Seven Steps toward a Growth-Focused Strategic Plan
New Year's resolutions
aren't just for individuals.
You should be considering
one for your company,
such as revising or
completing the rewriting
of your company's long-
term strategic plan. Here
are seven basic steps
that will help guide the
process: 1) Develop a statement of purpose. Address the fundamental question "Why does our company exist?" 2) Conduct a SWOT analysis. In this case, the acronym stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. 3) Compose a vision statement. Clearly articulate your company's long-range goals. 4) Identify specific objectives. What are the business milestones you hope to attain en route to realizing your long-range goals? 5) Devise strategies for every objective. Determine how you'll reach each milestone. 6) Create action plans for each strategy. Decide who'll do what and also when each assignment needs to be completed. 7) Establish a review process. Set up internal mechanisms to help ensure that what you've planned actually gets done. One danger of crafting a strategic plan is that once it's in writing, the company principals can be lulled into believing that the hard work is done-that the plan will somehow take care of itself. Instead, its components must be consciously implemented on a daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly basis. |