STRATEGIC PLANNING

GLOBAL INNOVATIVE LEADERSHIP MODULE

ERASMUS+ STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP FOR YOUTH

2015-2-TR01-KA205-022935 www.eleaderstochange.com
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND ................................................................... 2
1. What is Strategic Planning? ..................................................................................................... 2
Definition: .................................................................................................................................... 2
Components: ................................................................................................................................ 3
Leadership & Decision making: .................................................................................................. 3
Culture & Strategy: ...................................................................................................................... 4
Situation awareness & Market focus ........................................................................................... 4
How to do it? ............................................................................................................................... 4
Conclusions: ................................................................................................................................ 6
CHAPTER 2: APPLICATION ............................................................................................................ 8
A) Criteria for developing a good strategy ........................................................................... 8
B) How do you develop a strategy............................................................................................ 8
C) Major components of a strategic plan .................................................................................. 9
D) Tips for better planning.................................................................................................. 10
E) Traps to avoid while planning ............................................................................................ 11
CHAPTER 3: TOOLS ...................................................................................................................... 20
Templates................................................................................................................................... 13
Software ..................................................................................................................................... 13
Videos ........................................................................................................................................ 13
7 Steps to Plan – 1 Way to Succeed! ......................................................................................... 14
Goals: ......................................................................................................................................... 15
Step 1: Get ready! ...................................................................................................................... 16
Step 2: Overview! ...................................................................................................................... 16
Step 3: SWOT the plot! ............................................................................................................. 17
Step 4: The PESTEL and Us! .................................................................................................... 18
Step 5: Top priorities! ................................................................................................................ 19
Step 6: Totality?......................................................................................................................... 19
Step 7: Show us what you’ve done!........................................................................................... 19
CHAPTER 4:CASE STUDIES .......................................................................................................... 20
Resources: ...................................................................................................................................... 33
 CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

1. What is Strategic Planning?

(Image I)

Definition:

In the literature analysis of John Vargoa and Erica Seville, strategic planning is defined as
the “enhancing its success by dealing with weaknesses and threats as well as the
strengths and opportunities that present themselves to the organisation. It involves
selecting from a range of strategies and building a plan to carry out those strategies,
including marshaling the resources and organisational elements necessary to carry out
the plan and evaluate its performance” (Vargoa & Seville, 2011:5621). A strategic plan
is the formal road map that describes how a company executes its long term strategy.
Strategic planning is the process of defining a long-term strategy and subsequently
employing the means and allocating the resources to pursue it. It may also include the
mechanisms to guide, implement and control the strategy. Strategic planning involves
setting goals, determining actions to achieve the goals, and mobilizing resources to
execute the actions. The strategy could be simply described as the process in which the
goals are achieved by the allocated resources. In other words, a strategic plan is a
management tool that serves the purpose of helping an
organization achieve its goals as it aligns and focuses all the resources, and time of
everyone in the organization in the same direction. (Mintzberg, 1996). For Roger
Kaufman strategic planning is the ultimate use of human talent when aligned with the
organisation's objective. (Kaufman, 2016)

Components:

(Image II)

Leadership & Decision making:

The nature of the leadership is a key component for the success of the organisation,
especially in times of crisis. Sometimes this nature itself may prove lifesaving or fatal
for the organisation. Leadership is not only about making decisions, but more about
guiding through and being able to spare the sense of optimism when necessary. The
leader needs to be inspiring, supportive, understanding with high morals and realistic.
(SCUP, 2007)
Successful firms are also characterised by an empowered senior management team,
with delegated authority to implement strategy and where execution triggers are
identified and planned for alongside functional responsibilities. Less successful and
less resilient firms are more characterised by autocratic and centralised decision
hierarchies (Bourgeous & Eisenhardt, 1988).

