implementation Strategy - once the plan has been outlined, a tactical strategy is built that prioritizes initiatives and aligns resources. The implementation strategy pulls all the plan pieces together to ensure collectively there are no missing pieces and that the plan is feasible. As a part of the implementation strategy, accountability measures are put in place to ensure implementation takes place.

10. Monitoring of Strategic Plan - during implementation of a strategic plan, it is critical to monitor the success and challenges of planning assumptions and initiatives. When evaluating the successes of a plan, you must look objectively at the measurement criteria defined in our goals and objectives. It may be necessary to retool the plan and its assumptions if elements of the plan are off track (http://www.yourstrategicconsultant.com/ten_key_planning.php).

2. What are the differences between a vision and a mission? Which one should come ...