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Facilitating the Strategic Planning Process

Strategic management is one of the most common organizational practices in existence today.  Virtually all organizations facilitate some type of systematic planning activities at one point or another.  Specifically, strategic planning is a methodical decision making process that is used to identify an organization's mission, key objectives, operating goals, action plans and operational roles.  It allows you to more clearly define the purpose of the organization, to clarify goals and objectives for organizational members, to ensure more effective use of institutional resources, to provide a framework for organizational evaluation, and ultimately, to improve organizational performance.  While there are a variety of ways to facilitate strategic planning activities, the primary steps include the following:

1. Develop a Mission Statement

2. Identify the Key Objectives and SMART Goals

3. Facilitate the SWOT Analysis Process

4. Facilitate the Action Planning Process

5. Evaluate Progress

Develop a Mission Statement

A Mission Statement is a brief, formal declaration that describes the specific purpose for an organization.  It specifies, in general terms, what the organization is trying to accomplish.  An effective Mission Statement contains three elements.  It defines why the organization exists, it describes what the organization should be doing, and it identifies who will receive the benefits of the organization's output.  An example of a well crafted Mission Statement includes the following:

"The mission of the ABC organization is to collect and compile data, make strategic decisions regarding that data, develop training programs and provide staff assistance in state-of-the-art computer technologies to our internal clients, including the accounting, finance and marketing departments.  Our aim is to help our clients improve individual and departmental performance while reducing overall costs."

To develop an effective Mission Statement, you must answer three questions:

1. What does your organization do (what is the nature of the organization's business; why does the organization exist; what purpose does it serve)?

2. What are the desired results of this activity (key objectives)?

3. For whom does your organization perform its functions (who is the primary client/beneficiary of the organization's output)?

Identify the Key Objectives and SMART Goals

A key objective, like any goal, is a statement of a desired end state.  It specifies where you want to be at a specific point in the future.  However, an objective differs from a goal in two primary ways.  First, objectives have longer time frames than goals do.  Objectives are typically written in time frames of one or more years, whereas goals are less than one year in duration.  Secondly, objectives are broader in scope and more general.  Goals tend to be narrow in scope and more specific.  That is because goals are written specifically to achieve a particular long-range objective.  Effective short-term goals should be written using the SMART goal method.  Specifically, each goal should have the following characteristics:

SPECIFIC - The goal is concise and stated in performance terms

MEASURABLE - It will be easy to determine if the goal has been met

ACHIEVABLE - The goal is set high, but is also realistic and attainable

RELEVANT - The goal is tied to organizational performance needs

TIME-BOUND - The goal has an identifiable time frame for completion

You can use the following model to write a SMART goal, "By the end of ______, we will ______, as demonstrated by ______".  This ensures that the goal is time-bound, is measurable. is concise and is stated in performance terms.  Examples of a well written SMART goal include the following:

"By the end of the first quarter of 2004, we will increase the quality of our 6 online training courses as demonstrated by a 10% increase in utilization."

By June 30, 2004, we will increase sales of our accounting computer training software, as demonstrated by a 15% increase in sales revenue.

Facilitate the SWOT Analysis Process

SWOT analysis is a technique for assessing the current status of your organization relative to the goals you want to accomplish.  It is designed to evaluate your organization's current strengths and weaknesses as well as the environmental opportunities and threats.  Put another way, it helps you identify the barriers to goal achievement and driving forces that can help you facilitate goal completion.  There are many tools and techniques that can be used to facilitate the SWOT analysis process.  However, two of the simpler and more effective tools include Force Field Analysis (FFA) and the SWOT Identification Worksheet.  FFA is a problem analysis and resolution process that involves identifying a current goal, identifying the Restraining forces that might prevent goal achievement, identifying the Driving forces that can facilitate goal attainment, and developing a change strategy.  Your change strategy can include:

The SWOT Identification Worksheet helps to facilitate a discussion process by which key organizational members address the following questions about their organization:

Facilitate the Action Planning Process

Once you have created your Mission Statement, identified the key objectives and SMART goals, and analyzed the feasibility of each objective, your next step is create action plans that outline how each of the SMART goals will be accomplished.  An action plan is a list of specific steps that need to be accomplished to achieve short-term goals.  Specifically, each step should include the person responsible, the action to be taken, and a completion date.  The resources required can also be included.

Evaluate Progress

Generally speaking, there are two types of evaluation for your strategic plan, formative and summative.  Formative evaluation attempts to answer the question, "are we on target to meet our goals?"  It takes place at the mid-point of the planning period.  Your aim is to determine if you are on track to accomplish the goals you have set, and if not, to make adjustments to the plan.  Summative evaluation answers the question, "did we achieve our objectives?"  It takes place at the end of the planning period.  Your aim is to determine if the goals and objectives that were set at the beginning have been accomplished, and if not, why.  The SMART criteria makes the evaluation process rather easy to facilitate.  You simply examine whether the SMART goals have been met.  Since effective goals are specific and easily measured, you can always tell at a glance how you are doing. 

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Copyright © 2001 T.A.H. Performance Consultants, LLC
Last modified: January 10, 2010