Strategic Management

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STRATEGIC PLANNING

5 Bene�ts of Strategic

Planning

By Mary King 20 January 2023

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Contents

● 1. It makes your organization proactive rather than

reactive

● 2. It instills a shared sense of responsibility

● 3. It increases operational e�ciency among

leadership

● 4. It improves sta� satisfaction and retention

● 5. It manages expectations and bolsters trust

● Get the template ↓

Many organizations understand the importance of strategic

planning, and they’ll invest a great deal of time and money

coming up with the strategic plan itself. But once the strategic

planning process is complete, it’s really common for that plan to

just… well, sit there. Maybe it gets reviewed once a year–an

obligatory thing your company or organization simply “has to

do.” Or worse, it becomes a glossy (and expensive) document

that sits gathering dust on the shelf.

Well, as the leading provider of strategic planning and execution

software, we disagree! A strategic plan is the compass for your

goals, and we’re here to re-ignite that strategic planning spark.

To get you started, you can grab our Free Strategic Plan

Template, which you can download as a PDF.

In this post, we are going to look at �ve of the major bene�ts

of a strong strategic plan, the purpose of strategic planning in

the �rst place, and how it will improve virtually every aspect

of your operations – from employee engagement, to plan

execution, to leadership.

“If you don’t know where you are going, you are certain to end up

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somewhere else.” – Yogi Berra

A strategic plan is so much more than words on a page (or a

shelf!)

If you have a strategic plan that you (and your employees)

reference regularly, then it becomes a living document, a

dynamic process that guides, responds to, and helps actualize

large-scale dreams.

Here are �ve bene�ts of strategic planning.

1. It makes your

organization proactive

rather than reactive

Why is strategic planning important?

A strategic plan allows organizations to anticipate things that

are most likely to happen and prepare accordingly. Through

strategic planning, companies can anticipate certain unfavorable

scenarios before they happen and take necessary precautions to

avoid them. And, if something unfortunate–whether a small

scale mishap, or a full blown crisis–does happen, then you

already have something in place to ensure you’re able to get

back on track.

When a crisis hits, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, having a

strategic plan versus not having one can make a huge

di�erence. For example, instead of having to halt construction

plans, further disrupt learning, and be stuck in a pattern of only

reacting during the pandemic, White Bear Lake Area Schools,

MN, leaned on their strategic plan:

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“We’ve completed projects already. Construction continued

throughout the pandemic, which was really exciting for us. And

through it all, our strategic plan has continued to inform our

decisions about what type of learning environment we’re

building for our students. That’s been invaluable. We’ve had to

make decisions on learning models, remote work, distance

learning… we’ve been able to root those decisions in asking what

does our strategic plan compel us to do, and what opportunities

have emerged along the way?” – Dr. Alison Gillespie, the

Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning with

WBLAS.

Of course, the importance of strategic planning and being

proactive is not just for catastrophe prevention, or mitigating

poor outcomes. Another bene�t of a strategic plan is it also

gives you a competitive edge.

When you make being engaged with your strategic plan a habit,

an integral part of how your organization operates, it means

your overall vision, and the steps required to be there, are front

of mind. This will keep your team alert, attentive, and able to

keep up with changing trends.

While other strategic plans for other organizations may sit on

the shelf, excellent strategic planning is enough to maintain a

competitive edge. Staying one step ahead of what everyone

else is doing requires a clear idea of what exactly you are doing.

Rather than just always reacting to the trends, you want to be

anticipatory. Better yet, be the trendsetter.

A strategic plan gives you this ability to be truly proactive – and,

therefore, �exible – in your vision.

2. It instills a shared

sense of responsibility

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A strategic plan helps to de�ne the direction in which an

organization must travel, and aids in establishing realistic

objectives and goals that are in line with the vision and mission

charted out for it. But it also creates a sense of collaboration

and collective responsibility.

The key to successful strategic planning is to engage everyone

with the plan as early as possible in the planning process, and

build in measures and implementation steps that allow you to

monitor the results at regular intervals. When you do this, goals

become stepping stones to even greater goals, and everyone

becomes familiar with the aspirations and pain-points of your

overall vision, and their contribution to it.

