Process Management - Part III

In this article, I will present how the strategy is related to the process management.

Strategic area

The strategic area establishes the actions field that the organization has to focus every effort and resources. These areas define factors or needs for improvement to advance to achieve the vision and create a competitive advantage.

An essential element of success it is an attribute that any organization must have and should be related to the activities which the enterprise must execute well to survive and thrive.

In the same way, the critical competencies are capacities or key abilities that organizations have to develop in the medium term. These skills are usually related to processes like total quality, information technology, logistics, help services, the design of product and service portfolio, staff pick, finance, and training. Even, these processes have to include any improvement needs with the aim to enhance current operations.

Strategic Policy

Strategic Policy is the set of a vital objective and the strategies or media to achieve it. Each strategy area can define one or more strategic policies, and a set of strategic policies we could name as the strategic improvement plan where the scope of this program is in the medium term.

A vital objective is a concrete result to achieve in the medium term, and we must not confuse this goal with projects, activities, actions or task. For instance, a vital objective could be: "Finishing the next four years we will have a system to measure the satisfaction level of our clients."

The vital media or vital strategies are the concrete "how" to achieve the critical objectives. It indicates the way of how to accomplish each one. These strategies take focus on few processes and organizational systems which involve whole the enterprise to add value to the external client. Every strategic plan has to have a responsible, a person who must ensure the correct plan execution and who should have the authority to compromise and assign resources. Likewise, the strategic improvement plan must establish the specific indicators to measure the accomplishment of these objectives.

Operative Plan

The last step consists on fix priorities on the critical strategies with the purpose of determining on which ones focus the effort and resources to advance in the short term. These actions drive the definitions of activities, task and specifics projects to develop, which composes the operative plan.