Strategic Planning
Strategic planning is
a management tool. As with any management tool, it is
used for one purpose only: to help an organization do a better
job - to focus its energy, to ensure that members of the organization
are working toward the same goals, to assess and adjust the organization's
direction in response to a changing environment. In short, strategic
planning is a disciplined effort to produce fundamental decisions
and actions that shape and guide what an organization is, what
it does, and why it does it, with a focus on the future. (Adapted
from Bryson's Strategic Planning in Public and Nonprofit Organizations)
A word by word dissection
of this definition provides the key elements that underlie the
meaning and success of a strategic planning process: The process
is strategic because it involves preparing the best way to respond
to the circumstances of the organization's environment, whether
or not its circumstances are known in advance; nonprofits often
must respond to dynamic and even hostile environments. Being strategic,
then, means being clear about the organization's objectives, being
aware of the organization's resources, and incorporating both
into being consciously responsive to a dynamic environment. (http://www.nonprofits.org/npofaq/03/22.html
1/05/05)
Strategic planning is a process that typically includes creating a mission statement, defining an organization's mandates, conducting a stakeholder review, SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis, issue identification, strategy development and plan management.
Resources available for strategic planning:
Stakeholder Assessment
Criteria for evaluating strategies
Defining Mission and Vision
Creating a Vision Statement
Current online strategic plans:
Sauk County Board
For more information
on creating a strategic plan for your organization please contact:
 Jenny Erickson
Sauk County - UW Extension
West Square Administration Bldg
505 Broadway
Baraboo, WI 53913-2404
Phone: 608-355-3250
Fax: 608-355-3550
TDD: 608-355-3490
Email: jennifer.erickson@ces.uwex.edu
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