Summary:

Developing a strategic plan is often a time consuming and unanticipated chore. Yet, without a strategic plan, businesses have no direction in which to point their company and they are left to react to changes instead of having a plan to manage changes as they occur.

After careful analysis of all trends from industry to economic, the organizational structure and the target market, then the mission statement is constructed. For some who do not have the resources of time, money and energy, the mission statement can simply be how much money do you want in your bank account by December 31 of the planning year?

Article Quote:

“Many business people have really bad attitudes about strategic planning even though they believe that strategy is probably a good thing. This is consistent in that most people do not plan their lives less alone their businesses. Plan is really a hidden dirty 4 letter word.”

Link:http://strategicplanning.doodig.com/2010/02/14/strategic-planning-coaching-tip-plan-is-not-a-dirty-four-letter-word/

While this article does a good job of giving a quick overview of strategic planning, I disagree with the validity of the mission statement above. A mission statement states what the purpose of the organization is while a vision statement outlines what/where the organization ultimately wants to be.

Simply stating how much money you would like to see in your account by a certain date is actually more of a goal than a mission statement. More appropriate would be something like this, “Here at XYZ company, we design, manufacture, and install high quality liturgical furniture for all church denominations that reflects the individuality of the communities in which they serve.”

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