The Importance Of Strategic Plan And Its Development

strategic plan development

Possible topics and policy intentions for determining a strategic plan and strategy development are too many to list. Usually, the aim is to have a compact document with the most important points. This plan is not only intended internally. It benefits the identity, the brand, and its reputation.

Three definitions

  • The plan to achieve the goals of the organization. 
  • The policy and approach for the next 3 to 5 years as elaborated by management to achieve the set goals.
  • The planned use of people and resources to realize the vision and mission of the organization and the goals derived from it.
  • Strategy: success and failure factors.
  • Too often the strategy turns out to be a paper story that disappears in the desk drawer. What can we do about it?

Strategy development

Already in the phase of strategy development, it is important to pay attention to capacity and implementation by the organization. These five tips help.

How do you determine a strategy

You determine the strategy based on several questions, such as:

– what do you want to achieve,

– how are we going to develop,

– what priorities do we set,

– in which areas do we want to score with innovations,

– what return do we want to achieve?

– How are we going to increase this return?

– We consider economies of scale, acquisitions or mergers.

 The content of the strategy

Some companies have virtually abolished the strategic story. And not the least. The CEO of the most successful airline in the US limits the message to just nine words. See ‘Strategy and policy’ Well meant but too much and wrong too! See also the contribution of Henry Mintzberg in which he manages to reduce ‘strategy formation ‘ and ‘management’ to the essence in a few words.

The trend is clear. Nobody is waiting for bulky documents, and the pace of change in some sectors is so great that by the time the strategic plan comes to the table, the story is already outdated. To give direction to the organization, people are looking for it in the vision or mission. See Mission, vision, core values. The trend is ‘Right on target!’ 

The realization of the strategy 

Look for it in a strategy that provides guidance not only at the top but also at the parts of the organization. It turns out that this is necessary.

A strategy, mission or vision without a realization plan is ‘blowing bubbles’. It sometimes looks nice but it immediately evaporates or splatters 

It is not enough that the parts of the organization are aware of the strategy, vision or mission. What do people expect from the components, what behavior do employees want to see? The key question is what do the teams and units do to contribute to the realization.

 Strategy execution and strategy implementation

Time and time again, strategy, mission, and vision prove vulnerable in implementation:

Why should we close the gap between the execution and strategy?

Does your strategy work in practice? Checklist for directors and top teams. Successful realization of the strategy. 

The responses to ‘Implementing strategy A matter of doing!’ show some of that. There is often the pinch. We, therefore, see that strategy development and business planning have changed considerably in the past period. See the ‘New style strategy’ below.?

Strategy implementation and performance management

For a few decades, we worked hard to translate strategic objectives into critical success factors, performance indicators and derived targets for the parts of the organization. The balanced scorecard and performance management systems, supported by impressive software packages, were introduced. The experiences with this are usually not positive. 

New style strategy

Strategy, mission, and vision become more concise with a focus on an inspiring message, direction or intention. There is also a squeeze of ‘new’ topics such as digital transformation, agility, and sustainable entrepreneurship.

Strategic planning

A different view of strategic planning and related topics such as business plan, business case, revenue model and business model emerges. The way of working in the most dynamic companies and institutions is completely different on all these matters than it was 10 years ago. Maneuverability is everything. Limit planning to a few guidelines. Think of each plan as a Beta version that gets improved as you go. “The wisdom is in doing!”

New style business planning eliminates complicated hassle, paperwork and endless consultation. Start with an inspiring goal. Then direct the energy to get closer step by step. Visible progress is more important than targets.

The digital transformation

Today, a digital strategy should not be missing. At the core of a digital transformation is not complicated, but it concerns all activities of the organization. The key question is again: How do we make meters? Stimulating ‘learning by doing’ is often the best way. See the Checklist digitization of your organization. What and how? , on the page about digital transformation.

Vulnerable to disruption? 

Use the Disruption Checker to find out if your business or sector is ready for disruption. And what about the disruptive power of your organization? Keep developing your competitiveness!

Agility and innovation

The pace of change and increasing competition are forcing greater agility and faster innovation. The start-up method and recent ways of innovation point the way. RITUALS, the fastest-growing company in NL in 2016, shows how Big Data, agility and a strategy of learning by doing, lead to success.

Organize differently 

The developments mentioned above compel a critical look at the organizational design. Many organizations experience that top-down management and control become less effective. More regulation and system enforcement are counterproductive. The aim is to create a transparent organization made up of result-responsible units with a greater degree of autonomy. In other words, a kind of network organization.

Externally, there is an experience that their organization is increasingly connected and linked with other organizations. Mutual coordination and coordination are decisive for success. Sooner or later, the best way to deal with cooperation between organizations will automatically be on the agenda.

Agility and innovation

The pace of change and increasing competition are forcing greater agility and faster innovation. The start-up method and recent ways of innovation point the way. RITUALS, the fastest-growing company in NL in 2016, shows how Big Data, agility and a strategy of learning by doing, lead to success.

Organize differently 

The developments mentioned above compel a critical look at the organizational design. Many organizations experience that top-down management and control become less effective. More regulation and system enforcement are counterproductive. The aim is to create a transparent organization made up of result-responsible units with a greater degree of autonomy. In other words, a kind of network organization 

Externally, there is an experience that their organization is increasingly connected and linked with other organizations. Mutual coordination and coordination are decisive for success. Sooner or later, the best way to deal with cooperation between organizations will automatically be on the agenda.

Strategy development: insights and experiences

On this page, you will find a selection of articles. Also the most recent contributions from the ManagementSite Network, the articles with the most reactions and the Tips & tricks. The ‘related items’ at the end of the articles provide background information.

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