Every year, or every few years, executives get together and create a strategic plan for their organization. They define (or refine) the organizations vision, mission and values. They might come up with some strategic objectives. Then, most of the time, they create a pretty little report and publish it on their website. And it sits there while business continues as usual.

Great! 

As a former competitive athlete (I competed nationally in trampoline gymnastics), I’ve learned a thing or two over the years about goal setting. And of everything I’ve learned, the most important is:

A goal without a plan is nothing more than a dream

The way I see it is that most organizations don’t actually engage in strategic planning. Instead, they set strategic objectives, or strategic goals. Now, don’t get me wrong: strategic goals and objectives are important! But if you want to achieve your goals, you need a plan – and you need to ensure that you bring everyone in your organization on board with the plan.

Strategic planning offers executives an amazing opportunity to come together and discuss how each of their domains fits together.

• What does our market research tell us about our customers? Do we need to adapt our strategy to meet their needs? Do we need to focus on a new customer segment?
• What does the business climate look like? What opportunities do we foresee? What challenges are there? What’s the local and global economy like? The labour market?
• Who is our competition? What do they offer that we don’t?
• What makes our organization different and special? How do we communicate that?
• Based on all of the above, do we need to update our mission/mandate? Are our goals reasonable? Do all our products and services support our goals?
• Do we have the resources to achieve our objectives?

Ideally, this discussion should lead to the development of an action plan detailing the steps the organization will take to achieve the goals, who will be responsible for the implementation, and when each step will be achieved.

Your strategic plan is your roadmap detailing

HOW your organization will achieve its objectives.

Which brings us to the other problem with strategic planning: it usually only happens once a year (at best). As we all know, the business landscape changes quickly. Opportunities can arise out of the blue – and vanish just as quickly. Your projections based on the business climate in January might be completely off by March. A brand new, unanticipated opportunity might pop up in July. How will your organization cope?

Strategic plans are living documents

To get the most value out of your strategic plan, you have to realize that it is a living document. You can’t simply create it once a year and stick in on a shelf. Strategic plans need nurturing and periodic updating. I believe that instead of happening once a year, strategic planning needs to be an ongoing process where each ignificant opportunity or challenge that arises is evaluated to ensire it fits with your vision and mandate. Regular review allows your organization to stay on track to achieving your goals and remain relevant in a changing business landscape.