Do you do strategic planning for your business? Do you have a strategic plan? As an entrepreneur, I know you can clearly see your vision. However, can everyone else on your team?
In order to gain some forward momentum, you really need to clarify your vision. This is going to help you make better decisions about people, processes, strategies, and more!
How do you accomplish this? Strategy + Planning. Yes, even as a small business, you should be doing strategic planning. You must get your vision out of your head and onto paper. From there, share it with your team. The sooner you do this, the sooner you will make decisions to build and grow your company to new levels.
What is strategic planning?
Strategic planning is a lot like flying an airplane. Good pilots know exactly where they are going, they can see the journey ahead, they make adjustments along the way and stay the course so they can reach the destination safely and on time.
It’s an ongoing process of monitoring, evaluating options and choosing the best path while removing obstacles that get in the way.
In super simple terms, strategic planning is the process a business goes through on a regular basis to determine the direction of the organization over the next couple of years and putting a plan together to get there.
What is a strategic plan?
A strategic plan is the output of a strategic planning session. It’s a plan clearly outlining how you’re going to get there. ‘There’ being where you want to take your business over the next year or three to five years from now. To do this effectively, you need to build a plan so you can run your business from it – helping you get to your destination more effectively, efficiently, enjoying the journey AND learning from it.
When working with my clients, a typical strategic plan includes:
- Destination Statement (to help answer where you are going)
- Core Values
- Core Focus
- High-Level Marketing Strategy
- Goals for the Year
- Projects for the Quarter
- Measures, Targets, and Baselines
Why you need a strategic plan
Again, a strategic plan is the roadmap to your destination. And, this is an ongoing journey. As your business changes and markets evolve, the paths you have outlined in your strategic plan may need to be adjusted.
This strategic planning is not a one-time event or process. The strategic plan can guide you to continually find the shortest distance between where you are and where you want to go. It can also help you find the less risky route.
Ultimately, the strategic plan can be one of the best tools in your toolbox. It’s the one that will continue to remind everyone of your vision and keep all team members on the right path.
Top benefits of a plan include:
- Allows your business will be proactive versus reactive
- Gives a sense of direction
- Aligns objectives to goals
When should you do strategic planning?
So, when do you do strategic planning? Anytime!
If you’re not already doing strategic planning, I suggest you start as soon as you can so you can begin to set a clear direction for your organization. From there, you want to continue repeating the process every quarter so you don’t lose momentum in what you are doing and can make the necessary adjustments for the next 90 days.
A strategic plan will keep your business on track throughout any expected or unexpected changes that may affect your business.
Your strategic plan = your pathway to success!