The important factors of corporate strategic planning
Corporate strategic planning is not a one-time exercise that is done annually. It is an ongoing process that the organization tracks on certain parameters and the factors that influence it. This enables the organizations to remain ahead on their overall business strategy and make sure that they continue to retain their competitive edge. An executive leadership program online will share what those factors in detail and how the tracking mechanism works.
Let us take a brief look at them right away.
- Communication – Strategic planning is not just about brainstorming about core business goals or implementing the corporate strategy. In between those two stages lies the critical stage of communication. This is one of the most important factors of corporate strategic planning. Communicating the vision and the process that will be used to achieve it, is what ensures the success of the strategy. The direction of communication has to be two-way with the leadership team spearheading it. Employees across the entire organization need to know what the corporate strategy is going to be. They also need to be aware of how they will play an integral role in it. Their feedback will form the part of communication which leads to information flow towards the top.
- Commitment – Without commitment and engagement by employees, the strategic planning process or even implementation cannot succeed. Commitment leads to high levels of alignment throughout whereas engagement leads to higher performance. Leadership does not have to worry about how to ensure that the staff remains linked to the process because they know the level of motivation of the employees. The leaders does have to spend time and effort however, in gaining the trust and buy-in of all the employees for the strategy to be executed.
- Monitoring mechanism – Most strategic plans lack a clear monitoring mechanism. That could be a serious mistake. The employees as well as leadership should take the onus of monitoring the implementation and assessing how the plan is shaping up at the ground level. This awareness is also required in order to find out when to course correct, and when to provide additional resources or support to those who are involved in it. Discussions on the corporate strategic plan should be a continual process and done at least once a quarter, based on predetermined parameters and measures. Tracking a strategy closely is a good idea especially when the investments and more importantly the results are high.
- Timeframe – A strategic plan is also a project plan. It needs to be managed in the same way and with the same elements within it. Timeframe is a key part of it. Ensuring that there are predefined timelines makes the implementation more rigorous. The drive to achieve the objectives that are part of the plan remains high and the team members do not lose focus from the bigger picture or end goals. Timeframe also ensures that the growth trajectory is being followed in a manner that it yields the results that one is expecting from it. The investments can also be accounted for in a better way due to this.
- Accountability – When a strategic plan is drawn up, the primary element to make it actually work is the allocation of responsibility. Defining the accountabilities for each task and identifying who is responsible for which milestone is very essential. There has to be role clarity as well in terms of who are the actual process owners, the sponsors and those who will be impacted due to the changes that take place due to the strategic plan. Being accountable and taking charge are the attributes that will ensure the achievement of the goals that the strategic plan is aiming to reach.
- Company Culture – The culture of an organization plays a major part in ensuring the success of the strategic plan. It is the work environment and culture which determines how the values and behaviours of the employees shape up as they become a part of the organization. If the culture is one of performance orientation and collaborative team work, it will result in focusing on strategic goals. If it is one of aggressive competitiveness or self-serving actions, there might be a disconnect in terms of moving to the next level of growth, based on the strategic plan.
These are the major factors that are part of corporate strategic planning and also have a deep impact on how the plan shapes up, how it is implemented and how it actually delivers what it was designed for. A lot of companies make the mistake of assuming that once they have invested time in developing the plan, the rest will fall into place. Actually strategy has a high degree of linkage with implementation and dissociating the two is not the right approach. Factors shared above are the ones that can make or break the corporate strategy right at the onset or at the time of implementation as well. Being aware of them at all points is critical.
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