FAQs

Just what exactly is Strategic Planning?

The term strategic planning refers to a coordinated and systematic process for developing a plan for the overall direction of your endeavor for the purpose of optimizing future potential. For a profit-making business, this process involves many questions.

Is a Strategic Plan different from a Business Plan?

Yes, a strategic plan answers the question why while a business plan is a blueprint for how. It is a big-picture, forward-thinking approach to a company’s reason for being.

How is Strategic Planning different from Long-Range Comprehensive Planning?

​Strategic planning offers a process for moving from the general long-range (10-to-20-year) goals and objectives of a comprehensive plan to more specific short-term initiatives and actions. Strategic planning focuses on a few priority issues and deals with the organization’s social and economic issues, as well as its physical development (something typically emphasized in comprehensive plans).…
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What are the characteristics of a successful Strategic Planning process?

A successful planning process should: Involve key and diverse stakeholders in the organization Develop ownership of the future vision and the action plan, and a sense of community among stakeholders Produce results that support the organization’s expected “drivers” of change Develop the strategic thinking of the participants in the process Lead to an institutionalized strategic…
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