The New Leader's 100-Day Action Plan: How to Take Charge, Build Your Team, and Get Immediate Results, 3rd Edition

APPENDIX IV

Bring More Discipline to Your Strategic Planning Process

The strategic process is the first of the three critical ongoing processes required to run a business; the other two are operational process and organizational process. In the first part of this appendix we present the key underpinnings of strategy: mission, vision, values, objectives, goals, and strategies in broader detail. Following that is a suggested methodology for an effective strategic planning process.

Mission

Simply put, a mission statement informs the organization of what it is called to accomplish. The best mission statements are concise, clear, and motivating. They leave no question as to the “higher good” or the “ultimate focus” of the organization. The most common mistake that organizations make when crafting mission statements is that they are too complex and convoluted and as a result they do not provide meaning for anyone. Keep them pointed, accurate and inspiring. A few great mission statements:

Provide relief to victims of disasters and help people prevent, prepare for, and respond to emergencies.

—American Red Cross

Preserve and improve human life.

—Merck

To explore new worlds, discover new civilizations; seek out new life forms, and to boldly go where no one has gone before.

—Starship Enterprise

Vision

A good vision is an appealing picture of future success, showing what the company will be like when the mission is accomplished. Some examples of clear and inspiring visions:

The world's ...