What Is Strategic Planning? | Definition, Purpose, And How to Create

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The term “strategic planning” may sound like a managerial buzzword, but it’s actually a very valuable and necessary business practice.

In this article, you’ll learn what strategic planning is, what goes into one of these plans, and tips on how to create an effective strategic plan.

Key Takeaways:

• A strategic plan is a set of long-term goals that reflect an organization’s mission and vision.

• Strategic plans should cover three to five years.

• Annual and quarterly goals should come from the strategic plan.

What Is a Strategic Plan?

A strategic plan is a set of long-term goals for a company and the practical steps required to reach those goals.

Strategic plans build on the company’s business plan, mission, and vision, outlining specific ways the organization will move forward within its overarching purpose over the next few years.

Leaders can then use their strategic plan to create annual or quarterly goals that all push the company toward fulfilling its strategic plan.

The Purpose of a Strategic Plan

A strategic plan helps get companies’ leaders and employees on the same page. Having a set of long-term goals in place helps direct managers’ projects and short-term goals, making the organization more unified and effective in its efforts.

Example of Putting a Strategic Plan To Use

When managers create their team’s goals for the year, they will refer to the organization’s strategic plan and use that to inform their departments’ goals.

If part of the company’s strategic plan is to increase customer engagement by 15%, a marketing manager could then make it their goal to increase engagement on social media by 15%, and a software engineering manager could decide to have their team create a better chatbot AI for the website within the next year.

Both of these goals work together to help further the overarching strategic plan’s goal of increasing customer engagement.

What Goes Into a Strategic Plan

Every company’s strategic plan will be unique, but there are a few elements that should go into every strategic plan:

1. Mission and vision. Yes, this is the mission and vision statement of your company. While this may feel unnecessary, having your mission and vision statement at the top of your strategic plan will help shape your ideas and goals.

2. Your goals. These goals are the heart and soul of your strategy, so this is the part of your strategic plan that is going to take the most work to create.

3. How you’re going to reach your goals. This means writing out the steps that have to be achieved in order to reach your goals, as well as:

   • When each step will be completed.

   • Who will complete each step.

   • How you’re going to track the completion of each step.

   This may feel tedious, but having these details written down will help you avoid confusion and missed steps.

How to Create a Strategic Plan

1. Establish your mission and vision if you don’t already have one. You can have a mission and vision for a department as well as a company, so this is an important first step for anyone creating a strategic plan – not just a CEO.

   It’s vital to have a solid mission and vision in place because they’re your compass for the rest of your plan: Every goal you set should be in line with your mission and vision.

2. Determine where your organization is now. You can’t move forward if you don’t know where you’re starting. Look at what your company is doing well, what it could improve in, and what goals or changes are in process.

   Assess any problems or challenges, asking for input from your customers, employees, and even outside consultants, if appropriate.

3. Set goals for where you want to go. Dream big, but in a realistic way. Come up with a good mix of goals that are a continuation of what you’ve been doing and goals that push the envelope a little bit.

   The exact ratio will depend on your company’s current position and vision, but the important thing to remember is to not stay in your comfort zone or current rut for too long.

4. Lay out how you’re going to reach those goals. Be as detailed as possible, using numbers and dates so you can quantify your progress. Assign each task to a person, and write it down so you can all reference it later. Make a plan for how you will measure each goal’s progress.

5. Regularly evaluate progress and results. Put dates on the calendar to touch base on how you’re progressing in reaching your goals. This allows you to course-correct more quickly rather than getting five years down the line and discovering that you didn’t come anywhere close to making your strategic plan a reality.

Tips for Creating a Strategic Plan

1. Create a plan that accounts for at least one year. A strategic plan shouldn’t take the place of annual or quarterly goals – it should inform those goals. Usually, strategic plans cover three to five years in the future.

2. Make SMART goals. SMART stands for:

   • Specific – Don’t just say, “Get more customers,” say how many customers you want to gain.

   • Measurable – Will you be able to point to a piece of data and say, “Look, we achieved our goal”?

   • Achievable – Make sure your goals are reasonably achievable with the time, resources, and manpower you have, and detail how you’re going to reach them.

   • Relevant – Does the goal further your overarching mission and vision?

   • Time-bound – Each goal should include an end date.

   Here’s an example of a SMART goal:

   Increase average annual sales by 5% from 2022 to 2025 by expanding production capabilities and utilizing new marketing channels such as TV and targeted social media ads.

   This is much more clear and achievable than simply saying, “Sell more products.”

3. Make sure everyone is on board. Your strategic plan will be most effective if all of your company leaders have fully bought into it. One of the best ways to do this is by having them get involved in organizational strategic planning.

   This doesn’t mean you have to let every manager in your organization give their input, but gather the department directors to make sure you get their perspectives and ideas during your strategic planning sessions. They bring valuable experience and input, making your plan more effective than it would be without them.

   In addition, having these leaders’ buy-in will make it much easier to get the rest of your employees on board.

4. Communicate your strategic plan to the whole organization. Once you’ve created your strategic plan, it’s time to make sure that everyone has access to it and understands it.

   When you’re creating your goals, make some that are reasonably easy to reach, but also consider establishing some that put you out of your comfort zone. You don’t need to be foolhardy, but taking calculated risks and trying new things is one of the best growth catalysts.

   Depending on your organization’s size and culture, you could have a meeting where you walk your employees through the strategic plan or have department heads present it to their teams.

   Whichever method you choose, make sure you send the plan in writing as well, and make sure it’s posted somewhere where everyone can easily access it later on.

5. Remember that a strategic plan is not the same thing as annual or quarterly goals. Your strategic plan should cover about three to five years in the future. Of course, you should revisit and tweak it more often than that, but that’s how far out your goals should be.

   Your annual and quarterly goals should then stem from your strategic plan goals. They should work toward the long-term goals in your strategic plan, but they aren’t the same thing.

6. Consider making a strategic plan for your team or department. Strategic plans aren’t just for corporations or whole organizations – managers’ teams and departments can benefit from strategic planning as well.

Strategic Planning FAQ

1. What is the main purpose of strategic planning?

   The main purpose of strategic planning is to set long-term goals for your organization. These goals will then guide the short-term goals department leaders will set for their teams, ensuring the company is moving forward toward a common mission.

2. What are the five steps in strategic planning?

   The five steps in strategic planning are:

   1. Establish your mission and vision.

   2. Determine where your organization is now.

   3. Set goals for where you want to go.

   4. Lay out how you’re going to reach those goals.

   5. Regularly evaluate progress and results.

3. What is the most important thing in strategic planning?

   The most important thing in strategic planning is to set good goals. This means making sure they are SMART goals: Specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound.

   It also means that they strike the right balance between pushing your organization forward without taking on too much risk.

4. Who creates strategic plans?

   Company leadership creates strategic plans. For most organizations, this means the CEO and the executive team. Others may have additional leaders involved as well, depending on how they’re structured.

   However, individual departments and teams can create their own strategic plans too. In those cases, managers, directors, and team leads would be the ones creating those plans.

References

1. OnStrategy – Sample Strategic Plans

2. Harvard Business Review – The Big Lie of Strategic Planning

Author

Caitlin Mazur

Caitlin Mazur is a freelance writer at Zippia where she has written 140+ articles that have reached over 1 mil viewers as of June 2023. Caitlin is passionate about helping Zippia’s readers land the jobs of their dreams by offering content that discusses job-seeking advice based on experience and extensive research.