Fundamentals of Strategic Planning

Expand your understanding of strategic planning to grasp what senior management is thinking and why these decisions are made. This knowledge will significantly increase your value to your organization and your ability to contribute strategically to organizational success.

Who Should Attend:

Managers and supervisors who want to expand their strategic planning skills and broaden their management perspective; additionally, anyone who must communicate with managers and leaders involved in the creation and implementation of organizational strategy.

This course provides an overview of strategic planning for those not directly involved in planning processes, but who want to understand the impact of strategy on their work and their organization's overall success. Gain the perspective and vocabulary needed for strategic planning to help you actively and constructively support your organization's strategic direction and initiatives.

How You Will Benefit:

• Understand what strategy and strategic planning truly mean within an organization
• Learn key concepts and terminology used by those involved in strategic planning
• Discover various approaches that companies use to develop strategy
• Understand how strategy moves from concept through implementation to organizational realization
• Recognize the techniques companies use to assess their current and future competitive environments
• Identify specific ways you can contribute meaningfully to your organization's strategic success

What You Will Cover:

• What strategy and strategic planning really mean to organizations
• How strategy creates value for customers and organizational stakeholders
• How companies develop strategy through various strategic planning processes
• The strategic planning process in action: five stages of a classic strategic approach
• Assessing the competitive environments
• Three dimensions of strategy: discussion, decision, and development
• How strategy cascades through the organization during implementation

Course Outline

Learning Objectives

• Define Strategic Planning and Strategy clearly
• Articulate Five Essential Strategy Decisions That Drive Strategy Formation
• Describe How Strategy Cascades Throughout an Organization
• Link Your Specific Role to Organizational Strategy and to Required Implementation Actions

What Is Strategic Planning

• Define Strategic Planning and Strategy
• Identify Five Key Questions for Organizational Success
• Recognize a Generic Process for Strategy Formation
• Determine Key Stakeholders in Strategic Planning
• Describe How Strategy Permeates the Organization

Why Organizations Create Strategy

• Recognize the Grand Design Within the Organization
• Explain the Significance of Environmental Factors Affecting the Organization
• Discuss Growth and Profit Strategies Available
• Describe Various Market Segmentation Approaches
• Identify How Organizations Create Value for Customers and Stakeholders
• Express How an Organization Determines Its Value Proposition
• State Why It Is Important to Link Your Actions to Strategy

The Strategic Planning Process in Action

• Identify the Five Stages of a Classic Strategic Planning Framework
• Describe How Strategy Works Within an Organization
• Articulate the Highlights and Time Requirements of the Planning Process
• Recognize Your Role in Your Organization's Strategic Plans

Assessing the Environment

• Identify Strategic Patterns in the Organizational Environment
• Explain and Anticipate Environmental Patterns
• Express Why Assessing the Environment Is Important
• Describe Six Tools and Techniques for Conducting External and Internal Assessments

Three Dimensions of Strategy: Discussions, Decisions, and Development

• Review Key Stages of the Strategic Planning Process
• Describe How SWOTs, Core Competencies, and Critical Success Factors Are Incorporated into Strategic Discussions
• Appreciate the Rationale Behind Strategic Decisions

Implementing and Reviewing Strategy

• Discuss Strategic Alignment and What It Means to an Organization
• Identify the Ways an Organization Creates Strategic Alignment
• Develop Questions to Facilitate Strategic Conversations
• Recognize Accountability Systems for Strategy Implementation
• Identify Reward and Recognition Incentives for Success
• Express Why, When, and How Often Strategy Should Be Reviewed

Alternative Approaches to Create Strategy

• Identify Seven Strategic Planning Approaches
• Discuss Which Approach Would Best Fit Your Organization