Ellie Sue | GBC | July, 26, 2020 | 3 min read
Strategic planning is fundamental for the survival of a business, but it is also key in planning for growth.
Strategic business planning is a way to layout the goals and objectives of the company, and how the business will achieve these goals. Strategic plans are focused on the mid-term to long-term goals of a business (Gartenstein, 2019). The strategic plan for your business should be a realistic vision of where you want your business to be, and how you will get it there. Strategic business planning includes everything from the role of each individual within the company, to the overall goals for your business. The main focus of strategic planning is to determine the direction in which you want to take your business. Using business planning software like StratPlan is an excellent way to align your objectives to your financial plans etc., and will help you track your progress going forward.
Your strategic business plan should be made up of three key elements – “where is your business now?”, “where do you want to take it?”, and “what do you need to do to get there?” (Info Entrepreneurs, 2019). Assessing the current position of your company will help you set a realistic expectation of where you want your company to be in the future. As we mentioned, the strategic business plan focuses on mid- to long-term goals, so where do you want your company to be in five to ten years? Specific company objectives are key to sustaining growth and to help you identify resources that will be needed to support this growth.
Unfortunately, with the growth of a business comes increased risk – this coupled with the lack of a clear strategy for growth is a recipe for disaster. Strategic planning will help you to identify potential risks, thus helping you to reduce these risks and come up with contingency plans. Strategic planning software will also aid in decision making as you can easily view all of your data and analytics, enabling you to make more informed decisions. Software such as StratPlan will also help you to understand external factors such as environmental, economic, and competitive factors, that cannot be controlled but will still impact your business.
Strategic business planning will also aid you in task management and increasing organizational engagement. Using a cascading goals strategy means that everyone in the company knows exactly what their individual role is. Making team members accountable for their own actions reduces the need for monitoring, and increases team member’s skills and confidence i.e. making your team more efficient workers (McIntyre, 2017). Using strategic planning software with built-in task management tools, like StratPlan for example, will also help to track the day-to-day performance of individuals, which will reduce time, money, and resources used.
Strategic business plans are flexible and can be amended as and when needed. Using strategic business planning software to track your progress will show you where you’re meeting your targets, and where you are not. Reviewing these analytics, provided by the software, will enable you to recalculate and adjust your strategic business plan accordingly. Using all-in-one strategic planning software, like StratPlan, will help you to build your plan, monitor your progress, and amend your plan when needed – giving you more time to dream about where your business will be in the next ten years!
