Methodologies of strategic planning

An alternative approach is called Draw-See-Think

* Draw - what is the ideal image or the desired end state?

* See - what is today's situation? What is the gap from ideal and why?

* Think - what specific actions must be taken to close the gap between today's situation and the ideal state?

* Plan - what resources are required to execute the activities?

In general terms, strategic planning can proceed incrementally or revolutionarily.

Strategic Planning As A Set of Logical and Creative Steps

1. Clarification of objective (end-state) to be pursued. The following terms have been used in the literature: desired end states, plans, policies, goals, objectives, strategies, tactics and actions. Definitions vary, overlap and fail to achieve clarity. The following concept has been found useful. The items listed above may be organized in a hierarchy of means and ends and numbered as follows: Top Rank Objective (TRO), Second Rank Objective, Third Rank Objective, etc. From any rank, the objective in a lower rank answers to the question "How?" and the objective in a higher rank answers to the question "Why?" The exception is the Top Rank Objective (TRO): there is no answer to the "Why?" question. That is how the TRO is defined. An example may help to clarify the concept presented above.

2. Information gathering and analysis. This includes an external assessment (such as environmental scanning), and an internal resource assessment. Morphological analysis may be applied to both internal resource assessments and external assessments. SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) Analysis may be used to assess those aspects of the organization and the environment that are important to achieving the objective of the strategic plan. See exact definitions of SWOTs.

3. Evaluation of the feasibility of the objective in view of the SWOTs.

4. Strategy-development. This is a creative step that answers these four questions: How can we use the Strengths, stop the Weaknesses, exploit the Opportunities and defend against the Threats in pursuit of the selected objetive.

5. Developing Action Programs for the more attractive strategies, covering: Name of the strategy, Benefits to be expected from implementing this program, Actions: What will be done? Responsible persons: Who will be in charge of the program? Timing: When will the program start? When will it be completed? Location(s): Where will the program be implemented? Resources: What will be needed: people, money, information, and other resources? Control System: How will progress be measured and reported? Rewards for performance, if any. Contingency plans: What will be done if results fall short?

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