Levels of Planning
What is strategic plan? And why is it so important for big business to have one to become
successful in future? When strategic planning should be done? Strategic planning
determines where an organization is going over the next year or more, how its going to get
there and how itll know if it got there or not. The focus of a strategic plan is usually on the
entire organization, while the focus of a business plan is usually on a particular product,
service or program. It is very important for any kind of businesses to have for there future
success and to determine where business will be going next year and how much revenue
will be flowing.
There are a variety of perspectives, models and approaches used in strategic planning. The
way that a strategic plan is developed depends on the nature of the organizations
leadership, culture of the organization, complexity of the organizations environment, size
of the organization, expertise of planners. There are a variety of strategic planning models,
including goals-based, issues-based, organic, scenario. Goals-based planning is probably
the most common and starts with focus on the organizations mission and vision and/or
values, goals to work toward the mission, strategies to achieve the goals, and action
planning (who will do what and by when). Issues-based strategic planning often starts by
examining issues facing the organization, strategies to address those issues, and action
plans. Organic strategic planning might start by articulating the organizations vision and
values and then action plans to achieve the vision while adhering to those values. Some
planners prefer a particular approach to planning, appreciative inquiry. Some plans are
scoped to one year, many to three years, and some to five to ten years into the future. Some
plans include only top-level information and no action plans. Some plans are five to eight
pages long, while others can be considerably longer. Organization strategic planners
already know much of what will go into a strategic plan. It is true for business planning,
too. However, development of the strategic plan greatly helps to clarify the organizations
plans and ensure that key leaders areall “on the same script”. Far more important than the
strategic plan document, is the strategic planning process itself.
There are lots of benefits of doing strategic planning. Strategic planning serves a variety of
purposes in organization. Clearly define the purpose of the organization and to establish
realistic goals and objectives consistent with that mission in a defined time frame within
