Abstract

For starting a strategic planning program from scratch in a directionless but eager environment, these three steps can help break the ice and motivate management. Most important might be first identifying the vision in a goal-oriented, interactive way with department heads involved. Keeping management involved throughout is vital to sustaining any strategic effort. Gaining self-knowledge in relation to the organization’s vision is the next most important thing and therefore the second step, so a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats analysis follows. After the vision is clear along with the ground in between and the present state, the organization's strategic goals are third. In the second step, a great deal of information should inform the organization's self-examination, revealing the opportunities, the competitors and their activities, and the possibilities, such that realistic and yet ambitious strategic goals can begin to take shape.