Strategic planning is often a disappointment to all involved. The objective sounds simple enough: Define the organization’s strategy and make resource allocation decisions to pursue it. The problem is, the results often fail to meet expectations.
Functional leaders can’t plan properly if they aren’t clear on the enterprise and business mission, vision and objectives. And they can’t execute their own strategies without appropriate, executable, measurable goals.
So where do you start?
Step 1: Set ground rules.
Step 2: Verify the business imperative.
Step 3: Assess your functional capabilities.
Step 4: Define your objectives.
Step 5: Establish an action plan with measures and metrics.
Once you have tackled each element of the strategic planning process, you’re ready to summarize the strategy on a single page.
Clarify where the functional organization is, where it is going and how it will get there. Communicate how you are adding value today and demonstrate how you plan to impact future business throughout the coming year.
The next step is to communicate the functional objectives and strategy across the function and the company. Provide managers with a checklist to help them effectively convey key messages about functional strategy to employees.
Once the strategic plan is complete and communicated, it’s critical to measure progress against the objectives, revisit and monitor the plan to ensure it remains valid, and adapt the strategy as business conditions change.
Select your function to download your 30-page step-by-step guide. Use the tools, templates and checklists to save time.
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