Strategic Planning
What is Strategy?
Strategy is important because:
- It gives direction to the organisation.
- It ensures that focus is maintained.
- It empowers people to make decisions.
- It directs the allocation of resources.
- It simplifies decision making.
Elements of a Strategic Plan
Vision: What the organisation stands for and what it hopes to achieve in the future.
What Influences Strategy?
Although a Vision may be bold and audacious, the strategy needs to be pragmatic if it is to work effectively.
Various factors need to be considered, which may include:
Vision: The reason for the existence of the organisation & what the organisation eventually wants to achieve.
Government: Compliance with regulatory and/or constitutional requirements.
Stakeholders: The key groups or entities that the organisation services or is responsible to.
Capability: The organisation’s ability to operate, which includes:
- Expertise and experience of available staff
- Budget or financial standing of the organisation
- Time available to produce the results
- Organisational support systems
Implementation of Strategy.
Implementation is an ongoing cycle.
Once the strategy has been formulated and agreed upon, it is imperative that it is effectively communicated to everyone concerned (Internal employees, clients, outside departments, etc.)
Business units then need to establish their own implementation plans to contribute towards the achievement of the overall strategy.
Individuals are made accountable through the “Performance agreement” process. This also completes the communication process and everyone understands what must be done and why. The tactics or action plans usually form the basis of the performance agreements.
Ongoing review serves the following purposes:
- Everyone understands what needs to be done.
- People focus on the important, rather that the urgent things.
- Training and development needs are identified early in the implementation process.
- Resource issues can be dealt with quickly.