Culture & Strategy:

The culture of the organisation consists of all; the people, the processes, the
experiences, ideas, and the attitudes. The strategy is where the organization is headed,
what path it takes, and how it gets there. Strategy cannot exist without culture and
vice versa. Culture is basically everything, the organisation, the leader and the
managerial team needs to pay a lot of attention to culture because it is a key factor to
effective management. (Berman et al, 1997)

Situation awareness & Market focus

Situation awareness is a key component, it requires a continuous monitoring of the

environment with a simultaneous incorporation of new knowledge and practices. This
incorporation then guides the future planning and anticipating events. An effective
planning process requires an organisation to be alert to and monitoring the
organisational environment, internal and external, so that it can more effectively align
its capabilities and resources with threats and opportunities. Growth comes from
focusing on the customers and delivering superior value to them consistently year
after year. Built into the organisation's strategic plan is a market-focus framework
because of how critical this is to the growth itself. (Vargoa & Seville, 2011)

How to do it?

“A worthy strategic plan provides the measurable objectives for creating an

organisation's future” (Kaufman, 2016: 56) (Image III)
There is a wide framework for realising a strategic plan which can be simplified in a
triangle:

Where are we now? In a nutshell a strategic plan will always start by reviewing the
current strategic position and clarifying the; mission, vision and values. This step
is for identifying the gaps between current results and consequences and the desired
ones. In turn always afterwards identify and select the means, solutions, or processes
to close the gap in results. (Kaufman, 2016)

Where are we going? Establish a competitive advantage and the vision. Clearly see
the direction the organization is headed. What an organization does and delivers will
be based on the value it provides to all stakeholders, and the funding and support for
an organization will be based on the same criteria. By collecting and justifying the
needs between where we are and where we want to be, and prioritize those needs on
the basis of the costs. (Kaufman, 2016)

How will we get there? Lay out the road to connect where the organisation are now to
where it is going. Set the strategic; objectives, goals, and action items and how
will the plan be executed. Kaufman call it the ideal vision and according to him the
ideal vision is what an organisation expects to contribute and how its survival is put
into measurable terms. (Kaufman, 2016)
(Image III)

Conclusions:

A strategic planning is the vision, the mission and the working method of an
organisation. It is the alignment of the past, the present and the future. It is a plan and
a strategy for surviving, succeeding and excelling. Strategic planning is not a simple
idea with a simple implementation. It requires dedication, a capable team with an
outstanding leader and sufficient time allocation. The strategic planning has inputs,
outputs, goals and outcomes. It is affected simultaneously by the internal and the
external environment. For being successful and organisation has to take all of this
factors into account and incorporate them in the plan and the strategy. A strategic plan
needs to be flexible and adaptive, up to date and well informed. Its succession is
completely dependent on the managerial team ability to evaluate the situation
properly and act accordingly. Dialogue and communication are two key components
that need to characterize the construction of a strategic plan, research has shown that a
bottom up structure is more likely to succeed than an authoritarian one. For achieving
excellence an organisation needs a well-combined strategic plan which in turn
includes the staff, the clients, the product, the services, the market, the tendencies. All
in all, strategic planning is connecting an enterprise to the society.
 CHAPTER 2: APPLICATION

A quick guide with the basic steps on how you could apply your strategic planning.

A) Criteria for developing a good strategy

Does the strategy:

• Give overall direction; A strategy, such as enhancing experience and skill or

increasing resources and opportunities, should point out the overall path
without dictating a particular narrow approach.

• Fit resources and opportunities; A good strategy takes advantage of current

resources and assets. It also embraces new opportunities.
• Minimize resistance and barriers; When initiatives set out to accomplish
important things, resistance (even opposition) is inevitable. However,
strategies need not provide a reason for opponents to attack the initiative.
Good strategies attract allies and deter opponents.

• Reach those affected; To address the issue or problem, strategies must connect
the intervention with those who it should benefit. For example, if the mission
of the initiative is to get people into decent jobs, do the strategies reach those
currently unemployed?

• Advance the mission; Taken together, are strategies likely to make a difference
on the mission and objectives? If the aim is to reduce a problem such as
unemployment, are the strategies enough to make a difference on rates of
employment?

B) How do you develop a strategy

It's always a good idea to organize a brainstorming meeting with members of your
organization and members of the community. People will work best in a relaxed and
welcoming environment. You can help achieve this by making meetings a place where
all members feel that their ideas are listened to and valued, and where constructive
criticism may be openly voiced. To help meet these goals, you might post some
"ground rules" so people feel free to express themselves. Ground rules might include:
• One person speaks at a time

• No interrupting each other

• Everyone's ideas are respected

→ WORK TOGETHER TO BRAINSTORM THE BEST STRATEGIES FOR YOUR
INITIATIVE

The following list of questions can be a guide for deciding on the most beneficial
strategies for your group:

• What resources and assets exist that can be used to help achieve the vision and
mission? How can they be used best?

