Strategic Planning Kit For Dummies

Create a roadmap for your company’s future success—the For Dummies way

Strategic Planning Kit For Dummies not only teaches you how to build a solid business strategy, but it gives you the tools to do it. Checklists, worksheets, and real-life examples guide you through answering your most pressing questions. Plus, all-new online resources make creating a lasting strategy easier than ever. Build a company vision statement, assess your strategic position, engage your team, and execute your plan—with easy-to-understand instructions and explanations that anyone can follow. This revised edition shows you how to adapt your strategy, plan for the unknown, and stay resilient through all the changes facing today’s businesses. Advice from For Dummies experts will make any business leader’s strategic dreams a reality.

• Learn the basics of how to create a long-term business strategy
• Create your mission and vision statements and a strategic framework
• Get organized, engage your team, and deploy your strategy through objectives and key results
• Access resources, worksheets, checklists and more—in the book and online

This is the For Dummies guide for business owners and C-suite executives who are building or rethinking their company’s strategy and planning a path for growth. It’s a big job, but you don’t have to do it alone. Dummies has your back.

Introduction 1

Part 1: Kicking Off Your Strategic Planning Process 9

Chapter 1: What Is Strategic Planning Really? 11

Chapter 2: Why Strategic Planning Works 25

Chapter 3: Getting Set Up for Successful Planning 37

Chapter 4: Identifying Your Strategic Issues 57

Part 2: Sizing Up Your Current Situation 77

Chapter 5: Assessing Your Business and Its Capabilities 79

Chapter 6: Seeing Your Business through Your Customers’ Eyes 99

Chapter 7: Researching the Market to Find New Customers 117

Chapter 8: Identifying Your Opportunities and Threats 139

Part 3: Defining Your Core Purpose and Envisioned Future 163

Chapter 9: Focusing on What You Do Best 165

Chapter 10: Developing Your Mission and Values 183

Chapter 11: Envisioning Your North Star 199

Part 4: Mapping Your Organization’s Path to the Future 211

Chapter 12: Strategizing for Growth and Sustainability 213

Chapter 13: Establishing Your Strategic Goals and Roadmap 233

Chapter 14: Putting Your Plan into Action with Objectives and Key Results 261

Chapter 15: Making Your Plan Measurable 275

Part 5: Living and Breathing Your Plan 289

Chapter 16: Execute, Execute, Execute: Putting Your Plan to Work 291

Chapter 17: Keeping Your Plan Alive with Reviews and Refreshes 307

Chapter 18: Scenario Planning: Answering the What Ifs 317

Part 6: The Part of Tens 329

Chapter 19: Ten Tips to Keep Your Strategic Plan from Hitting the Shelf 331

Chapter 20: Ten Tips to Holding Great Strategic Retreats 337

Chapter 21: Ten Ways to Maintain Momentum in Your Planning Process 345

Index 351

Erica Olsen is CEO and co-founder of OnStrategy, where she created an online strategic planning system. Erica has facilitated retreats, learning sessions, and consulting projects for organizations looking to enhance their impact.

Lead your organization to greater growth and impact

Strategic Planning Kit For Dummies helps you create a roadmap to the future of your organization. With this hands-on toolkit, you’ll assess where you are today, create a bold vision of the future, and create a roadmap to get there. By the time you’re through this book, you’ll have concrete goals and objectives with measurable outcomes. You’ll also get expert guidance on how to keep your organization focused and connected to your long-term vision of the future.

Inside…

• Understanding what strategic planning is and why it works
• Casting a big, bold vision
• Identifying a market-focused strategy
• Narrowing down your priorities
• Deploying your strategy with OKRs
• Running a quarterly strategy refresh & execution cycle