Strategic Planning: An Executive's Aid for Strategic Thinking, Development and Deployment

Strategic planning is an ongoing process and carries an intense customer/community, shareholder, and employee focus. The strategic planning process provides direction to all elements of the company and drives decisions and actions. Employees at all levels can articulate and share the company's vision and its overall strategic direction. They can also articulate their roles in the implementation and execution of the strategic plan.¹

A General Overview

Strategic planning is the continuous process of making present entrepreneurial (risk-taking) decisions systematically and with the greatest knowledge of their futurity; organizing systematically the efforts needed to carry out these decisions; and measuring the results of these decisions against the expectations through organized, systematic feedback.

As such, planning, whether long range or short range, is nothing new. It is the organized performance of an old task. But we have learned that the task will rarely get done unless organized. Above all, it will rarely become achievement unless done purposefully.²

A Strategic Planning Process is Comprised of Four Primary Elements:

1. Strategic Planning (Development / Creation of Strategy)
2. Strategic Deployment (Communication, Feedback and Execution)
3. Integration with other processes (Alignment and Synchronization)
4. Monitoring and Evaluation (“Continuous” Strategic Management)