• What obstacles or resistance exist that could make it difficult to achieve your
vision and mission? How can you minimize or get around them?

• What are potential agents of change willing to do to serve the mission?

• Do you want to reduce the existing problem, or does it make more sense to try
to prevent (or reduce risk for) problems before they start?

• How will your potential strategies decrease the risk for experiencing the
problem?

• What potential strategies will affect the whole population and problem? Also,
just one strategy, often isn't enough to improve the situation. Make sure that
your strategies affect the problem or issue as a whole.

• What potential strategies reach those at particular risk for the problem?

C) Major components of a strategic plan

Strategic plans can come in many different shapes and sizes, but they all have the
following components:

• Mission statement: The mission statement is an overarching expression of your

purpose and aspiration, addressing both what you seek to accomplish and how. It’s
a declaration of why you exist as an organization.

• Vision statement: This short, concise statement of the organization’s future answers
the question of what the company will look like in three, five or more years.

• Values statement: These statements are enduring and distinctive core beliefs.
They’re guiding principles that never change and are part of your strategic
foundation.

• SWOT: A SWOT is a summarized view of your current position, specifically your

strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.
• Competitive advantage: Your competitive advantage includes what you’re best at
compared to the competition.

• Long-term strategic objectives: These long-term strategic focus areas span a three-
year (or more) time horizon. They answer the question of what you must focus on
to achieve your vision.

• Short-term goals/priorities: These items convert the strategic objectives into

specific performance targets that fall within the one-to-two years time horizon.

• Action plans: These specific statements explain how a goal will be accomplished.
They’re the areas that move the strategy to operations.

• Scorecard: You use a scorecard to report the data of your key performance
indicators (KPIs) and track your performance against the monthly/yearly targets.

• Financial assessment: Based on historical record and future projections, this

assessment helps plan the future of your organizations, allowing you to gain much
better control over your financial performance.

D) Tips for better planning

• Pull together a diverse, yet appropriate group of people to make up your planning
team. Diversity leads to a better strategy. Bring together a small core team —
between six and ten people — of leaders and managers who represent every area of
the company.
• Allow time for big-picture, strategic thinking. To create a strategic plan, your team
needs time to think big. Do whatever it takes to allow that time for big-picture
thinking (including taking your team off-site).

• Get full commitment from key people in your organization. If your team doesn’t buy
in to the planning process and the resulting strategic plan, you’re dead in the water.
Encourage the key people to interact with your customers about their perception of
your future and bring those views to the table.

• Allow for open and free discussion regardless of each person’s position within the
organization. (This tip includes you.) Don’t lead the planning sessions. Hire an
outside facilitator, someone who doesn’t have any stake in your success, which can
free up the conversation. Encourage active participation, but don’t let any one
person dominate the session.

• Think about execution before you start. It doesn’t matter how good the plan is if it
isn’t executed. Implementation is the phase that turns strategies and plans into
 actions in order to accomplish strategic objectives and goals. The critical actions
move a strategic plan from a document that sits on the shelf to actions that drive
business growth.

• Make your plan actionable. To have any chance at implementation, the plan must
clearly articulate goals, action steps, responsibilities, accountabilities, and specific
deadlines. And everyone must understand the plan and his individual role in it.

• Don’t make rigid and unbending plans. Good strategic plans are fluid. They allow
you to adapt to changes in the marketplace. Don’t be afraid to change your plan as
necessary.

• Clearly articulate next steps after every session. Before closing the strategic
planning session, clearly explain what comes next and who’s responsible for what.
When you walk out of the room, everyone must fully understand what he’s
responsible for and when to meet deadlines.

• Make strategy a habit. Review the strategic plan for performance achievement no
less than quarterly and as often as monthly or weekly. Focus on accountability for
results and have clear and compelling consequences for unapproved missed
deadlines.

