Strategic Planning

Course details

This course is designed to provide Strategic Planning training for inpiduals who are interested in obtaining a background into this field and understanding how this using strategic planning in their business can lead to success. The course will introduce participants to recent advances and trends in the field, along with best practices.

Participants will learn to identify the values and vision of an organization and how to build the remaining elements of a company surrounding them. They will learn how to write a strategic plan, including conducting a thorough SWOT analysis. They will also gain practice implementing and evaluating strategic plans in order to gain practical experience dealing with real-life work situations.

Course Introduction

• The course will begin with participant introductions and a discussion of the topics that will be covered in this course. Students will receive an outline of the course and will have an opportunity to ask questions regarding the content. In addition, students will be asked to analyze their learning objectives from this course.

What is Strategic Planning?

• Participants will be introduced to what Strategic Planning means and how it can be used in a business setting. They will learn about the pyramid strategic plan structure, along with various other concepts relating to strategic planning to get a good background into this concept.
• Making Use of Values

Strategic Planning

• In this session, participants will learn about identifying the values of a company and writing value statements. Values further assist to define a company's strategic planning, as they should be based on and support the company's value system.

Designing Our Vision

• This session allows participants to develop their own value statements in order to build a strategic plan around them. They will identify how they see the future of their business in several years' time in order to help with the planning.

Defining Your Mission

• It is equally important for participants to develop and understand their own mission statement for the business. This session assists students in understanding this and using it for their future strategic planning.

Performing a SWOT Analysis

• Conducting a SWOT analysis is a crucial element in strategic planning for a business.
• Participants will learn how to conduct a SWOT analysis and they will have the opportunity to look at some case studies. They will also learn to use a SWOT analysis to determine their current situation and plan for their goals.

The Importance of Goals

• This session will teach participants to set goals for themselves through a variety of frameworks. They will learn to choose goals appropriately, to make a plan for achieving the goals, and to follow through on their plan in a step-by-step and efficient manner.

Strategic Planning

• Who? What? Why?
• One of the most important elements for a strategic plan is assigning roles to the inpiduals involved and ensuring that they are accountable for their piece of the pie. This session teaches participants how to assign the roles and how to determine what each inpidual will be involved with, ensuring there is a concrete reason for their role and responsibility. They will also conduct a case study to assist with bringing this element to life.

Putting the Pieces Together

• This session will help participants to piece together the variety of elements involved in corporate strategic planning. They will go back and look at the steps involved and will put together their own plan to solve a problem within their professional work environment.

Gathering Support

• This session will analyze the types of support that are available for implementing the plan.
• Students will understand how to conduct a review process and where they can reach out for assistance with the project.

Ensuring a Smooth Transition

• Strategic plans can be a source of strain and stress for parties that are involved and affected by the plan. An important element in ensuring the success of the plan is to put in place a transition plan for those being affected by the change in order to ensure success of the whole project.

Strategic Planning

• Acing the Presentation
• Effective strategic plan presentations are crucial in order to receive the support and backing to implement the plan. This session will give students an opportunity create a presentation using graphics, reports, PowerPoint and various other tools. Students will also take turns presenting their final works.

Troubleshooting

• As in any thoroughly planned project, some unexpected problems and hiccups will arise. This session will introduce students to common problems that can occur and how to resolve them without jeopardizing the bigger picture. Strategy maps and balanced scorecards will also be discussed in this session.

Test Run

• In this session, participants have the opportunity to use all of the tools learned in this course.
• They will choose a specific issue that needs addressing in their professional work environment and will put together a full strategic plan, followed by its hypothetical implementation and results.

Any Questions?

• The course will end with a review of the concepts learned and a question and answer session.
• Students will also have the opportunity to create an action plan based on what they have learned and they will fill out a feedback survey about the course.