Strategic planning can best be described as a logical process through which a group of people agrees on, and builds commitment among key stakeholders regarding, priorities that are essential to its mission and responsive to its surrounding environment.
This planning involves looking forward into the future and deciding how goals and objectives will be accomplished. Strategic Planning is a disciplined effort to produce decisions and actions that guide and shape what the organization is, what it does and why it does it. It also requires that this group of people examine what it is and the environment in which it functions – thereby focusing on future issues and challenges as well as opportunities.
Strategic planning should be viewed as a tool. A good strategic plan will help prioritize limited resources, human capital and increase involvement of stakeholders who support the efforts of the organization or group.
Benefits of Strategic Planning include:
- Learning about the community, industry and societal trends
- Prioritizing critical issues
- Developing synergies between strategies so that all of the organizations efforts work together
- Enhancing accountability
- Helping to avoid crisis management
- Increasing motivation, commitment and teamwork
- Hearing from key stakeholders
- Identifying organizational strengths and weaknesses
- Encouraging strategic thinking
- Providing focus for energy and work efforts
- Developing shared criteria for evaluation achievement
- Developing sound fundraising plans
Strategic planning should be viewed as a process that involves a number of people committed to spending the necessary time to develop a good plan that will guide the organization over a period of years.
To learn more about the strategic planning process, contact SDSU Extension Community Development at 688-4792 or 688-5614 or by email at karla.trautman@sdstate.edu