E) Traps to avoid while planning

• Is the need for a strategic plan real? A strategic plan is an outstanding management
tool. But you and everyone on your team needs to agree on why this effort is
important. What’s causing you to invest in this effort now?

• Relying on bad info or no info: A plan is only as good as the information it’s based
on. Too often, teams rely on untested assumptions or hunches, erecting their plans
on an unsteady foundation.

• Ignoring what your planning process reveals: Planning isn’t magic! You can’t
always get what you want. The planning process includes research and
investigation. Your investigation may yield results that tell you not to go in a certain
direction. Don’t ignore that information!

• Being unrealistic about your ability to plan: It takes time and effort to plan well.
Some companies want the results but aren’t willing or able to make the investment.
Be realistic about what you can invest. Find a way to plan that suits your available
resources, which include your time, energy, and money.
• Planning for planning’s sake: Planning can become a substitute for action. Don’t plan so much
that you ignore the execution. Well-laid plans take time to implement, and results take time to
yield an outcome.

• Not having your house in order first: Planning can reveal that your house isn’t in order. When
an organization pauses to plan, issues that have been buried or put on the back burner come to
the forefront and can easily derail its planning efforts. Make sure your company is in order and
no major conflicts exist before you start your strategic planning.

• Copying and pasting: Falling in to the trap of copying the best practices of a company similar
to yours is easy. Although employing best practices from your industry is important, other
organizations’ experiences aren’t relevant to your own. Organizations are unique, complex, and
diverse. You need to find your own path!

• Ignoring your culture and organizational readiness: Strategy and culture are intimately
intertwined. Ignore this fact at your peril. Adapt your planning to fit what you know works for
your organizational rhythm, ethos, and needs right now. A big trap — the biggest actually — is
not fitting the process to your organizational needs.
 CHAPTER 3: TOOLS

Here is a collection of helpful tools and tutorials for the newcomer in the field.

Templates:

Some entry-level templates for starting your first strategic planning.

• Cascade free strategic planning template

• Strategic Planning for Dummies

Software:

More advanced and professional virtual tools in order to create and magage your
planning.

• AchieveIt Execution Management Platform

• Strategy blocks

• Cascade Execution Platform

• SmartDraw's strategic planning software

Videos:

With the following videos we’ll try to cover the essential and initial PoV regarding
strategic planning.

• Erica Olsen: My Strategic Plan (18 videos)

• Strategic Planning 101

• Introduction to Strategic Planning (Whiteboard video)

• Strategic Plans v.s Business Plans - What is the difference? by Dana Baldwin

• A Guide to Nonprofit Strategic Planning

• Martin Reeves: Your strategy needs a strategy

7 Steps to Plan – 1 Way to Succeed!

After the teaching of the theory,

the participants will need to try in
practice what they have learned.
Life long learning enhances social
inclusion, active citizenship, and
personal development, but also
self-sustainability. In turn it gives
the person a comparative
1
advantage in the labor market.
Furthermore, the proposed
methods, including the working
method of the participants, all
belong to an array of teaching methods defined as alternative teaching methods. Many
educational experts such as Dr. Maria Montessori, Rudolf Steiner and more suggest
that an alternative approach is a better asset for the learning process. While the above
scientists have been working mainly on children, it still gives as an insight in regards
to adults learning.

An active learning has to involve all; brain, body and soul and theory needs to be
inherently connected to practice. For this project the method to be used is called
Problem Based Learning (PBL), where the participants will be divided into groups
and work collaboratively. What is more the activities are connected to real-life
situations which will avoid distancing them from the teaching material. PBL is closely
connected to lifelong learning as well, since its goals are to help students develop
flexible knowledge, effective problem solving skills, self-directed learning, effective
collaboration skills and intrinsic motivation. 2

1 Commission of the European Communities: "Adult learning: It is never too late to learn".
COM(2006) 614 final. Brussels,

2 Hmelo-Silver, Cindy E. (2004). "Problem-Based Learning: What and How Do Students

Learn?". Educational Psychology Review 16 (3): 235–266.
Key words: PBL, Group work, Case analysis, Lifelong learning, Collaborative
practice, Real-life solution

