Demystifying Strategic Planning: The What, The How, the Why
It doesn’t take a crystal ball to write an effective strategic plan!
The What: information to be collected
The How: tasks to be completed
The Why: objectives to be achieved
Consider these terms:
A Plan is the management of a process; a scheme that shows the outline of something.
A Strategy is the art of devising plans to achieve a goal.
Strategic simply means something of great importance within an integrated whole.
NO MATTER WHAT YOU CALL IT…. A PLAN IS A PLAN IS A PLAN!
Planning is thinking together.
To help everyone stay together and focused, you should use a checklist.
A checklist is a map that lays out the route to take you through the tasks/activities that must be accomplished to achieve the goals.
Taking the time to plan the route before beginning saves time.
If followed, a plan can prevent items from falling through the cracks.
The best checklists include columns for the following:
Tasks
Product/Result desired
Typical Timeframe
Notes
Responsible Party
End date
Task completed checkmark
For a copy of the Trawick Strategic Planning Checklist click here.