How To Secure Your Company

How to Secure Your Company’s Future through Strategic Planning

Do you want to know how to sustain the growth of your company? Strategies that enable the creation of a strong financial foundation, and that will brace the organization for any tough times ahead are a must. In simple terms, you need a strategic plan. A strategic plan is a combination of the company’s vision of the future and the steps to take to get to the future. A comprehensive plan should have the company’s objectives and goals, desired outcomes, their timelines, budgets and metrics to track progress.

However, what is most important about strategic planning is the process. It allows for the stakeholders in the company to get a bearing of the company, to contribute to its strong and weak points and raise serious issues that may cripple the company in the future. As such, the process is not for a single person as the plan will not be owned by others in the company. Well, here is how to go about strategic planning:

Getting started

Once you establish that you need a strategic plan in your company, the first step should be to plan to plan. This means forming a planning team. The team should comprise of the board leader, CEO/executive director, and key staff members. Upon completing your team, you will need to answer the following questions:

Why do you need a strategic plan?
How far into the future should your plan extend?
Should you seek the services of a planning consultant?
When should you have a finished plan?

Gather information

Armed with the answer from above, the next step is to get information that paints a picture of the current condition of the business and the environment it operates in. Often, it includes the history, mission, values, leadership, programs, finances and staffing of the company. You should also conduct a SWOT analysis of the company- a description of its Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.

Decision making

Next, decisions need to be made based on the data collected from above. You should determine the priorities and strategic direction of the organization, outline its milestones and goals to help achieve the priorities and come up with objectives to help meet the goals.

Draft a plan

Next, come up with a plan that gives the outline of the goals and priorities, new staff requirements to accomplish the plan, budgets to support the efforts and a timeline to have realized the vision. After this, present the plan to the governing committee for comments, approval or suggestions.
Implementation

After the board approves the plan, the next step is to implement it.
Ensure you establish a team that tracks the progress in implementing the strategic plan to ensure that all the effort is not a waste of time and resources.