What are the stages of preparation a plan?

The Strategic Planning process is undertaken for the purpose of developing a concrete plan that would lead an organization towards accomplishing its long-term goals and objectives. The planning process is executed by the senior members, who sit together and analyze different situations affecting the state and affairs of business. In this process, they have a look at the current scenario of the organization, its internal and external environment; prepare suitable strategies and objectives according to their situation assessment as well as develop procedures to execute and weigh up the strategic plan. Ideally, strategic planning is done for a three to five year timeline; however it is also done for a shorter period, when the organization or its environment is dynamic. Typically, there are five stages in strategic planning: analysis of the current state, defining the future state, determining goals and objectives, implementation and evaluation.

• Analysis of the current state of an organization: The very first step is to determine the current state of business by having a complete understanding of the internal and external audits and internal and external environment of an organization. Leaders analyze the overall marketplace, the competitive environment within the industry and the core competencies of the organization. In short, they conduct a SWOT analysis to examine all the factors affecting the organization.
• Defining the future state of an organization: After analyzing the overall image and standing of organization, strategic planners then move to defining the probable achievements or future state of their organization. They develop a vision (future concepts) and mission statement (which can be about its products, customers, markets, etc.) by focusing on the main priorities of the organization. At this stage, they also highlight the organization’s future goals and give a proper direction to the organization by stating its expected core values, future place and probable functions.
• Determining goals and objectives of an organization: Strategic leaders then proceeds to identify common goals and objectives of their business, which are usually determined from the mission and vision statement. This helps an organization to understand what it needs to accomplish in order to address its priorities.
• Implementation: The next stage involves execution of the overall planning and determining accountability, that is, shouldering responsibility to the right person for specific processes. In this stage, leaders communicate about allocating time, money and human resources for achieving the desired objectives, thereby addressing prior issues.
• Evaluation: At the final stage, the leadership team only reviews the performance of the plan and ensures that it is fetching desirable results. Evaluation is scheduled in advanced and done at regular intervals of time, which is ideally once in three months. It is a consistent process and by doing so, strategic leaders examine and assess if the project is moving in the right direction and their planning has been credible.