Strategic Planning: Defining the Business Environment Part 4

Every organization has a set of beliefs that govern the conduct of its members. The problem is that many of these beliefs cannot be considered guiding principles. They are usually unconscious and chosen by default rather than by design, yet they play a powerful role in shaping the culture of the institution.  

Criteria for Guiding Principles

• Aligned with mission
• Reflect deepest "truths" or values of organization
• Motivate and inspire
• Guide decisions and conduct
• Easy to remember
• Action-oriented
• Should have no more than six principles  

Complete this exercise regarding Guiding Principles:

1. List observations about your organization's culture.
2. List the beliefs that might cause each of these cultural observations.
3. Finally, list some new beliefs that would be better aligned with your organization's mission.

Until next time...






Sheryl Tuchman, SPHR, SHRM-SCP
http://tools2succeed.com/

Steps to Strategic Planning Part 2

THE SIMPLEST WAY TO THINK OF STRATEGIC PLANNING IS WITH 3 QUESTIONS:

1. Where are we now?

• List each area and current performance, then ask the following questions for each:
• What is working?
• Observation
• How can we do even better in this area?
• What is not working?
• Observation
• Root Cause
• Resolution 

2. Where do we want to go?

• What is our mission and our vision?
• What are our main goals?
• Time-Frame
• Measurement
• Priority
• What are our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT Analysis)? 

3. How will we get there?

• What should we:
• Stop doing?
• Start doing?
• Continue doing?
• What do we need in order to achieve these goals?
• Staffing
• Training
• Other
• Resources
• What are the specific tasks to be performed to reach these goals?
• Due date
• Responsible

ONCE A STRATEGIC PLAN IS PUT IN PLACE, REMEMBER TO EVALUATE IT PERIODICALLY.

Strive for continuous improvement, and be prepared to make adjustments as changes occur in the organization as well as in the business environment.

Until next time...






Sheryl Tuchman, SPHR, SHRM-SCP
http://tools2succeed.com/

Steps to Strategic Planning Part 1

WHAT IS STRATEGIC PLANNING?
Let's start with the current Wikipedia definition:  "Strategic planning is an organization's process of defining its strategy, or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy.  It may also extend to control mechanisms for guiding the implementation of the strategy. Strategic planning became prominent in corporations during the 1960s and remains an important aspect of strategic management."
 
WHY DO WE NEED STRATEGIC PLANNING?
Organizations are constantly changing as is the world around us. Those changes can include market conditions, technology, political and legislative conditions, new opportunities, and evolving customer needs.

Strategic Planning:

• Sets direction for the organization
• Where the organization is headed
• Short- and long-term performance targets
• Actions for management and staff to achieve outcomes
• Allows managers and staff to understand and work towards this direction
• Focuses effort
• Defines the organization
• Provides consistency
• Ensures resources and energies are allocated properly

Strategic Planning must include consideration for:

• Operating the Business
• The Organization’s Competitive Position
• Meeting Customer’s Needs & Expectations
• Achieving Performance Targets

Until next time...






Sheryl Tuchman, SPHR, SHRM-SCP
http://tools2succeed.com/

Strategic Planning: Defining the Business Environment Part 3

DEFINING OUR MISSION

A mission statement is a sentence or short paragraph that describes an organization's reason for being that unites and inspires people around a common vision of their purpose and contribution to their society/community.

• This statement is not financially driven, nor is it related to current products and services.
• It addresses the contribution of the organization to the community or society of which it is a part.
• A mission statement is simple and concise.
• It provides direction and focus.
• It is broader than current products, services, markets, customers.
• It asserts greatness.
• It is understandable to everyone.
• It inspires and motivates.
• It sets the context for strategic decision-making.  

What is your version of a mission statement for your organization?

GUIDING PRINCIPLES

Principles are deep, unchanging truths, laws, or tenets.

• They are like the "Constitution" of an organization.
• They communicate the rules by which people will act.
• They provide wisdom so we can act instead of react.
• They bring integrity to an organization.

Until next time...






Sheryl Tuchman, SPHR, SHRM-SCP
http://tools2succeed.com/

Strategic Planning: Defining the Business Environment Part 2

THE LEGACY OF OUR ORGANIZATION

Think about the following questions regarding your organization within a larger social context.

• Why does the organization exist?
• What contribution do we make to our community (society)?
• What are our most important nonfinancial objectives?
• How would you describe our current core ideology?
• What is the reputation of our organization within our industry?
• What is our reputation among our employees?
• What is our reputation within the community?

BEYOND PROFITS

We often think the purpose of most companies is to make money.

• In American society today, financial profitability is the most important measuring stick of success.
• A short-term focus on profits drives most downsizing, reengineering, cost cutting, and mergers and acquisitions.
• While these steps can make businesses more efficient in the short run, a narrow focus on profitability measures can kill the "spirit" of an organization, driving away its best people.
• Money is like food, oxygen, and water; these are not the reasons for our existence and yet, without them, we cannot exist.
• The best companies don't define their identity or legacy around making money but rather making a contribution to the good of the community or larger society of which they are a part.

  Until next time...






Sheryl Tuchman, SPHR, SHRM-SCP
http://tools2succeed.com/

Strategic Planning: Defining the Business Environment Part 1

Awareness of the organization's environment is becoming increasingly more critical for businesses since the demands of the environment are growing and changing more rapidly all the time. Many organizations only discover the importance of their surrounding environment when their existence is being threatened. Because most markets have become world markets with worldwide competition and because market conditions are currently changing so rapidly, it is becoming increasingly important for organizations to understand and adjust quickly to the environment that surrounds them.

FACTORS TO CONSIDER IN THE EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT

• Key Customers
• Key Stakeholders
• Key Suppliers
• External Influencing Factors
• Current Market Conditions
• Key Competitors  

CORE IDEOLOGY

• Core ideology defines the company's reason for being.
• It expresses the reason for being that is more than making money or even delivering a particular product to a particular customer.
• It can be considered the "heart and soul" of the organization and result in a shared vision which gives meaning and purpose to the work people do.
• A good core ideology transforms an organization from a  normal place of work to one which inspires people and brings out their best.

Until next time...






Sheryl Tuchman, SPHR, SHRM-SCP
http://tools2succeed.com/