When everybody has a sense of purpose in their role within the

greater organization, they are going to care about the

outcomes. Everybody wants to feel important, needed, valued,

and heard. One bene�t of a strategic plan is that it formalizes

this process. It’s really important to make sure everyone

implementing a plan feels responsible for their part in it; when

people are intrinsically motivated to complete their tasks, this

creates energy and momentum on all organizational levels.

For the people involved in the actual strategic planning process

itself, it creates a sense of democratic engagement. People are

able to bring their own perspectives, thoughts, and ideas to the

table, and will be encouraged when they see their strategies and

actions come to life. For people carrying out those actions, they

will feel more encouraged to be responsible for those outcomes

when the goals are attainable and clear. A strategic plan makes

those actions clear.

A strategic plan o�ers both the much-needed foundation from

which an organization can grow, but also helps establish the

roles and boundaries for everyone, thus improving e�cient

decision making and creating a greater sense of overall

momentum and direction.

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Ensuring employees feel engaged and responsible is one of the

most important strategic planning bene�ts.

3. It increases operational

e�ciency among

leadership

When discussing the importance of strategic planning in an

organization, we need to consider leadership. One way that an

organizational vision can fall short in its implementation is

when there isn’t a clear enough idea of what change is needed

where, and how complex that level of change needs to be.

That’s where we can really see the value of strategic planning.

In terms of strategic management, a plan provides leaders with

the roadmap to align the organization’s functional activities to

achieve set goals.

At Envisio, we aren’t afraid of complex plans. In fact, we love

them. Because we exclusively work with publicly accountable

organizations, such as local governments, our clients frequently

have really complex plans that can span years (sometimes even

decades)!

What we’ve learned is that there is no need to shy away from a

grand vision; what matters is making sure the strategy to get

there is clear.

People in leadership roles are often juggling many di�erent

priorities and ideas, and they are overseeing the entire

operation. Management discussions, meetings, and decision

making can sometimes su�er from not being able to see the

forest from the trees–meaning, everyone is capable of losing

perspective. A strategic management plan helps carry some of

that load for leadership.

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A strategic plan also increases operational e�ciency in that it

helps determine those important, practical, company-wide

leadership considerations, such as budget requirements to

accomplish set objectives. These practical, operational

considerations illustrate why strategic planning is important.

4. It improves sta�

satisfaction and retention

Research has shown that over the course of COVID-19, local

government employees are feeling as though they lack

autonomy in their jobs, are feeling burnt out, and are

experiencing disconnection from their work and colleagues.

As previously mentioned, a strategic plan can help empower

your employees to feel responsible and engaged with their

work, but it can also be used to plan initiatives like improved

career advancement, perks and bene�ts, and improving

workplace culture.

The reality is that public sector workplaces (local government

and beyond) need to �nd ways to empower and support

employees, otherwise these sectors will experience high

turnover. Incorporating improved onboarding processes,

feedback processes, and building in a process for positive

recognition are all things that can be formalized in a strategic

plan. Having a strategic plan can also reduce the experience of

being “micro-managed,” which can increase senses of

autonomy, and therefore satisfaction, in the workplace.

5. It manages

expectations and bolsters

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trust

A strategic plan increases transparency, which helps build trust

and eliminate ambiguity–both inside the organization and

among key stakeholders. Strategic planning done well is

bene�cial because it creates more opportunities for

collaboration across teams. Working together to see what each

department is doing, rather than having disjointed groups,

improves trust in the overall direction of the organization.

Because so much of strategic planning refers to determining

organizational goals, this helps set expectations across the

di�erent areas of your organization, and improves the overall

functioning of the company.

Public sector work requires a lot of passion and care; it tends to

attract value-driven people. Ensuring that the values of the

organization are built into the strategic plan communicates to

sta� a sense of openness, and helps assure them (and remind

them) about the overall mission.

One of the other bene�ts of having a strategy is it shows how

information is being managed, in a modernized, quanti�able,

secure manner. Being able to back up decisions using data, for

example, is an objective, non-partisan way to communicate the

rationale behind the moves your organization is making. All of

this goes a long way in improving trust – both internally, and

externally, to the community being served.

And if you really want to boost trust with your external

stakeholders, consider sharing your organizational progress

against your strategic plan via a public strategic plan dashboard.

Get the template ↓ Ready to start your strategic planning journey? Check out our