Preparation: Participants will be assigned into working groups (5-6 people each or
according to the total number of participants). Then each group will casually be given
one of the case studies presented above. They will then be asked to read the case
studies very carefully and discuss them with their fellow group mates. About 20 to 30
minutes should be sufficient time for their preparation. Alternatively, the participants
could be asked to create their own, imaginary enterprises, bu in this case the
preparation will require more time (about 1 hour to 90 minutes)

Activity type: Group activity (preferably 5-6 people per group)

Goals:

• To foster communication and interpersonal skills

• To contribute to team-work, problem solving and collaboration competencies

• To develop intercultural communication

• To give the participants a real-life case to work on, according to the principles
of lifelong learning

• To enhance active learning practices

• To foster the entrepreneurial dynamic of the participants

• To insert them in the world of management

• To give them confidence and responsibility for acting

Duration: One working day

Venue: TC room (does not require special room)

Material(s): Flip-chart, writing material (paper, pencils etc), working tables

Internet access: Desired and highly recommended

The role of the trainers: Again in strong connection with the principles of alternative
pedagogy, the trainers will provide guidance and support to the participants. Their role
will be active but not overwhelming. The purpose of this training course is not to
provide an old-school lecture about strategic planing. On the contrary, the vision is to
make them actively participate, think, create, evaluate their job.

Notes: This activity comprises of eight parts which form a unity. It is highly
recommended that the instructor follows it step by step so as the participants will get a
comprehensive idea of it. Also, it is highly recommended that the trainers form
diverse groups in terms of sexes, educational background, origin etc. Not only will it
make the exercise more interesting but it will always give the participants the chance
to understand intercultural management.

Step 1: Get ready!

After the participants have read the stories they will now be asked to imagine that
they are the managerial team of the corresponding case they have in their hands.
Therefore, they will need to assign roles to each one of the members. The trainers
need to make sure that they will inform the participants that by the end they need to
briefly justify their choices.

Step 2: Overview!
At this point the participants will be asked to clarify the mission and vision
statements. To identify, clarify and reach consensus on the company’s mission and
vision statements, corporate values and culture, the main goal of why the company
exists and create an image of what success looks like the organisation.

Step 3: SWOT the plot!

Identify your current and future market position. (Perform a SWOT analysis) Gather
up-to-date information on internal strengths and weaknesses and external
opportunities and threats so you can develop an understanding of all critical issues.
Use the SWOT tool to organize your information.

*SWOT is a very common and useful strategic planning tool. It is simply an acronym
for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Its an exercise often used
by the team tasked with putting together the strategic plan to explore Strenghts and
weaknesses of a company that are often called internal drivers as well as
Opportunities and Threats that are called external drivers.

Since strengths and weaknesses come from within the organization, the strategic
planning team members will be able to identify them in the interview process or
perhaps in a brainstorming session set up for that purpose. The facilitator may choose
to ask the members to identify strengths and weaknesses directly, or may choose to
simply pull them from the interview data and list them as planning assumptions in the
executive summary.

Opportunities and threats are harder to identify.

Ideally, the leader should ask few subject matter
experts to address the strategic planning team on
relevant subjects prior to the off-site. A relevant
subject is one pertaining to the organization’s
strategic goals. The reason this is not done during
the initial planning session is because the planning
team has not yet identified what is important, i.e.,
their strategic goal

Step 4: The PESTEL and Us!

It is about time the participants are asked to perform a PESTLE analysis for a better
understanding of the cultural and the environmental attributes to the organisation.

*PEST (or PESTEL) analysis stands for Political, Economic, Social and
Technological is a simple and effective tool used in situation analysis to identify the
key external (macro environment level) forces that might affect an organization.
These forces can create both opportunities and threats for an organization. Therefore,
the aim of doing PEST is to:

2 find out the current external factors affecting an organization;

3 identify the external factors that may change in the future;

4 to exploit the changes (opportunities) or defend against them (threats) better

than competitors would do.

The outcome of PEST is an understanding of the overall picture surrounding the

company.
Step 5: Top priorities!

Immediately afterwards the participants will be asked to prioritise. As in any planning

process, all priorities need to be set and agreed as well as broad strategies for handling
critical issues and what outcomes are to be sought. It is important that the planning team
agree on all major and key priorities.

