Summary:

The great start to the success of your business strategic planning process is to identify the foundation upon which your business was built. A well defined mission statement and equally communicated vision statement identifying your desired future will make the job much easier. Businesses that set goals relating directly to their mission and vision statements excel over businesses that lack these defined statements.

Both these statements help focus a business in terms of direction, leadership, and goal-setting ; mission and vision statements are the basis for your organization’s strategic planning. Vision and mission statments need to be communicated to customers, employees, and stockholders.

Once the plan of action is decided upon, objectives should be broken down into actionable tasks that integrate into monthly, weekly, or daily activities. Working the plan in this manner keeps it active and assists leadership in making course corrections when internal and external factors present themselves.

Article Quote:

“A periodic review by management of your strategic planning actions will let you know if you have chosen the right strategic activities for your business. Additionally you can also make sure that the strategic planning activities you have chosen to implement are all supportive of your mission and vision statements. Use your mission and vision statements to chart and stay the course.”

Link: http://gfa-ng.com/vision/strategic-planning-begins-with-a-mission-statement-and-a-vision-statement.htm

Mission and vision statements help the organization by providing a foundation from which to begin the strategic planning process. Choose two to three clearly defined goals or objectives, then develop a plan of action. Leadership that can effectively communicating both the strategic plan and each individual’s part in achieving the plan improves results.

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

Summary:

Abundant opportunity linked to individual dreams and passions is what makes Cornell great. However, universities are facing a set of circumstances unlike any seen since the Great Depression. Don’t be lulled into thinking that this is just another cyclic financial downturn: this Great Recession will affect the lives of individuals, families and, yes, universities for many years to come.

In light of this, many universities are adjusting their need-based student aid programs to reflect difficult budgetary realities. Despite budget pressures, Cornell is resisting this trend because providing an extraordinary academic environment for the most promising students from all backgrounds is one of their foundational principles and fundamental values.

Article Quote:

“The answer is to take strategic planning seriously and to think as Cornellians first and as members of our particular colleges or schools or programs second. As faculty, staff and student leaders conceive of ways to continue Cornell’s excellence with fewer resources, we must be open to novel and even radical ideas and not reject them solely because they threaten the status quo.”

Link: http://www.cornellsun.com/section/opinion/content/2010/03/01/taking-strategic-planning-seriously

Strategic planning in a bad economy means some tough decisions need to be made. Cornell, like many other universities, is trying to maintain high quality standards with dwindling resources and budget shortfalls.

This is a time for creative thinking with possibilities for diversification or differentiation. Several campuses may close before the recession ends, but those that survive will be the ones that used all the resources available to them to develop a realistic and well structured strategic plan.

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

Summary:

What do you do when you think the strategic plan you are asked to follow is flawed? This article addresses this question with the answer that as a good citizen within your company, it is your responsibility to speak up.

However, you should proceed cautiously as negativity is sure to be met with resistance by the executives that spent much time and energy creating the plan.  To begin with, you should diagnose and understand the whole picture by trying to understand what problem executives were trying to solve and the methodology behind it.

Next, contextualize your concerns by asking yourself, “Is it that you would have expected a different direction or do you believe that the analysis, facts, or process that the company used [were] flawed?”

If afterwards  you still feel that the strategy is flawed, quietly and carefully bring it up to your immediate supervisor first. Having data to back up your assumptions and approaching the subject as a concerned employee will go a lot farther with your boss than a hot headed approach.

Article Quote:

“After taking the above steps, if your concerns have been shrugged off or disputed, you may need to choose your battles. “Skepticism is hugely helpful in organizations but bloody-minded obstinacy is not,” Sull says. People have very little respect for someone who ruthlessly fights over imperfections.”

Link: http://blogs.hbr.org/hmu/2010/02/when-you-think-the-strategy-is.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+harvardbusiness/hmu+(Management+Essentials+on+HBR.org)

Doing your homeword and asking honest questions about your true motivation for disagreeing with the strategic plan may be enough to realize that perfection isn’t possible and the plan – while you may not understand the reasoning behind it – may not be as flawed as originally thought.

However, even if you are correct in your opinion, be prepared for resistance by articulating your concerns with a well reasoned argument with correct data to back it up.

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

Summary:

The advent of social media has changed the way companies, large and small, interact with their customers online. From a local small business to a global e-commerce company, it’s imperative to understand the way social networks, social bookmarking, and social news sites are affecting your business.

Providing social media content that is relevant to viewers is very important if you wish to succeed in this arena. On the flip side, carefully listening to what your viewers are saying can provide valuable insight as to customer wants and opinions.

Article Quote:

“Marketers are afraid of the unknown and also giving up control of their brand. They are also afraid of making mistakes. That is why it’s important to fail fast, fail forward, and fail better. You aren’t going to get it right the first time so be quick to listen, interact, react, and repeat.”

Link: http://searchenginewatch.com/sew_experts/social-media

Let’s face it, social marketing has changed the way we do business.  As human beings, we have the dichotomous psychological need to be our own individual, yet we also want to feel like we belong to, and are accepted by, a much larger social set.

Incorporating social media into your strategic plan can improve customer satisfaction as well as business performance. Learning by past failures is how we get to “fail fast, fail forward, and fail better.”

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

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/

Summary:

For many years, corporate social responsibility (CRS) has been viewed by many executives as a passing fad or another source of pressure and for too long have not given it the attention it deserves. That trend is changing and many are now making CRS central to their overall strategies, helping them to creatively address key business issues. The challenge is to develop an approach that can deliver.

However, some innovative companies have managed to overcome this hurdle with smart partnering. Smart partnering focuses on key areas of impact between business and society and develops creative solutions that draw on the complementary capabilities of both to address major challenges that affect each partner. Smart partnering is emerging as one way to create value for both the business and society simultaneously, which is at the heart of corporate social responsibility.

