No pain, no gain
Strategic planning can be a time-consuming process. So is it really worth all that effort? What is your view?
Below are some of the arguments people use for or against developing a strategic plan. What is your view? Use the vote on this page to let us know what you think. You can also register your views through our online forum by leaving us a comment.
For
“It provides a clear view of where we’re going and how we get there”
- It sets the context and direction for the medium to long term, and enables clear leadership;
- It enables people at all levels to understand what the organisation is trying to achieve;
- It should be as much about what not to do as what to do.
“It ensures that the organisation is aligned to its delivery”
- Strategic plans should set out clear plans for delivery with tangible outcomes and milestones;
- Everyone involved understands how they support its delivery, with aligned incentives;
- If well communicated it prevents wasted activity/effort.
“It considers the changing environment, so we don’t get left behind”
- Regularly reviewing strategic plans ensures that changing market conditions and customer needs/expectations are understood and incorporated;
- Regular reviews can prevent the latest fad or ideas diverting attention;
- It is about the sensible management of risk and uncertainty.
“Strategic planning applies to any component of the business – it doesn’t all have to be done at once”
- It is not just about top-level corporate strategy; a strategic plan can be developed for any part of the business;
- Strategic planning does not need to be performed all at once – it can be phased into short-sharp pieces of work.
“The direction set within the strategic plan can be used to engage external stakeholders and align them to its successful delivery”
- External stakeholders, such as shareholders or suppliers, can be made aware of how they can benefit from and contribute to its success.
Against
“We don’t need to worry about strategic planning right now – it’s a distraction”
- Having a good short-term operational plan is far more important;
- My business doesn’t change enough to warrant a strategic plan;
- There are more urgent or business-critical issues that need to be sorted out.
“It takes such a long time”
- Strategic planning can be a long drawn out process, with endless analysis;
- It’s far too time consuming and diverts resources away from the here and now.
“It’s too theoretical – who knows what the future holds?”
- Regardless of the amount of analysis, the future can’t be predicted sufficiently accurately;
- The minute a strategy’s produced it starts becoming out of date.
“It doesn’t go anywhere”
- Strategic plans contain great ideas, but these are rarely seen through;
- Either they’re not practical or we lose focus and fail to deliver.
“We would never agree it”
- Everyone in the business has a different view – we’d never get them all to agree on what the long term picture looks like.
“We don’t know how to do it”
- It’s too complex and requires specifically skilled people that we don’t have.
“It tends to be something that is ‘done to us’”
- Strategic plans tend to be developed by an isolated group or with a third party
- As a result there’s little ownership across the wider organisation and nothing changes.