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Overcoming pitfalls in strategic planning
What does it take to be successful in defining a strategic plan? Taken from some best practices observed over the last twenty years, below is a list of leadership, management and individual success criteria that contribute to successful strategic plans.
- Boundaries do not exist. Anyone who is engaged in strategic planning should put limitations to the side and think broadly about what he/she wants to accomplish. Strategic planning success is largely determined by setting objectives to be met. If those objectives are limited in scope, success is going to be limited in return. We believe that if you shoot for the moon, you can land somewhere in the stratosphere. But if you only shoot for the upper stratosphere, you’ll never make it to the moon.
- Invest. Those who have been successful in strategic planning realize that it takes an investment in both time, people and funding to be successful. If one of those elements is missing, then firms struggle to achieve strategic objectives.
- Support. The support of not only management but those individuals throughout the organization that will help execute is necessary in ensuring initiatives have a high likelihood of success.
- Risk Analysis & Planning. Strategic planning is just that – a plan. Ideas on how to proceed to achieve certain objectives, however the success of this plan comes from identifying potential risks, roadblocks and challenges that may arise in the course of fulfilling that strategic plan. Once these risks are identified, an appropriate risk-mitigation strategy should be defined so that they can be overcome as the plan is being executed.
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Identifying why strategic plans fail
