Within this section of our Information Centre, we have posts relating to Planning, and for Strategic Planning. There is a definite overlap between the two categories.

So what’s the difference?

The primary difference between the two subjects is purely the duration of the plan they create, so there will always be some elements that apply to both activities.

Strategic planning, as you’ll see on our related services page, ensures the business is heading in the right direction, and looks at the longer term future of a business. A Strategic Plan looks at the internal and external situation over the coming three to five years, sets goals and targets for the period, and from there outlines the strategies that will achieve them.

Planning is much more short term, and tends to look at the next 90 days, usually up to around a year into the future.

Regardless of the period you’re looking at, elements such as cash flow, pricing, finance and measurement all apply, which is why we have the overlap.

Strategic Planning

Effective Strategic planning can transform the performance of a business, if only because it focuses the minds of the owners, managers or the wider team on the targets and goals for the coming years. 

Any ‘drifting’ or unfocused activity should stop, and all efforts should be clearly focussed on bringing The Plan to reality. As with a rudderless ship, a business without a clear Strategic Plan could end up anywhere!

Creating a Strategic Plan for a business for the first time can be challenging, particularly if there are several stakeholders. Reconciling differing agendas can be tricky, particularly where those differences may be significant. In this situation, some diplomatic facilitation can be all that’s needed!

Once you have your plan though, it’s important to keep it alive, with regular reviews, and potentially updates to it as the economic landscape changes, or the business develops or contracts. It should be a living plan, that you work towards, but not so rigid that it becomes unattainable.

Shorter Term Planning

For shorter term focus, we find 90-day planning to be really useful, as its a short enough period within which you can make real progress, but without feeling that you’ve been working on a project forever, which can be demotivating for all involved.

Similarly, ‘micro-projects‘ can be powerful, where you break down your larger projects into small, manageable stages, which become projects in themselves. The resulting sense of momentum prevents the feeling of overwhelm that can come from constantly looking at the end goal of a project. You’ve looked at it once, broken it down, and from there simply work through the smaller micro-projects, and the achievement of the final goal is almost a by-product when it arrives.

As we’ve mentioned above, there are elements of duplication across the two approaches, but hopefully you’ll find the posts and articles helpful. We’re very happy to explain further if you have any questions or uncertainty around the best approach for your business; please just get in touch!