Strategic Planning Process 6 Steps – Strategic planning is one of the most important tasks a business can engage in. However, it may be one of the most overwhelming. That is, unless you understand how the strategic planning process works.
You’re probably asking yourself: “Where do I start? How do I decide what should be included in my strategic plan? When should others be included?”
Strategic Planning Process 6 Steps
Continue reading for a brief introduction to the strategic planning process, where we discuss the various strategic planning frameworks, common strategic planning goals, and the various steps in the strategic planning process.
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We also provide a relevant example so you can visualize how the strategic planning process might work in your own organization.
Since the 1950s, literally hundreds of different strategic planning frameworks have been developed, including popular models such as the OGSM (acronym for objectives, goals, strategies, and measures), the balanced scorecard, and the 7S model.
This type of framework is used by businesses of all sizes to achieve their objectives. Although no two strategic frameworks are alike, they do have the following elements in common:
Before starting a project plan, it’s helpful for a company’s leadership team to start thinking about which goals are most important to their organization’s success.
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Although there are many different strategic plans you can read about, most involve some variation of the following steps:
Here the company defines the short and long term objectives and the steps that can be taken to achieve them.
As an example, let’s say a soda company envisions becoming the #1 soda company in the world. One objective to achieve this is to increase the market share among Baby Boomers to 10%. In that case, it makes sense to spend more money on ads targeting baby boomers.
Is something stopping you from achieving your goal? At this stage, you gather the people and information you need to determine whether there are any factors you should consider before implementing your plan.
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For example, baby boomers are not a good market to move into the soda segment. Perhaps, instead, our fictional company should be targeting Millennials. During this analysis phase, companies tweak and revise their goals and objectives based on what they learn as they begin to gather more information.
In this step, you identify your company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Doing so will help refine your organization’s goals so that it can move forward in the most constructive way possible. It is helpful at this point to consult a SWOT analysis template to get the most out of this exercise.
Using our soda company as an example, after performing a SWOT analysis we can realize that there is a huge opportunity in a new overseas market. Hence, it changes our original objective of targeting a specific demographic.
After going through the first three steps, our soda company is now ready to develop a strategic plan that takes into account all the information gathered along the way.
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Therefore, at this stage, the soda company creates a plan that outlines what its goals are, how it intends to achieve them, how success will be measured, and a timeline for achievement.
Each department has a role to play in ensuring that the strategic plan is met. Therefore, the marketing department can create an advertising roll-out plan for the overseas market the company plans to target.
Similarly, manufacturing may need to research overseas distribution channels, and HR may need to assign staff to the new market to oversee the roll-out.
At this stage, the company monitors key benchmarks to determine how well the organization is following the plan. It also evaluates whether any changes are needed to achieve the long-term goals of the company.
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Again, with our soda company, to do this, we probably start by analyzing sales trends and our percentage market share in the roll-out area.
Most strategic planning processes involve four to seven phases, so this is just one example of how an organization might go through the strategic planning process. There are others. Really, it’s just a matter of finding a process that works best for your organization’s needs.
Watch the video below for an in-depth look at how mind mapping and information visualization can be integrated into the strategic planning process.
Download this free eBook to learn how visualization drives better planning, 5 proven visualization methods, and a deep dive into the business benefits of visualization. Every business should have a strategic plan — but the number of businesses that attempt to operate without a plan defined (or at least clearly communicated) may surprise you. OnStrategy research shows that 86% of executive teams spend less than an hour per month discussing strategy, and 95% of the general workforce doesn’t understand their organization’s strategy.
Strategy Implementation: The 6 Step Process
Since this aspect is lacking in many businesses, using strategic planning can help you get ahead of the game. In this article, we’ll explain what the strategic planning process looks like and the steps involved.
Simply put, the strategic planning process is the method that organizations use to develop plans to achieve overall, long-term goals.
This process is distinct from the project planning process, which is used to assign and assign tasks to individual projects, or strategy mapping, which helps determine your mission, vision, and goals.
The strategic planning process is comprehensive – it helps you create a roadmap for which strategic objectives you should try to achieve and which initiatives will be less helpful to the business.
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Before starting the strategic planning process, it’s important to review some steps you can take to set yourself and your organization up for success.
This stage of preparation lays the foundation for all subsequent work. You need to know where you are in order to decide where you want to go and how you will get there.
Involve stakeholders right from the start, considering both internal and external sources. Identify key strategic issues by talking to executives in your company, gathering customer insights, and gathering industry and market data. It gives you a clear picture of your position in the market and customer insights.
It may help to review your company’s mission and vision statement, or create one if you don’t already have one, to give you and your team a clearer picture of what success looks like for your business. Is. Additionally, review your company’s core values to remind you how your company plans to achieve these objectives.
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To start, use industry and market data, including customer insights and current/future demands, to identify issues that need to be addressed. Document your organization’s internal strengths and weaknesses, along with external opportunities (ways your organization can grow to meet needs the market doesn’t currently fill) and threats (your competition).
Use the SWOT diagram, as a framework for your initial analysis. With input from executives, customers and external market data, you can categorize your findings into strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) to clarify your current position.
An alternative to SWOT is PEST analysis. Political, economic, socio-cultural and technological, PEST is a strategic tool used to articulate the threats and opportunities to your business.
As you synthesize this information, your unique strategic position in the market will become clear, and you can begin to solidify some key strategic objectives. Generally, these objectives are set keeping in mind a three to five year horizon.
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Once you’ve identified your current position in the market, it’s time to set objectives that will help you achieve your goals. Your objectives should align with your company’s mission and vision.
Objectives should be specific and measurable to help you reach your long-term strategic goals and the initiatives outlined in step one. Possible objectives include updating website content, improving email open rates, and generating new leads in the pipeline.
Now is the time to create a strategic plan to successfully reach your goals. This step requires determining the strategies needed to achieve your goals and setting a timeline and clearly stating responsibilities.
Strategy mapping is an effective tool for visualizing your overall plan. Working from the top down, strategy maps make it easy to visualize business processes and identify gaps for improvement.
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Truly strategic choices often involve trade-offs in opportunity cost. For example, your company may decide not to invest as much money behind customer support so that it can invest more money in creating a seamless user experience.
Use your values, mission statement and established priorities to be prepared to say “no” to initiatives that don’t advance your long-term strategic position.
Once you have a plan, you are ready to execute it. First, convey the plan to the organization by sharing relevant documents. Then, the real work begins.
Convert your broad strategy into a concrete plan by mapping your processes. Use the Key Performance Indicator (KPI) dashboard to clearly communicate team responsibilities. This comprehensive approach defines the completion process and ownership for each step.
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Set up regular reviews with individual contributors and their managers and set check-in points to make sure you’re on track.
The final phase of planning—review and revision—gives you an opportunity to reevaluate your priorities and make course-corrections on a more fundamental basis.
