Strategic Planning Kit For Dummies
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A strategic plan needs to adapt to survive changing or unanticipated conditions. A business that develops and executes a strategic plan gains significantly from the experience, and starting with a working model and achieving a tangible plan can be more successful for your business than having no plan at all.

Change, even though we often resist it, is inevitable. In fact, your strategic planning process may trigger changes in your own organization, either in terms of the work done or in the internal structuring of the work. No matter how you present it, people struggle with change. They may need help accepting and adapting positively to the changes. That’s where you come in.

Determining which changes require action and which require monitoring is the responsibility of you and your management team. When change is needed, take the following steps:

  1. Make sure that everyone understands the change and why it’s necessary.

    Even if people have been part of the strategic planning process, they may need you to explain the implications of decisions to them afterward.

  2. Respond to people’s ideas and feelings.

    Let people express their concerns and respond to them. If you can’t agree, at least be sympathetic about the feelings generated by change.

  3. Develop a planned process of change.

    Share the process with everyone in the organization or project, so people know what to expect and when to expect it.

Need more information and ideas? Check out the Change Management Learning Center online.

About This Article

This article is from the book:

About the book author:

Erica Olsen is cofounder and COO of M3 Planning, Inc., a firm dedicated to developing and executing strategy. M3 provides consulting and facilitation services, as well as hosts products and tools such as MyStrategicPlan for leaders with big ideas who want to empower and focus their teams to achieve them.

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