Successful Strategic Planning - Benefits

Some of the benefits of a successful strategic planning are:

• Leads to action
• Builds a shared vision that is values-based
• Is an inclusive, participatory process in which board and staff take on a shared ownership
• Accepts accountability to the community
• Is externally focused and sensitive to the organization's environment
• Is based on quality data
• Requires an openness to questioning the status quo
• Is a key part of effective management

Review of Strategy

You must keep the strategy under constant review, as part of the continuous task of monitoring organisational performance. You should consider:

• Is our 'vision' for the organisation still valid? Does our view of the desired future for the organisation match the pressures on us, the way our business is developing, and the changes that have taken place – and are likely to take place – in our business environment?
• Are the themes of our strategy still appropriate? Do we need to consider additional themes which should be added to the agenda for change, because of changed business circumstances, new technologies, pressures from the environment or changes in corporate capabilities? Are any of our strategic themes no longer relevant to the organisational agenda for change?
• What progress are we making in our strategic themes, and do we need to re-prioritize or replan to ensure that the rate of change meets our business requirements?

You must keep all these levels of strategy and planning under constant review:

• The strategic 'vision'.
• The route chosen towards the vision (the 'themes' of the strategy).
• The detailed plans for implementation.

Strategic Decisions

What constitutes a 'strategic' decision? 

A decision is likely to be strategic rather than tactical or operational if:

• The decision has major financial or other resource implications – for example, on staffing or equipment.

• The decision will involve a significant amount of change in the organisation.

• The decision will affect the whole organisation or a large part of it.

• The decision constrains or commits the organisation in significant respects for a long period of time.

• The decision will have a major impact outside the organisation – for example, on customers or other bodies.

• The decision entails significant risks to the business.

• The decision will involve major changes in the business of the organisation, such as the products or services it offers.

• The decision is related to other important decision areas, and raises issues of complexity and 'cross-cutting' interactions.

• It will be difficult or impossible to reverse the consequences of the decision.

If the organisation has to take a strategic decision unexpectedly, the decision will be taken and the strategy updated in parallel. A strategy is a guide to action, not a straitjacket; you should remain open to the need for changes in strategy when the business requires them.

Principles of Strategic Management

The strategic issues facing the organisation and its response to them will call on the organisation's skills in strategic management – its ability to recognise and deal successfully with strategic issues. In the public sector, these will include:

• Addressing the needs of the citizen, not the convenience of the organisation
• Greater efficiency and value for money
• Improved and innovative service delivery to the public
• Joined-up policy making
• Increased communication with customers and partners
• Greater local-central government coordination
• Improved performance and the implementation of Public Service Agreements
• Realisation of the government's e-government strategy (an enabling framework of key principles such as interoperability and supporting technical standards)

Although the strategy process may incorporate timetabled events which fit in to the wider management processes – such as the cycles of financial planning in the public sector – strategic management is a continuous process. Managers at all levels in the organisation may need to make decisions on business issues at any time, and some of these decisions could be regarded as 'strategic' – even though they may not appear so at the time. Any business-focused strategy must be flexible enough to accommodate the demands of continuous change.

Stakeholders in Strategic Management

Key Stakeholders are:

• Senior executives and business managers - they need to seek out opportunities for new ways of working that will help the organisation to realize the agenda for change in the public sector; they also need to be aware of the implications of realignment if the strategic direction is changed.
• Senior management responsible for reviewing and redefining the requirements for delivery of core services, and for acquiring the means to deliver them.
• Staff responsible for developing and reviewing the business strategy in their organisations; they need to appreciate the wider business context partners and other stakeholders affected by the strategy.