Strategic Planning

Working your strategic and planning your process

In today's highly competitive business environment, budget-oriented planning or forecast-based planning methods are insufficient for a large corporation to survive and prosper. The firm must engage in strategic planning that clearly defines objectives and assesses both the internal and external situation to formulate strategy, implement the strategy, evaluate the progress, and make adjustments as necessary to stay on track.

Successful career or business efforts involve strategic planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation (which will ultimately provide data that will be used in future planning and implementation efforts). Strategic planning, an essential first step in the development of a results-based accountability system, is defined as the process of addressing the following questions:

Where are we?
What do we have to work with?
Where do we want to be?
How do we get there?

This process is undertaken by states, organizations, programs, and sub-programs. Although this process appears systematic and rational, it is often iterative and evolves substantially over time. Further, it is subject to political pressure and will be modified accordingly. Some strategic planning efforts may not include all the steps described. The elements and process described in the next section should be modified depending on context. New Beginnings helps your plan and build your strategic plans to develop you as the career professional or your business as well.