"I was seldom able to see an opportunity until it had ceased to be one." 

- Mark Twain 

Strategic Planning plays an essential part in the leadership of any organization, and can apply to a broad range of areas. Organizations can spend months developing the perfect strategy document, which, for any number of reasons, ends up as “shelf ware”. In the real world an organization benefits far more from a timely, sturdy strategy dealing with essentials, and ending with a successful deployment.

The people at Promitus Solutions have collectively produced hundreds of strategy documents for both public and private sector organizations. The basic tenets of our approach to building a strategy hold that: 

• Strategic Planning is part of a greater ongoing organizational planning process that should cycle continuously through survey, planning and execution.
• The process is as important as the content. Through consultation and consensus-building at multiple levels in the organization a strategy will garner support and be well-positioned for a successful execution.
• Defining a strategy means making choices – focusing on the toppriorities that will “make or break” success for the organization. One of the most common reasons a strategy fails is that the organization tries to do too much and spreads precious resources too thin during the execution phase.

Our services range anywhere from holding a one to three day workshop helping clients kick-start their own internal strategic planning process, all the way to taking an active role in authoring the strategic planning document. Once the strategic plan is finalized, Promitus Solutions is always ready to assist and support our clients throughout execution. 

Areas of strategic planning in which we have performed to date include: 

Some of the key components of any strategic planning can include the following: 

• Vision, Mission, and Objectives over the identified planning horizon;

• Major clients / market segmentation / demographics;

• Noteworthy Industry/Market Trends;

• Key Performance Indicators (KPIs);

• Critical Success Factors (CSFs);

• SWOT Analysis (Strengths, Opportunities, Threats, and Weaknesses);

• Major Program/Project Initiatives; 

• Action Plan Items that are ‘SMARTT’, with responsibilities clearly defined (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Track-able, and Timely);

• Budget Plan;

• Human Resources Plan; 

• Requirements from other sister organizations;

• Timeline / Schedule, with milestones and deliverables over the planning period.

Do you think your organization needs to undertake some kind of strategic planning? Just ask yourself the following questions: 

1.  What conventional wisdom would I want to dispense with in my organization?