Whether you call it a strategic plan, operating plan, or annual plan – having one is critically important. Strategic planning is one of the two most important exercises a company does to ensure success. Second only to the execution of the plan.

A plan provides leaders, managers, and employees with a roadmap to achieve set goals. Strategic planning determines where an organization is going over the next year or more, how it’s going to get there, and how it’ll know if it got there or not.

Strategic Planning Process

Once your business is up and running you need a plan. Here is a simple list of steps in the planning process:

1. Analysis – This can include assessments and trend analysis on competitors, customers, and your industry and SWOT analysis. Really, there is a lot you can and should do here.
2. Goal setting – This can include long-term vision and mission statements. From that, you set the organizational goals and the timeframe you expect to achieve them.
3. Plan creation – Establish the set of projects or initiatives you will implement to achieve your business goals. Often they’re departmentally-based, but cross-functional plans have more impact.
4. Staffing, budget, and financing – To implement the plan you’ll need the right team and resources. This may include external financing to accomplish them.
5. Execution and monitoring – The organization now needs to execute the plan and monitor progress. This last item is critical. The sooner you know about issues the sooner you can address them.

All in One Place

Omnistrat supports all these elements in a single application. It’s rare to have one solution combine so many different elements; a flexible strategic planning process tool, persistent chat, project management, task management, and document management, plus a marketplace of guided templates.