Creating a Strategic Plan - Amazon S3



Creating a Strategic Plan

Intro:

Welcome to Creating a Strategic Plan produced by Virtual Advisor. To navigate through the workshop, click on the Continue and Previous buttons. To begin the workshop, click on the Continue button.

Section 1:

Developing a strategic plan, which is essentially a roadmap for your business, enables you to guage your company’s performance, strengths, and weaknesses over a period of time. It also provides your employees and management with directives to follow and work towards. A strategic plan addresses your company’s marketing, sales, product development, operational, and revenue goals. So, you may be wondering, how does a strategic plan differ from a business plan? Well, a business plan focuses on the viability of a business idea, analyzing the marketplace and establishing realistic financial projections. A strategic plan is far more conceptual. It provides a guide for achieving desired results, which can often change on a regular basis. It’s main purpose is to guide internal employees and the management team. As you continue through this workshop, keep in mind that the goal is to create a plan that is uniquely suited to your business. Ideally, once you complete your initial strategy, you should revisit the plan on a regular basis and make any necessary updates and revisions. We will address seven steps in preparing a strategic plan, which include: Crafting a mission statement, taking inventory of your business to reveal it’s current position, outlining the goals and objectives that are most important to your business, identifying where you want your business to go, designing an action plan that will allow you to realize those goals and objectives, communicating the plan to your staff, and implementing the plan. Click on the Continue button to begin crafting a mission statement.

Section 2:

Once you have answered the questions, carefully craft a statement. Make sure to involve your key employees or advisors. Click on the example icon to view a sample mission statement. Once you do craft your statement, circulate it to those involved with your business and make sure your current and future business decisions match the mission of your business. When you are finished with this section, click on the Continue button to move on.

Section 3:

With the mission statement in hand, you’ll want to begin your strategic planning process by evaluating your current operations and taking a written inventory of key aspects of the business. Focus on the following areas: Your clients, your product and service offerings, your financial performance, your operations, your competitive advantage and your environment. Click on each area for a list of questions that will help you take inventory of where your business is now. By taking inventory or your current situation, you can develop a clear picture of where your business currently stands by identifying areas for improvement and development including new products and services, innovative marketing plans, streamline processes and promising market opportunities. This will begin to form the skeleton for your strategic plan. When you’re finished with this section, click on the Continue button to move on.

Section 4:

Chances are, you have a good idea of what your goals and objectives are already. Even if you’ve never taken the time to put them in writing. After conducting your inventory, you’re now armed with the additional information you need to identify the goals and objectives you want to achieve with your strategic plan. Your goals can either be quantitive or qualitative. While strategic goals can vary widely, they typically fall into the following broad categories: General performance, financial performance, operations and/or processes, and deadlines. When you have identified your goals and objectives for your business, click on the Continue button to move onto the next section.

Section 5:

Your next task, is to use the goals and objectives you just identified to determine where you want you business to go during the coming year or whatever planning period you are using. Scenario-based planning, as system of if/then alternative evaluations is an excellent tool for this purpose. Considering different scenarios allows you to determine the probable outcomes of different possible actions you may take during your planning period. For example, based on the inventory you took in the previous section, you may be considering a scenario of dropping an underperforming product from your line-up in order to focus on more profitable offerings. Using scenario planning, you would want to consider all of the possible outcomes of this action to determine whether it is sensible to do. Here are some scenario outcomes to consider. Take time now to do a scenario analysis on at least one of the actions that you are considering during the coming year. Write down the possible outcomes you can think of at this time. You can add to and evaluate your list later. When you are finished with this section, click on the continue button to move on.

Section 6:

Once you’ve identified your strategic objectives and determined that they are likely to produce positive results, you’re ready to create strategies and an action plan to help you achieve them. Here are two examples of a goal and correlating strategy. Now, try and identify two to three major goals you want to accomplish and outline how you plan to achieve the results you want. Once that is done, you’ll want to communicate your plan to your employees, partners, and/or investors. Hold a general team meeting to convey the details of your strategic plan to your team. Then assemble smaller groups to discuss appropriate team members roles and responsibilities. Make sure your team has the necessary skills to carry out the new plan. This means ensuring that you have the right people handling the right responsibilities and that you have the necessary technology in place to carry out the plan. Just remember, a strategic plan will position your company to go forward into the future…following a solid well-planned guide. It’s the best road map you can provide to your team to help them achieve the vision that defines your business. Good Luck.

Section 7:

For additional information on this topic, click on the Resource and Worksheet buttons at the top of the page. To talk with peers or an expert on the subject, click on the Discuss and Ask the Expert sections at the top of the page. Good luck.

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