Standard Operating Procedure “Implementation of a strategic planning system for small and medium-sized companies”
Standard Operating Procedure “Implementation of a strategic planning system for small and medium-sized companies”
Suppose an organization has decided to implement a strategic planning system. In that case, it will inevitably face the problems of selecting participants (strategic planning group), techniques for selecting and interacting with third-party consultants who moderate the process, appointing a coordinator for the strategic planning group, regulating the process in the form of policies and procedures, choosing a simple and understandable approach to strategic planning. Another set of problems that needs to be addressed is defining threats, weaknesses, opportunities, and strengths (conducting SWOT analysis) based on a reliable statistical base. In addition, the company’s top management must clearly understand the barriers to implementing the system, express real and vivid support for implementation from major sponsors and stakeholders, and keep it operational for years to come. A separate implementation problem is the feasibility of the strategic plan, i.e., breaking strategies into action plans with key performance indicators and selecting realistic strategies based on this. This standard operating procedure reflects solutions to all these issues in the form of a structured business process
The standard operating procedure consists of the following sections:
- A step-by-step guide on how to form a strategic planning team
- Procedure for selecting a key person in this process – the coordinator of the strategic planning group
- Guide for selecting a consultant-strategic session moderator and description of roles that this consultant-moderator should perform
- Typical questions that are advisable to ask during an interview when selecting a strategic planning consultant – strategic session moderator
- Guide for choosing a simple and understandable approach to strategic planning for small and medium-sized businesses
- A list of typical mistakes (more than 45) in implementing the strategic planning procedure, which should be discussed with top management and potential members of the strategic planning group before starting work
- A template of the procedure “Development, approval, and modification of the strategic plan”
A lot is said and written about the importance of strategic planning in business development. Here, we would like to emphasize the benefits of a systematic approach to strategic planning in the form of the standard operating procedure:
- Cost optimization for the development and implementation of a strategic planning system
- Implementation time reduction
- Simplify the strategic plan development and improve its quality and validity by understanding the pitfalls of this challenging process and ways to overcome them.
- A systematic approach to strategic planning provides a clear path, safeguarding against confusion and chaos. This promotes efficient and timely workflow, ensuring that everyone is on the same page and working towards the same goals
- Clear guidelines allow members of the strategic planning process to perform tasks confidently and consistently, define critical success factors and the company’s value proposition, correlate strategic planning workflow with project management on a tactical level
- Logical and systematic strategic planning helps develop more effective strategies. It ensures that decisions are based on data and reasoning, structured benchmarking, competitive analysis, accurate financial modeling and forecasting, and clear formulating vision and mission, leading to better outcomes
- A well-structured strategic planning process enhances decision-making and resource allocation
You can book Advisory Support sessions with SME/Procedure developer. Each session will be provided in a form of an hour long video call via Zoom. First 2 Advisory Support sessions are included in the price.
The International Management Decisions Library allows users who have purchased the corresponding standard operating procedure to receive consulting services from the vendor/procedure developer on its content and implementation technology. The user must book a video conference with a specific developer to receive such consultation. The system allows you to agree on a convenient time for both parties automatically, considering the difference in time zones if the user and the procedure developer are in different time zones. Depending on the complexity of the standard operating procedure, a certain number of free developer consultations is established (the cost is included in the price of the procedure). If a library user requires additional consultations beyond the established limit, they can book this consultation for an extra fee.
The library administration monitors the facts of scheduled meetings and resolves situations where the booked meetings did not occur
This procedure belongs to our Library’s foundational standard operations procedures (SOPs) class. No prerequisites (purchasing other SOPs) are necessary for its implementation
