Articles: Strategic Business Planning
“Unless commitment is made, there are only promises and hopes; but no plans.” – Peter F. Drucker
Ahh, strategic...
One of the words I believe may be the most overused in business. Believe it or not, NOT all plans are actually strategic, but EVERY business wants to be strategic in their plans. To have a strategy, you need:
- Clearly set and measurable goals,
- Specific actions to achieve those goals; and
- Mobilized resources to execute those actions.
What is a Strategic Plan?
A strategic plan is not a wish list. It's based upon facts and data, and describes how the end goals will be reached. And it's not a "one and done" type of thing, but rather it requires the ability to not only look at what's going on in your business now, but also where it's heading.
To quote Sue Barrett, Australian Executive Coach and CEO, "Strategies are based on a combination of our knowledge, experiences and hunches where we take calculated and, sometimes, uncalculated risks that we hope will pay off sometime in the future. So 'being strategic’ really takes courage to lead people into uncharted and uncertain futures.... 'Being strategic' means being perceptive, future-oriented, open-minded, proactive, working off the front-foot, and making and taking decisions based on evidence and calculated hunches."
As a Fractional CFO Plus, I believe true strategic planning is about both the things you can do to improve today's business and prepare if for tomorrow. And this requires clarity and a business model that is in alignment with the plan.
We are interested in finding the right customer, at the right price, consistent with our purpose and values, even if that means frequently turning away customers.Ronald J. Baker