Strategic Planning Kit For Dummies®, 2nd Edition

Chapter 3

Getting Set Up for Successful Planning

In This Chapter

• Understanding the elements of a strategic plan
• Going through the strategic planning process
• Picking a team to plan with
• Calling in help: Choosing a facilitator
• Ensuring a smooth planning process

Strategic planning can seem just as confusing as accounting, where debits and credits are exactly the opposite of their definitions. (Forgive me if you're a CPA.) Strategic planning doesn't need to be counterintuitive. And understanding how all the parts of a plan work together makes it less confusing.

Planning doesn't have a set rule book, so no common language exists. People refer to objectives as goals and to goals as objectives. Mission gets confused with vision, and no one seems to know where strategies actually fit in. Then you have indicators, measures, metrics, targets …

This chapter (or book for that matter) won't stop the debate between semantic differences. But in this chapter, you do look at the elements of the strategic management process and what it involves, assess whether you're ready to begin, determine what the best practices for executing your plan are, and discover how to spot the pitfalls inherent in the process.