What You Didn’t Know About Strategic Planning

It’s common to confuse a strategic plan with a business plan, which is used to start a business, obtain funding, or direct operations and generally covers one year. Strategic planning is more of your operational procedure. How do you tackle situations like marketing, Human Resources and so forth, you need a steering wheel and the driver. But the driver doesn’t drive an empty bus, the bus needs passengers and people who service the electricals of the bus, the mechanics, the sitting arrangements, the cash and tickets, that’s when strategic planning comes in.

SWOT is perhaps the most common tool used in the strategic planning process, but it’s not right for everyone. Some people think it’s too limited in scope and doesn’t encourage deep analysis. Let’s look at some Strategic Planning Examples which aren’t mentioned all the time when such a topic is raised.

• A SOAR analysis is a common, more positive twist on SWOT. It stands for Strengths, Opportunities, Aspirations, and Results, and the goal is to use appreciative inquiry to focus on what works, rather than perceived weaknesses or potential threats.
• NOISE?stands for Needs, Opportunities, Improvements, Strengths, and Exceptions. This solution-focused process looks at what works and what should improve, and also encourages you to explore opportunities you didn’t realize existed.
• The Five Forces?framework examines competitive rivalry, supplier power, buyer power, the threat of substitution, and the threat of new entry. It can help companies assess industry attractiveness, how trends will affect industry competition, which industries a company should compete in, and how companies can position themselves for success.
• Hambrick and Fredrickson’s Strategy Diamond framework?consists of five essential parts that together should form a unified whole: Arenas, Vehicles, Differentiators, Staging, and Economic Logic. It’s intended to serve as a concise way to show how the parts of an organization’s strategy fit together.
• TEEPLE is an acronym for Social, Technological, Economic, Environmental, Political, Legal, and Ethical—and each is an external factor you’ll judge using this tool. (There are several similar variations on this external-focused model, including PEST and STEEP).
• A CORE assessment?uses a strictly financial perspective to craft a business strategy and long-term plan. It looks at a company's capital investment, site, ownership involvement, risk factors, and exit strategy.

Operating without a strategic plan is like sitting in the passenger seat of your own business. You see it accelerate into overdrive and pass one milestone after another. Eventually, however, you helplessly watch as it swerves aimlessly or, worse, crashes and burns

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