Fundamentals of Strategic Planning

Here’s an overview of strategic planning for those not directly involved in the planning process, but who want to understand the impact of strategy on their work and their organization’s success. Gain a perspective and vocabulary for strategic planning to help you actively and constructively support your firm’s strategic direction.

• Understand what strategy and strategic planning mean to an organization
• Learn key concepts and the language used by those involved in strategic planning
• Discover various approaches companies use to develop strategy
• Find out how strategy moves from concept through implementation to realization
• Recognize techniques companies use to assess their current and future environments
• Identify specific ways you can contribute to your organization’s strategic success

• What strategy and strategic planning really mean
• How strategy creates value for customers and stakeholders
• How companies develop strategy: seven strategic planning processes
• The strategic planning process in action: five stages of a classic approach
• Assessing the environments
• Three Ds of strategy: discussion, decision, development
• Implementing strategy: how strategy cascades through the organization

Learning Objectives

• Define Strategic Planning and Strategy
• Articulate Five Essential Strategy Decisions That Drive Strategy Formation and Implementation in an Organization
• Describe How Strategy Cascades Throughout an Organization
• Link Your Specific Role to the Organizational Strategy and to the Actions Required to Implement the Strategic Plan

What Is Strategic Planning?

• Define Strategic Planning and Strategy
• Identify Five Key Questions for Organizational Success
• Recognize a Generic Process for Strategy Formation
• Determine Key Stakeholders
• Describe How Strategy Permeates the Organization

Why Organizations Create Strategy

• Recognize the Grand Design Within the Organization
• Explain the Significance of the Environments Affecting the Organization
• Discuss Growth and Profit Strategies
• Describe Various Market Segmentations
• Identify How Organizations Create Value for Their Customers and Stakeholders
• Express How an Organization Decides It Value Proposition
• State Why It Is Important to Link Your Actions to Strategy

The Strategic Planning Process in Action

• Identify the Five Stages of a Classic Strategic Planning Framework
• Describe How Strategy Works in an Organization
• Articulate the Highlights and Time Requirements of the Process
• Recognize Your Role in Your Organization’s Strategic Plans

Assessing the Environment

• Identify Strategic Patterns in the Environment
• Explain and Anticipate Patterns
• Express Why Assessing the Environment Is Important
• Describe Six Tools/Techniques for Conducting External and Internal Assessments
  

Three Ds of Strategy—Discussions, Decisions and Development

• Review Key Stages of the Strategic Planning Process
• Describe How SWOTs, Core Competencies and Critical Success Factors Are Incorporated into the Strategic Discussions
• Appreciate the Rationale Behind Strategic Decisions

Implementing and Reviewing Strategy

• Discuss Strategic Alignment and What It Means to an Organization
• Identify the Ways an Organization Creates Strategic Alignment
• Develop a Series of Questions to Facilitate Strategic Conversations
• Recognize Accountability Systems
• Identify Reward and Recognition Incentives for Success
• Express Why, When and How Often Strategy Should Be Reviewed

Alternative Approaches to Create Strategy

• Identify Seven Strategic Planning Approaches
• Discuss Which Approach Would Best Fit Your Organization