The Strategic Plan E-Brief

A Step-by-step Guide to Map Out Your

Business Goals
by Heidi Richards Mooney

The Strategic plan is a step-by-step

guide, created by a business or
organization, to map out how it will
reach goals, and set a foundation so
the entire organization knows what is
expected
of
them.
Like
the
architectural drawings for a home or
building, the Strategic Plan provides a
blueprint of what the organization
should look like, when all the plans are
implemented.
It includes how to
achieve a stated vision, for the chosen
target market, and how an organization
will serve its stakeholders and
customers consistently, effectively and
profitably every single time.
The strategic plan also serves as a systematic, management tool for problem
solving, market planning, product development and preparation of business
plans. The goal is to integrate all aspects of the organizations activities in a
mutually supportive system.
When everyone participates in the planning stages, especially for the strategic
planning, all will work harder to carry out the plans and projects. Include a
variety of people in the organization to participate in any brainstorming
sessions, including officers, directors, staff and volunteers. The ideal range is
from five to eight people.
It is also recommended to enlist the help of a skilled, independent facilitator to
assist with the development process of the strategic plan. An independent
facilitator is trained to enlist everyone's participation and draw out all opinions.

STRATEGIC PLAN EBRIEF ~ Heidi Richards Mooney www.HeidiRichards.com 954-625-6606

The Five Elements of a Strategic Plan

Vision
Mission Statement
Critical Success Factors
Strategies & Actions for Objectives
Prioritized Implementation Schedule
These elements become the foundation of a your business plan. The strategic planning
process explores essential questions about the purpose of the organizations existence or
being. Leaders and key stakeholders must answer these essential questions and come up
with a consensus on the answers. Answers to these questions will help in determining the
seven important elements to the strategic plan.
- What is our vision?
- What do we do best?
- What is our business?
- What needs can we satisfy for our stakeholders, that organizations competing for the same
market cannot or do not provide?
- What kind of image do we want?
- What do we want to be known for?
- What kinds of stakeholders/customers do we want to have?
- How big do we want to be?
- How many products do we want to have?
- What personal needs do we want to satisfy?
- What is our philosophy, ethical and social responsibilities, and values?
- What value do we want to have to our stakeholders/customers, and vendors?
- Where do we want to be in five years?

Build the Foundation

Vision: A brief statement describing direction and growth plans.
Once you have determined the answers to the above questions, you can begin to develop a
vision, with full participation and "buy-in" from all stakeholders. The vision should be concise
and understandable. Brevity is the key to being memorable. The vision for the Womens
Ecommerce Association, International is To empower women, promote business, create
connections, network and celebrate womens achievements around the globe through
technology.

STRATEGIC PLAN EBRIEF ~ Heidi Richards Mooney www.HeidiRichards.com 954-625-6606

Build a Foundation (cont.)

Mission Statement: Describes the important business capabilities, based

on the stakeholders needs identified in the market research.
From the vision statement, themes will emerge and form the mission statements for the
organization, and/or the problem or need to be resolved. The mission statement will become
the yardstick for measuring success and progress.
In fact, in many organizations, mission statements are adopted for several aspects of the
organizations functions. For instance, an organization might have a mission statement for
each committee that becomes the driving force for all future plans, as well as an overall
mission for the entire organization.
In developing mission statements, consider what is really being offered to your target market.
Are you raising funds for a specific cause, are you providing services for the wellbeing of a
certain segment of the community, are you an information and education organization?
For instance, the mission of the Womens ECommerce Association is To Help Women do
MORE Business on and Off the WEB. This statement has several objectives that will
require a wide range of individual action steps or plans in order to be accomplished. The
objectives implied in this mission statement include offering an educational component to
members, promotion of the organization as well as to create opportunities for women to
network.

Critical Success Factors are key factors that will need to be addressed if the
organization is to achieve the vision and mission.

They might include:

Creating credibility
Finding needed resources
Performing additional market research to stay in touch with stakeholders
needs
Establishing standards of how a company serves and listens to all
stakeholders/customers
Establishing internal and external communication standards;
Profitability income generation
Cost-effective manufacturing and operations
Establishing a continuous improvement policy for reviewing and evaluating
progress

STRATEGIC PLAN EBRIEF ~ Heidi Richards Mooney www.HeidiRichards.com 954-625-6606

CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS (cont.)

A system that documents processes so others can be trained;

Buy-in from all levels of the organization, which helps understanding and acceptance
through participation
Commitment and willingness from the leaders to make changes
A financial plan that ensures enough cash flow and revenue to effectively manage and grow
the organization
A plan to deal with recessions should they occur
Administrative policies and systems to enhance staff and volunteers do their jobs
effectively.
Once the list of critical success factors has been created, review them for achievability and
practicality. Determine if all critical success factors can be incorporated into the scope of
work in a cost-effective manner.
Group brainstorming can help identify ways to make an otherwise uncontrollable variable
manageable. Ensure that the group looks at the problem and views it in a different framework
or opposing perspective. Use the same process to see what alternative solutions emerge
from the group.
Document the critical success factors and any contributing factors or sub-steps necessary to
achieve them. Make sure you structure the document to include objectives or goals in mind
to achieve the desired outcome.
Put together a dream team with a good representation of the organization. Their objective is
to prioritize each of the critical success factors. Prioritize keeping in mind existing workloads,
and daily maintenance and operations and individuals involved. Re-evaluate each of the
objectives before implementing. Do they still relate to the vision the organization or the
problem it needs to solve? The order of importance for implementation of strategies defined
as important by a growing organization, are generally the ones that follow the path of least
resistance towards achieving the overall plan in a fiscally responsible manner.
Assign leadership responsibility to one person to oversea the planning and implementations.
It may be necessary to form teams to accomplish the objectives of the plan. Team members
should be directed to prioritize their time in order to concentrate on higher priority objectives.

STRATEGIC PLAN EBRIEF ~ Heidi Richards Mooney www.HeidiRichards.com 954-625-6606

A strategy is the definition of the steps to take in order to insure the work gets done
and by whom.
A group or specific team could be assigned to carry out the program of work described in the
Plan. The most important factor is to determine which individuals or groups would be
responsible for implementation. Break down each critical success factor objective or goal into
a series of strategies for implementation, by priority. Determine the specific action plans or
tasks required to implement each strategy.
Prioritize the critical success factor objectives and corresponding strategies/actions
in order of importance.
Create and document a time line or schedule, which includes start dates, milestone dates
and anticipated completion dates for each strategy.

In Summary
This collection of objectives, strategies, actions and responsibilities should become the
foundation of an organizations business plan. A business plan is organic, constantly evolving
document that moves with changes in the environment and the organization
One major contributor to an organizations failure is lack of focus on a single direction with all
participants working towards the same goals. Another contributing factor is losing focus on
that direction and not exercising the discipline and management leadership to implement the
plan as decided. A third contributing factor to failure is saying yes to every opportunity or
changing the plan midway without determining how it will effect the current plan, priorities,
resources and the ability to deliver on the promise.

Need help with your goals? Need someone to encourage you and hold your feet to the fire? Know
what you want, but not where to start? Heidi Richards Mooney has been helping small
businesses and nonprofits achieve their goals for more than 20 years. Click on the link below or
call for a free 20 minute consultation! Be sure and leave your full name, phone number and
website address when you call. You can also email Heidi with your request.

STRATEGIC PLAN EBRIEF ~ Heidi Richards Mooney www.HeidiRichards.com 954-625-6606