Summary:

The most critical element for a successful strategic plan is the extent to which everyone in the company can see a direct link between high performance in what they do every day and the long-term prosperity of the company.

Offered are key elements of a strategic plan, including who should participate, what to include in the vision and mission statements, and short & long term goals. Resistance to change should be expected and one of the best ways to overcome this resistance is to have those who will be implementing the changes participate in determining what those changes will be.

Article Quote:

“Plan the work and work the plan.  Whether it’s an individual salesperson’s call plan for the next week or the company’s strategic plan for years to come, the principle is the same.  It doesn’t matter how great the plan is if implementation is poor, excessively late or both.  In this regard, follow-up to compare actual results with plan is invaluable.”

Link: http://www.activegarage.com/strategic-plan-critical-to-successful-implementation-of-key-decisions

Ultimately you need to make your daily calendar reflect what’s strategically important, not just a list of your scheduled appointments and deadlines. Your day is going to be a challenge between what’s required and what’s strategically important.

A great way to increase productivity is to stop multi-tasking and start chunking your time into smaller segments. By doing so, you can achieve more in the same amount of time. Strategic planning software is a valuable tool when managing tasks and people.

For more on strategic planning, see http://www.performancesolutionstech.com/category/strategic-manager/