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Affluent Turn Cautious in Outlook for Personal Spending and the Economy
The Affluent Market Tracking Study #8, the just released Fall 2005 report in a continuing series of twice-yearly surveys by The American Affluence Research Center (AARC), reveals several important changes in the 12- month economic outlook and...
Business or Leisure – Make Sure You Get the Best Stay
“Ladies and gentlemen, please fasten your seat belt. We are about to land in a moment...” Well, you might think that you have reached your destination. But not necessarily the end of the journey. In fact, when you hop around places for business or...
How to Use Graphs and Charts in Your Business Plan
I often hear the question, “how many graphs or charts should I have in my business plan?” As with most other business planning questions, the answer is “it depends.” This article discusses the key factors influencing the number of graphs and charts...
Professionalizing The Family Business
Professionalizing the Family Business Family business expert discusses the difficult and emotionally destructive problems confronted In the 30 years I have been working as a family business consultant, the most difficult and emotionally...
To all Managers: How does ADD affect your workplace?
Tent caterpillars create a cocoon for an entire colony. Within one colony there are two types of caterpillar. One type, pioneers, weave long threads forming the skeleton of the tent. The others, the workers, weave cross threads filling in the...
 
Cultivating Your Pathway to Success: Don’t Leave Your Company’s Future to Chance

Any successful CEO, president or business owner will tell you, operating a business is a formidable task. Every day brings an endless blizzard of problems, decisions and meetings. It can be easy to lose sight of one of the most important tasks facing any company leader -- developing a long term plan to ensure the company’s future growth and success.

Many entrepreneurial businesses don’t do any planning, claiming they will just “wing it,” “go with the flow” or “fake it till they make it.” Savvy executives understand the value of planning. These executives understand that not only is daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly planning critical, but an annual business plan or strategic plan is crucial for its value, adding structure to both the organization and its day-to-day operations.

Strategic planning examines the issues facing the company, and plans in advance how each will be addressed. Developing the plan forces you to invest time examining critical issues facing the company when you have the luxury to evaluate options before you must determine how to best proceed. The plan will help you evaluate internal and external issues. Consider too how world events could impact your company and outline steps to maintain your current business should the worst occur. Planning in advance establishes the roadmap that ensures you meet all of your goals.

The plan will reflect the best ideas from a wide range of individuals within the company, including specific input from key departments. The purpose is to pull together the vision for the company – not just in the short term but the long term as well. Each member of the planning team must be committed to the process and its ongoing requirements, truly thinking through each element.
Let’s look at the steps involved to develop a strategic plan.

Gather Information

Gather information on:
1) The company: evaluate strengths and weaknesses, analyze sales statistics, potential opportunities and the risks involved.
2) Employees: review policies and procedures.
3) The industry: identify industry trends or influences.
4) The competition: what are they doing better than you, and where are you the stronger competitor? 5) Suppliers and other vendors—are they supplying you with the best goods and services at the very best price?
6) The client: Who is your customer? What is your unique selling position? Why do customers give you the sale or why don’t they?
7) The future: Utilizing a time line, what key issues must the company face in order to plan for the future?

To properly gather the necessary information, all members of the team must be


willing to ask hard questions and be prepared to hear a variety of answers in an effort to seek out the best solutions.

Planning

This can be a tedious task. All the information initially gathered is now carefully reviewed and analyzed. Analysis of the data can be a time consuming effort, and some executives may be tempted to rush through this weighty task. Investing the time, however, can pay rich dividends, as exemplified by Thomas Alva Edison. Everyone knows Edison created the light bulb, but hardly anyone realizes that he carefully considered 5,000 failed experiments before actually beginning his own experiments.

To begin the planning stage, consider your vision statement. Does it match the vision you had when you first began the company? If not, how has it changed, and what direction does it take you now? Look at the major issues and potential problems revealed during the gathering information stage, then develop an achievable action plan point by point. Finally, think carefully about your market, developing specific steps that will help give your company the competitive, winning advantage.

Each team member must be willing to act decisively in order to push things forward. The enthusiasm and determination of the team must not wane in the coming months as unexpected obstacles and delays occur. Plans will need adjusted in order to meet the agreed upon objectives.

Implementation

Implementing the plan successfully requires effective communication on all levels within the company. Take time to pinpoint specific methods of communication and feedback.

Strategic plans are fluid documents, subject to constant change and analysis. Arrange specific times for ongoing review and updates. Finally, identify which individuals will be responsible for specific projects developed within the strategic plan.

Planning is an investment in time and effort. Many CEOs, presidents or business owners may be tempted to skip over it, claiming they’re too busy and can’t find the time. Those truly interested in all the success they imagined when the business first began will resist this temptation. These executives will sow the seeds of business success, cultivating a prosperous future when they can ultimately harvest all the riches imaginable.

About the Author

Howard Lewinter is a Business Management Specialist who has helped many hundreds of CEOs, Presidents and Business Owners make significant, lasting improvements that ultimately ensure their companies thrive. He can be reached at 1-888-738-1855 or email Howard at: howard@howard-lewinter.com. Visit Howard’s website at www.howard-lewinter.com.

 

Strategic Planning (in nonprofit or for-profit organizations)
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Basic Description of Strategic Planning (including key terms to know)
Adapted from the Field Guide to Nonprofit Strategic Planning and Facilitation. ... Strategic planning often includes use of several key terms. ...
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FAQs regarding strategic planning - geared primarily toward non-profit organizations but with enough detail and general information to provide useful ...
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Frequently Asked Questions
Strategic Planning · Fundraising · Financial Management · Risk Management · Credit Card Acceptance. The FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) listed on this ...
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Strategic planning - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Strategic planning involves defining objectives and developing ... Strategic planning uses "the big picture" to pursue large scale, long term objectives. ...
en.wikipedia.org
 
08/26/96 STRATEGIC PLANNING
You guessed it: strategic planning. Suddenly, the idea of rising above the ... But if strategic planning is back with a vengeance, it's also back with a ...
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Dr. Strategy - Dr. Pete Johnson, Keynote Speaker, Marketing ...
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Strategic Planning Society: Strategy Development and Implementation
Strategic Planning Society: Strategy Development and Implementation.
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Guide 7
Strategic Planning in Smaller Nonprofit Organizations ... In short, as a result of a strategic planning process, an organization will have a clearer idea of ...
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STRATEGIC PLANNING MANUAL
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
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BPubs.com: Strategic Planning & Business Planning Articles
Business Publications related to Corporate Strategic Planning.
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Strategic Planning Tools
Strategic Planning is a method for positioning an organization to take ... A strategic planning process incorporates an in-depth planning model that takes ...
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Center for Simplified Strategic Planning, Inc.
The Center for Simplified Strategic Planning offers training, seminars, consulting, speakers, workshops, a book and a newsletter on strategic management for ...
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LEADERSHIP: Strategic Planning and Strategic Management
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The CEO Refresher Archives - Strategic Planning
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HEFCE : Publications : 2000 : 00/24 - Strategic planning in higher ...
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The Association for Strategic Planning
The Association for Strategic Planning (ASP), is a non-profit professional society whose mission is to enable people and organizations to succeed through ...
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Amazon.com: Strategic Planning for Nonprofit Organizations: A ...
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Amazon.com: Simplified Strategic Planning: A No-Nonsense Guide for ...
Amazon.com: Simplified Strategic Planning: A No-Nonsense Guide for Busy People Who Want Results Fast!: Books: Robert W. Bradford,Robert W. Bradford,J. Peter ...
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