Step 6: Totality?

In this step the participants should start putting all the bits and pieces of the plan together.
The type of document they will use is up to them. It could be an electronic format or a
hard copy.

Step 7: Show us what you’ve done!

At this step participants will be asked to present their work in front of all the teams as
well as the trainers. The presentation should include a throughout explanation of how and
why they did what they did.

Evaluation: As a final assignment the teams will be asked to evaluate each others work.
This could be done either by a simple conversation and a brain storming, where each
team takes turn and speaks or in written manner, where each team writes a small report.
Also, it could be that each team talks for the rest or that they exchange
strategic plans by pairs of two. It is up to the discrete choice of the trainers, how will they
chose to carry out this step, always according to the goals they want to achieve.
 CHAPTER 4: CASE STUDIES

An organization that is growing and hopes to sustain that growth needs a set of
strategies to guide its program development, build a solid financial foundation, and
prepare for challenges that lie ahead. In other words, it needs a strategic plan. Simply
put, a strategic plan is a vision of the organization's future and the basic steps required
to achieve that future. A good plan should include goals and objectives, desired
outcomes, metrics for measuring your progress, timelines, and budgets.

Although the ultimate goal of the strategic planning process is to develop a plan, the
value of the exercise often lies in the process itself. Strategic planning affords
stakeholders in an organization the opportunity to learn more about the organization,
to share their perceptions of its strengths and weaknesses, and to discuss critical issues
affecting, or likely to affect, the organization in the future.

The process should be designed to generate decisions arrived at by consensus. Single-

person planning, while efficient, almost always eliminates the opportunity to
distribute ownership of the plan - and, by extension, responsibility for the
organization's future - among key stakeholders. In contrast, a consensual approach is
likely to ensure that key stakeholders believe in the organization's vision of the future
and are committed to achieving it.

Strategy is more than simply achieving business goals. It creates clarity, alignment
and organization-wide engagement. Hereby we have assembled a handful of sample
strategic plans from OnStrategy. Some are from real organisations/companies. Others
are just examples. Some are for profit, others for non profit, including also examples
of SWOT analysis, action plans, performance review and roadmap. All of them reflect
good general guidelines and structure, which can be incorporated into your own
strategy design.
Resources:

Azer, Samy A. (2011). "Introducing a problem-based learning program: 12 tips for success".
Medical Teacher 33 (10): 808–13

Berman, J.A., Gordon, D.D., and Sussman, G., 1997. A study to determine the benefits mall
business firms derive from sophisticated planning versus less sophisticated types of planning.
The Journal of Business and Economic Studies, 3 (3), 1–11.

Bourgeouis, L.J. III and Eisenhardt, K.M., 1988. Strategic decision processes in high velocity
environments: four cases in the microcomputer industry. Management Science, 34 (7), 816–
835.

Commission of the European Communities (2006) : "Adult learning: It is never too late to
learn". COM(2006)

Flaherty, T. "Maria montessori(1870–1952)". Women's Intellectual Contributions to the Study

of Mind and Society.

Hmelo-Silver, Cindy E. (2004). "Problem-Based Learning: What and How Do Students

Learn?". Educational Psychology Review 16 (3): 235–266.

Kaufman, R. (2016) Strategic Planning: Getting from Here to There, Senior Leader and
Executives

Mintzberg, Henry; Quinn, James B. (1996). The Strategy Process: Concepts, Contexts, Cases.
Prentice Hall.

SCUP 2007. The Presidential Role in Disaster Planning and Response: Lessons from the
Front.

Society for College and University Planning

Vargo, J. & Seville, E. (2011) Crisis strategic planning for SMEs: finding the silver lining,
International Journal of Production Research Vol. 49, No. 18, pp. 5619–5635

"Who was Rudolf Steiner and what were his revolutionary teaching ideas?" Richard Garner,
Education Editor, The Independent
Community tool box, http://ctb.ku.edu/

Strategic Planning Kit For Dummies, 2nd Edition, by Erica Olsen

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/

http://onstrategyhq.com/
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Turkish National Agency cannot be held responsi¬ble for any use which may be made of the
information contained therein”