What’s the value of the strategic planning process?

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Maybe that question should be addressed to individualcompanies as “what’s the value of your strategic plan?

We’ve all read that the majority of small to mid-sizedcompanies don’t have a strategic plan. Of those that do have a documented planonly 10% execute them.

There must be a reason why strategic planning is such a lowpriority with the majority of businesses.

Since becoming a business coach I’ve had the opportunity to review numerous documents and work with many companies in developing their plans. The one common thread that came through from most of them was, they simply don’t know how to plan.

In many cases if they documented one it was poorly conceived and soon became lost in the day-to-day realities of business. Many are nothing more than a series of spreadsheets built to show increasing sales and profit year over year. Some financial forecasting is warranted in a plan but they area measurement of plan attainment, not the plan itself.

 A good strategy starts with a clear vision. This is the first step and one that is frequently overlooked. If you don’t start yourplanning process on a solid foundation, how can it ever be successful?

Most management teams have great difficulty committing wherethey want to go and what they want the business to look like in five years. Iusually get a response I want to grow X% or I want my sales to be X dollars bythat timeframe. That isn’t a vision statement, that’s an off the wall forecast.A clear vision is one you can articulate to all stakeholders and use as adecision tool by asking does this investment take me closer to or further frommy strategic goal?

A vision statement must include specifics, what will we looklike in 5 years? How many locations? What markets will we be in? What productswill we sell? What will we be known as within our chosen industry?

After you can answer questions like this and articulate thevision clearly then you are ready to begin the planning process.