Thorough and effective strategic planning can help create a more secure future for any business or organisation.A strategic plan establishes your organisation’s vision and sets out goals and actions to achieve this vision. It also identifies an organisation’s strengths and weaknesses, pinpoints potential future challenges and considers how they could be overcome.
Effective strategic planning can help to give focus to organisations and departments in the civil service, preparing them for changes in society and the economy, and helping them to become proactive rather than reactive. With an uncertain economic future ahead, civil servants should implement strategic planning within their organisations to help prepare for the unexpected as best they can.
Some of the key elements of a strategic plan are:
- Your vision
- Goals and objectives
- Strengths and weaknesses
- Key values
- Actions
- Future challenges
WHY IS STRATEGIC PLANNING SO IMPORTANT?
A CLEAR VISION
A good strategic plan will help to ensure that everyone within an organisation is reading from the same page and working towards the same vision.
MORE PROACTIVE
Discussing and planning for changes and challenges that your organisation may face in the coming years can prepare your organisation to some extent and make the future less uncertain. Rather than reacting to issues as they occur, you will be one step ahead as you have already proactively considered your options.
IMPROVE EFFICIENCY
Being prepared for future developments will mean you can react to change quicker to improve your organisation’s efficiency.
Having clearly defined goals and objectives to work towards also helps teams and individuals to align and focus their day-to-day work with the organisation’s overriding objectives.
