It goes without saying that strategic objectives are not realized immediately. In order to plan for these realities, it is prudent to engage in a phased approach to strategic planning. Many plans have a short-term, medium-term and long-term focus.

Planners seek to identify “low-hanging fruit” that can be achieved quickly with very little (if any) cost implications and are easy to complete. These initiatives should be placed in a “Short-Term” bucket and addressed quickly within 12 months.

The next area of focus for strategic planners is the “Medium-Term”, which can be defined differently according to each organization’s perspective of what constitutes medium-term – this may be 1-2 year or 2-4 years depending. These medium-term objectives require some investment and time/resources to complete. They may require some training and realignment but are not overly complex.

Long-term objectives take time to materialize and require a significant time and monetary investment. These multi-year initiatives may include the construction of a new facility and require constant monitoring towards stated objectives.

For each strategic initiative that is identified in the “Long-Term” – a project plan should be identified which allows the organization to achieve milestones at regular intervals to ensure progress towards completion.