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Updated on January 20, 2023
In the current environment of rapid transformation and uncertainty, how do you stay agile and anticipate the changes needed to secure your organization’s long-term viability? Strategic planning can help you achieve this.
Today more than ever, organizations rely on strategic planning to stay the course as they navigate change and uncertainty. Factors like labour shortages, inflation and the threat of a possible recession, supply difficulties, digital transformation and climate change are leading to major shifts. These factors are reshaping your organization’s internal and external environment, often in significant ways, requiring you to review your business model.
How can strategic planning help you?
How to approach strategic planning?
Five tools to make strategic planning a success
How can strategic planning help you?
Strategic planning helps you determine the direction where you want to take your business and what you need to do in order to get there. It defines your vision and values, your priorities and goals, and the concrete actions that will help you achieve your goals. A good strategic plan provides members of the organization with clear guidelines, specific objectives and performance indicators to monitor results.
Traditionally, strategic planning covers a period of three to five years, with an annual review. But in a world that is constantly changing, that’s not enough anymore. Businesses can’t afford to ignore change or wait it out to see what happens. They need to move into dynamic mode and to adapt on the go. Organizations that fail to respond fast enough risk seeing a decline in their performance.
How to approach strategic planning?
The solution is to combine strategy with flexibility. You will be able to address immediate concerns while staying aligned with major long-term objectives.
This approach allows you to adjust plans and reorder priorities in response to changes and disruptions. It continually links strategy to execution and generates useful data that can help you make decisions, like the best way to reallocate resources, optimize recruitment or increase sales.
As a result, management and employees are empowered to take intelligent risks, seize opportunities, respond to threats quickly, adopt new technologies and implement new ideas while understanding the impact of their decisions on the business as a whole.
Five tools to make strategic planning a success
1. Prepare a strategic diagnosis for your business
A 360-degree diagnosis of your business will help you analyze the resources, skills and environment at your organization and guide you in the right direction.
2. Establish a planning oversight committee
This committee will be responsible for monitoring strategic planning through indicators, evaluating the results and adjusting the action plan when necessary.
3. Get your organization thinking more cohesively
Dynamic planning forces different departments and teams to break from tradition by leaving their silos behind and function in a more informed and coordinated way.
4. Use a dashboard
Visual tools and dashboards allow you to keep the entire business informed of performance levels and the progress made toward your goals.
In the current environment, businesses need to plan for flexibility so they can continually adapt to evolving needs without losing sight of their objectives and original mission.
5. Communicate clearly with your employees
When strategic planning is approached in a more dynamic mode, things evolve, priorities are reorganised. This can be frustrating for your employees if your business is not communicating with them clearly. Help your team understand the reasons and the advantages behind the new approaches, and plan follow-up meetings.
Our experienced team can help you get moving in the right direction by making adjustments to your plans and actions. Contact us for personalized assistance.