Organizations of all sizes and types, from Fortune 500 companies to grass-roots non-governmental organizations, periodically turn to strategic planning to reconnect with their core values, articulate their mission and chart goals and objectives to help them achieve their long-term vision. Strategic planning has been defined as a systematic process of envisioning a desired future and translating this vision into clearly defined goals or objectives and a sequence of steps to achieve them.
An effective strategic planning process can be a transformative moment in the life of a company. It is also challenging and complex, and many companies struggle to do it effectively. If not conducted carefully and intelligently, the results may send the organization down the wrong path, wasting resources and imperiling its future.
However, when successful, an effective strategic plan can be a positive force that drives results for years to come.
Strategic planning also presents an important opportunity for the executives involved in the process. As companies convene high-performing teams to wrestle with their most fundamental issues, participants who can demonstrate collaboration, analytical ability and a capacity for innovative, strategic vision will establish their reputation as thought leaders, indispensable to the senior team.
While there is no one-size-fits-all process for strategic planning, there are proven methods that optimize the process.
Before a strategic plan can be crafted, it is imperative that there be a comprehensive SWOT analysis of the current state of affairs, which includes an examination of the company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.
This analysis must measure the organization’s qualities. What are the predominant traits of the company’s culture? What are the personality types of its leaders? What is its external leadership brand?
Successful strategic planning requires a deliberative, disciplined process. Fundamentally, strategic planning identifies the company’s mission, vision and core values and uses them as the foundation for specific, measurable and achievable strategic action plans.
The critical, initial step of a successful process is development of a mission statement that articulates the organization’s core reason for being, and a vision statement guiding where the company will be in the future. The former must be timeless and true, regardless of changes in company tactics or structure. The latter should be aspirational as well as inspirational. A clearly honed strategic vision frequently depends on clearly identifying and reinforcing core values and operating principles.
Why do so many strategic plans fail? Because they lack commitment, persistence and follow through, long after the planning is finished. While all strategic plans tend to roll out with a great deal of fanfare, to sustain a strategic plan you must have a specific roadmap to take it beyond banners and desk toys until it is engrained in the company culture.
Tasks and responsibilities need to be assigned and the multi-disciplinary leadership team that helped develop the strategy must remain involved. Real steps, altered behavior and hard work must be applied and sustained to allow a strategic plan to come to life.
Measurement is equally crucial. Without accountability, the strategic planning process is an empty exercise. The strategic plan must include quantifiable success indicators with measurable impact on the overall company performance.
Defining a company’s strategic plan requires more than developing lists, goals and desired results. It is about creating a culture that supports what the company believes in and what its people stand for. At the end of the day, a strategic plan, if executed well, will result in the creation of an organizational framework to ensure future success and growth.Â
David I. Buckman is executive vice president and general counsel at Philadelphia-based AlliedBarton Security Services, which has offices in Connecticut.
