This document outlines the strategic planning process for Chicago Milwaukee business managers. It involves:
1) Reexamining the organization's mission and collecting internal/external data on strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats;
2) Establishing clear decision-making policies and communication in the planning phase;
3) Leveraging strengths and opportunities through data collection in the discovery phase;
4) Structuring a planning team with diverse expertise to guide the process through phases like documentation, assessment, and evaluation.
The strategic planning process results in a specific, measurable, and time-bound plan to articulate an organization's unique value and guide proactive actions for success.
2. What does Strategic Planning Involve?
• Deliberate reexamination of how to articulate the
organization’s mission
• Collecting data about:
– your organization’s strengths and weaknesses
– the external environment
– management’s values and facts about future opportunities and
threats
• Getting creative and concrete about the strategies that will
help your organization better succeed
• Systematically reviewing all vital aspects of the business
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3. The Planning Phase
Leadership must:
• Establish a policy for how the planning team will
make decisions
• Clearly define and document decision making
authority and responsibility
• Communicate!
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4. The Discovery Phase
Why is Data Collection Important?
• Determines how to leverage your
organization's strengths
• Takes advantage of opportunities
• Creates a process to overcome challenges
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5. Structuring your Planning Team
Qualities/Experience/Expertise Required
• Business/Management
• Personal engagement/ownership
• Commitment to the mission
• Passion for growing the business
• Organizational professionals
• Key staff members:
• Financial/Accounting
• Marketing/Communications
• Development
• Entrepreneurial spirit
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6. Structuring Your Planning Team:
Independent SchoolTeam should include:
• Board Chair
• Commitee Chairs
• Other key board members or stakeholders
• Head of School and educational leadership
• Key staff members (Finance, Development, Admissions,
Marketing and Communications)
• Facilitator
• External sources such as external auditors and/or
independent management evaluators
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7. Strategic Planning Phases
Appoint a team lead to manage each phase of the process:
1. Planning
2. Data Collection/Discovery/Analysis
3. Adopting a Strategic Planning Template
4. Reporting (Findings, Recommendations and SWOT)
5. Documentation Review
6. Ongoing Assessment and Evaluation
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8. Sample Strategic Plan Roles
Planning Team
Planning Strategies should be:
•Specific
•Measurable
•Achievable
•Realistic
Data CollectionTeam •Time bound
Reporting Team Plan Owners
Accountable for:
Accountable for: Review Team
-- Completing a thorough analysis
Completing a thorough analysis
Accountable for:
Accountable for: of how initiatives can be achieved
of how initiatives can be achieved
-- Findings
Findings -- Ensuring that action plans are
Ensuring that action plans are
-- Recommendations
Recommendations Accountable for:
realistic
realistic Accountable for:
-- SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis -- Ensuring strategies are
-- Including clear measures of
Including clear measures of Ensuring strategies are
success for each tracked activity
success for each tracked activity complete and consistently
complete and consistently
-- Ongoing assessment
Ongoing assessment documented
documented
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9. Key Process Steps
1. Clarify the Problem or Opportunity
2. Outline the Process for Developing and Selecting Strategies
3. Establish Criteria for Success
• The scope of each initiative or action step within the strategy
must be “SMART,” (Specific, Measurable, Achievable,
Realistic, Time-bound)
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10. Key Process Steps (Cont’d)
4. Brainstorm, Prioritize and Select the Viable Strategies
• Determine which strategies can be implemented within the
next 6-18 months
5. Articulate Clear, Measurable Action Plans and Accountability
6. Define Ways to Measure Progress and Success
• Identify metrics for measurement of progress against
goals
• Implement monitors and controls for each step taken to
complete the task
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11. What Can Go Wrong?
• Creating a vision and thinking about how to reach
that vision without doing the data collection
• Leadership does not involve staff in the planning or
decision making process, i.e., staff members are
given implementation responsibility but not
ownership opportunity
• Utilizing an inconsistent process to analyze and
document action steps toward strategy achievement
• The plan’s time horizon is too long
• Communicating only through e-mail
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12. Lack of Policies and Defined Roles and
Responsibilities
May Result In:
• Limited expectations
• Lack of initiative and/or energy by the team
• Lack of clarity around the mission and
misunderstanding of goals
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13. Make the Most of the Strategic Planning Process
Successful Plan Development Processes:
• Do not rely only on the Board and the Chief Executive to provide all
information with which to make decisions
• Have a partnership between Board, the professional leadership team,
the staff and external resources
• Select a leader who:
1) communicates clearly defined expectations
2) provides the planning team with training before execution
3) appoints a facilitator to encourage dissent, debate, and questions
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14. Successful Strategic Plans (Cont’d)
• Are developed by owners who set their own goals and are
accountable for accomplishing those goals
• Reflect a long-range mission but focus most intently on the next 12-
18 months
• Are assessed and revised on a semi-annual basis to consider new
information, priority changes and assessment of resources and skills
to complete the necessary tasks.
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15. Outcomes
What to expect from a Successful Strategic Planning Process
A plan developed with strategic and proactive teamwork results in:
• A plan that articulates your organization's unique value added
• A roadmap for what is to be done, when it is to be done, how it is to
be done, and who is going to do what
• Actions that drive innovation and resilience to market conditions
• Greater leverage for the organization in achieving success
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