Strategic planning is necessary for the industry because it presents a sense of direction and outlines measurable goals. Strategic planning is a mechanism that is helpful for guiding day-to-day decisions and also for assessing progress and changing approaches when moving forward.

1. Shimon Yelinek
Why is it important for an organization
to have a strategic plan?

2. While many companies have heard of strategic
planning, and even claim to strategically plan, few
actually do so successfully. Many organizations and
their leaders discuss strategic planning as if it is some
sort of panacea for "fixing" the organization.

3. That expression is almost as misused as "getting to the
next level." It is somewhat amazing that few
organizations and few leaders seem to comprehend that
strategic planning must be an ongoing process if it is to
be an effective use of time. Otherwise, what many
organizations refer to as strategic planning ends up
being little more than an exercise in philosophy and
oration.

4. According to Shimon Yelinek, the first step in effective
strategic planning is to correctly identify where an
organization is at currently, and how it got there. What is
the history of the company, and how do that and the
organization's mission impact it’s planning?

5. How can the organization evolve to improve, while
maintaining its reason for being? Strategic planners
must carefully recognize the ramifications of its actions,
or conversely, what the impact of not acting might be.

6. This process must recognize both the strengths and
weaknesses of the organization, as well as the reasons
and causes for each. All too often, so-called strategic
planners inaccurately identify either strengths or
weaknesses, or both, and then make choices or
recommendations based on false or faulty premises.

7. This is often seen, especially on the weaknesses sign,
when an organization is facing a challenge in a specific
area, and often oversimplifies, misinterprets, or
misunderstands the reason for the obstacle. When
planning begins based on inaccurate premises, the plan
is doomed from the onset.

8. Strategic planners must consider all substitutes in their
deliberations. They must consider factors such as short-
term, intermediate-term and long-term impacts,
ramifications, cost both in terms of financial as well as
personnel related.

9. Costs include not only direct costs but also indirect
costs, such as the wastes and excesses. Planners must
consider multiple alternatives, and weigh all relevant
factors in analyzing ideas.

10. Strategic planning necessitates entering the process with
an open mind and considering alternatives. Where many
organizations drop the ball, however, is that after they
expend considerable time, energy and other resources in
the process, they do not develop an action plan to assure
the timely achievement of the plan.