Strategic Planning: 10 Best Practices

The goal of long-term strategic planning should be defining, validating and redefining the vision, mission and direction of the company. In the long term, it’s also a great perspective to think about how to project your skills and brand into new areas. The focus is on developing a clear, viable business plan that outlines the multi-annual strategic initiatives needed to turn this vision into value. 

Medium-term strategic planning should be done to list the steps to be taken to implement this vision, such as the preparation of a strategic plan for the company.

The purpose should be to challenge the current strategy and to explore ways to accelerate implementation. The best companies divide the process into three phases, each with its own challenges and emerging strategic issues. Some sessions focus on deep insights into critical initiatives, while others focus on exploring emerging threats. It is also important to have forums where the strategy can be discussed in different timelines to allow for real-time adjustments over the years. 

We are increasingly seeing companies adopting an approach called “always on strategy,” which has the current strategy constantly reviewed. The frequency of this however, needs to reflect the specific nature of the industry. While this approach doesn’t fully prepare a company for what’s way ahead, this strategic planning method is a good starting point for the organization’s long-term success.

Bring together leaders and executives from all areas of the company. We tend to squeeze in too much work to put out fires, take much-needed holidays, and leave no time for comprehensive strategic thinking. In order to create a strategic plan, your leaders need time to think big and maintain the full commitment of the team members in your organization. You can’t do that alone, and if the team doesn’t buy into the planning process and the strategic plan that comes with it, you’re bound to fail. Allow open and free discussion with all the members within your organization. 

A good strategic plan is fluid and flexible, and everyone understands the plan and their role in it. For effective implementation, your plan must be clearly formulated, but it should not be set in stone. This allows you to adapt to changes in the market and not be afraid to change your plan if needed.

At the end of each strategic planning session, you should clearly explain what the next steps are and who will be responsible for what. When your employees and coworkers leave the room, everyone must understand what they are responsible for and when they must meet the deadline. The sanctity of information should be guaranteed, timetables should be set, and priorities should be emphasized.

Review your strategic plan and have a list of missed deadlines, including plans that have not been approved. Focus on accountability for results and make the strategy a habit, not just a retreat, and focus on the main goal.

As a rule, organizations that involve a broad group of external and internal stakeholders in their strategy development efforts achieve better results than organizations that place the strategy in the hands of a small, centralized team. 

Pin-pointing and solving problems is the key to success, but one of the most challenging tasks in strategic planning is choosing what to address first. Despite all the time, energy and resources invested in strategic planning, if there are no measurable and visible results – it means that the developed plan isn’t working. It does not matter how good your plan is if it is not properly executed. If your budget permits, hire a trained professional strategy consultant at Universal Creative Solutions who willfully devote to making the outcome of your plan a success. A strategy consultant can offer a fresh set of eyes and give you the objectivity you need in order to clearly assess whether you are on the right track or not. They can focus on the important issues that need to be addressed to pave a better road towards business success.