You know your business needs to make some changes, but you aren’t sure where to start. Maybe you have a financial goal or recognize some weaknesses on your team that need to be addressed. Perhaps you are facing a full-on crisis.
It may be tempting to simply chart a course and push the throttle full forward, but from a business perspective, this can be dangerous and even lethal to your organization. What you need to do before taking the next step is to conduct some strategic planning.
“I’m not afraid of storms, for I’m learning how to sail my ship.” Louisa May Alcott
Strategic planning is the key to righting the ship, setting it on a true course, and guiding it through storms safely to port. Effective strategic planning involves:
- taking a solid look at strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats within your organization
- developing a vision of where you want your organization to go
- charting a course to get there
- tracking your progress along the way
- aligning your organization’s mission/purpose with the new vision
- designing a mechanism to deal with change, should it occur
“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.” Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Strategic planning is the key to righting the ship, setting it on a true course, and guiding it through storms safely to port. Effective strategic planning involves:
- taking a solid look at strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats within your organization
- developing a vision of where you want your organization to go
- charting a course to get there
- tracking your progress along the way
- aligning your organization’s mission/purpose with the new vision
- designing a mechanism to deal with change, should it occur
“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.” Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Because some of the greatest barriers to strategic planning success include fear, shortsightedness, negativity, communication barriers, poor leadership and lack of creativity, it is important to bring many players to the table, not just executive stakeholders. As many organizations have found, a top-down approach to leadership can lead to serious issues during implementation, and a ship cannot reach its destination when the crew launches a mutiny.
Solarity’s team of experienced strategic planning experts helps businesses and organizations to navigate the waters of driving success. A good strategic management consultant can lead your team to gain agreement on important issues, work through conflict constructively, brainstorm in a creative environment, and finally develop a balanced and cohesive plan that has everyone’s buy-in.
“Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.”
Solarity’s team brought years of strategic planning experience. This major effort could not have been accomplished without their knowledge and dedication. All who participated commented that they were as invested in the success of the project as the Commonwealth participants.
James M. Fowler, State of Kentucky, CIO
If your organization can use strategic planning to address current or future needs, we’d like to help. When you partner with Solarity for strategic planning, our experts provide the following services:
- consulting with executive sponsors to identify needs
- customizing strategic management materials
- engaging key stakeholders
- facilitating effective strategic management sessions
- ensuring effective two-way communication
When you know the course you are charting for your business is the right one, it’s a good feeling.
When your crew is standing behind you all the way, it’s a great one.