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Most organizations understand the value of strategic planning. Strategic Planning allows an organization to take a step back and evaluate where it is today and envision where it should be positioned in the future to obtain an advantage in the industry.  The strategic plan should establish a clear and understandable direction for the organization as it transforms toward the future state.

On the surface this does not seem overly difficult. But it does require ongoing effort and commitment. To be successful, you cannot think of Strategic Planning as a yearly event. It needs to be activated on an ongoing basis throughout the year. The initial work to create a sound Strategic Plan is wasted if the Plan is not communicated to the organization, aligned to the Strategic Plan or Action Plans are not implemented. To be fully effective, the work must also be tracked and measured against the Plan using a scorecard or dashboard.

If leaders want to affect change they must influence their people by providing vision while balancing the execution of operations.  They must understand and take care of the workforce’s needs while making organizational improvements.  These organizational dynamics work together to “LEAD” your business strategy towards innovation and advantage.

Challenges

Many organizations understand the value of Strategic Planning but struggle with achieving the business results.  This could be because:

• They do not have a clear understanding of where they are and where they want to be.
• They do not create goals and strategies to get them to their desired futures state.
• They do not ensure that all of the work is aligned toward achieving the goals and strategies.
• They do not create the required action plans and projects to achieve the Strategic Plan
• They do not create a Strategic Dashboard to monitor results

LEAD™

TenStep can help you gain the value of Strategic Planning through our LEAD model.

Learn.      Assess the organization to determine the current state. (Where are we now?)

Envision.  Define future state, with goals and strategies to get there. (Where are we going?)

Act.          Create action plans. (What are we going to do?)

Deliver.     Convert action plans to projects and measure results. (Who, what, when, why, how?)

TenStep Strategic Services

You know how to run your business. While Strategic Planning may not be in your comfort zone, it remains as a critical business process. TenStep can help facilitate your Strategic Planning process using our LEAD model so you can focus on the outcomes.