Article Quote:

“For companies that see CSR as an opportunity to strengthen the business, the big challenge is execution. Smart partnering can provide a practical way forward.”

Link: http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Nonprofit/Philanthropy/Making_the_most_of_corporate_social_responsibility_2479?gp=1

Businesses developing and implementing CRS as part of the overall strategic plan create better relationships with their customers because they are viewed as a business investing in business as well as investing in society. Shared value creation is achieved through smart partnering ventures. It moves the focus of the business beyond avoiding risks or enhancing reputation, toward improving its core value creation ability by addressing major strategic issues or challenges. The advantage for society is that the focus shifts away from maintaining minimum standards, or constantly seeking funding to improve the overall quality of life, and living standards. The key is for each party to tap into the resources and expertise of the other, finding creative solutions to critical social and businesses challenges.

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

Summary:

Mr. Baldwin highlights key elements in any new product development process. These elements should include market intelligence equipped to provide well-thought-out analyses of potential new products and markets; Development capabilities sufficient to develop the new products specified by the market intelligence; production capabilities appropriate to make the products developed; marketing and sales abilities to promote and sell the products; distribution/logistics with the capacities to stock and deliver the products as needed. All of these elements must be included for a successful new product launch.

Article Quote:

“By properly analyzing your customers’ wants and requirements, what your competition is offering and what your company is capable of delivering, market intelligence should help your company focus its product development process on those projects which show the best possibilities for success in the future.”

Link: http://www.cssp.com/strategicplanning/blog/?p=528

By far the most relevant element in any new product development strategic plan is gathering market intelligence. Developing a clear understanding of what customers want, what the competitors are offering, and coupled that with an accurate financial analysis of what your company is capable of producing, marketing, and delivering is critical to a successful launch.

After launch, monitoring results of the strategic plan with performance technology that allows users immediate visibility on the various departments and their performance gives executives greater control over the entire process.

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

Summary:

Through SWOT analysis, executives can develop a greater understanding of what position the company is currently in and more importantly – how to advance to the next level. Lou Schultz defines SWOT, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in this article and gives several examples of relevant questions to ask when performing SWOT analysis.

The top questions Shultz gives for each topic area are: Strengths – what do you do best? Weaknesses – what are your organization’s most critical vulnerabilities in the eyes of your customers? Opportunities – where are the unmet needs? and Threats – in what areas of markets and products are you in the declining phase? These of course are just a few of the questions organizations need to address when assessing their companies. Follow the link below for a complete list of questions from each area.

Article Quote:

“Research and discussion of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats will reveal areas to be shored up or strengthened and other areas to be exploited in your planning activity.”

Link:http://www.parkrapidsenterprise.com/event/article/id/21307/group/News/

Strategic planning should include swot analysis to gain a better understanding of the company’s position within the market. However, it is not the only tool available when developing a strategic plan. By starting with the mission and vision of the company and moving on to a planned outcome of events, organizations can begin to develop a strategy for planned objectives. Tactical plans can then be developed and should be viewed as small steps along the path of the strategic plan.

For more information on strategic planning, seehttp://www.performancesolutionstech.com/category/strategicplanning/

Summary:

SWOT analysis, Business Logic, and Cultural Screen are three indispensable tools for businesses to use when developing their strategic plan. This author believes that SWOT analysis is the most valuable of these three because it can enable one to assess performance of certain functions from the macro level of the organization down to its micro level. However, resistance to change is inherent in any organization and management must understand and deal with it before monitoring can begin.

SWOT analysis, (strengths, weakness, opportunities, and threats), can be applied to any organizational unit, team, or individual. Performance audits often use SWOT analysis to establish how well the organization is performing in response to external and internal demands and influences.

Article Quote:

“For successful implementation of change to happen, there must be a progress monitoring to find out if the change implemented goes on according to plan, so that if there be deviations they can be corrected at the earliest possible time.”

Link:http://www.infobarrel.com/Strategic_Planning_and_the_SWOT_Analysis

Strategic planning begins with assumptions about future events.  Utilizing the many tools available and dealing with resistance within the organization will greatly improve the chances of strategic execution performance. Monitoring results is the only way to see if your plan is working. Performance software enables users to drill down all the way into the individual worker’s daily prioritization of tasks and time. Without that ability, the plan stays on the shelf and becomes something only top management thinks about.

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

Summary:

The global economic meltdown demands a rethink of how we go about securing a competitive advantage, how we measure ourselves, what it is we need to be doing and why. Suddenly the old rules of the game simply imploded and many were left clinging the ‘plan’, formulated in the context of the ‘old rules’ but now utterly useless and irrelevant.

What is needed today is the ability to think strategically, according to this author. Furthermore, it is not just a select few within the organization that get to do the ‘thinking’, but rather the challenge is to get everybody thinking strategically, contributing a diversity otherwise lacking in today’s strategic planning process.

Article Quote:

“The problem is, we have forgotten how to think. Reliance on our ability to plan, and specifically on Porter’s conventional wisdom as to how best to go about the formulation of that plan, has produced ‘lazy thinking’ habits within executive teams and amongst leaders.  We have been so used to marching to a known tune, that when the tune changes, or the music stops altogether, we simply keep on marching in-step.”

Link: http://www.connectioneconomy.com/2009/12/03/back-to-the-future-rethinking-strategy/

Conventional wisdom has been shaken up by economic conditions and is forcing organizations to re-think how they develop their strategic plans. Getting everyone in the organisation- not just leadership – to actively participate in organizing and implementing the strategic plan creates an inclusive atmosphere, thereby adding to a sense of ownership in the company.

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