Strategic Planning – Current State & SWOT Analysis

Strategic Planning & Deployment – Terminology Part I Mission: A brief description of a company's fundamental purpose. A mission statement answers the question, "Why do we exist?“.
Vision: An overall statement of how the organization wants to be perceived by its stakeholders over the long-term (3 to 5 years).
Strategic Goal: A statement of an overall achievement that is considered critical to the future success of the organization. Strategic goals express where the organization wants to be.
Strategic Objective: What specifically must be done to execute the strategy; i.e. what is critical to the future success of our strategy? What the organization must do to reach its strategic goals! Another term for objectives within a strategic planning framework is to call these "enabling goals", since they will contribute to the achievement of the larger strategic goal they enable.<br>

Strategic Planning & Deployment – Terminology Part II Strategic Initiative: Strategic initiatives are the means through which a vision is translated into practice. Strategic initiatives are collections of finite-duration discretionary projects and programs, outside of the organization's day-to-day operational activities, that are designed to help the organization achieve its targeted performance.
Metrics or Key Performance Indicator: A way of monitoring and tracking the progress of strategic goals & objectives. Metrics can be leading indicators of performance (leads to an end result) or lagging indicators (the end results).
Target: An expected level of performance or improvement required in the future.
Programs, Projects & Activities: Major programs or projects that must be undertaken as part of an strategic initiative in order to meet one or more strategic goals & objectives.<br>

Current State Analysis (CSA) – Making Choices As part of this process step, the organization has to take a HARD look at itself.
Where are we going ?
Where can we go ?
Where are we now ?
What are our choices ? Markets Competitors Technology Trends Customers Strength & Weaknesses Distribution Channels External Factors<br>

Current State Analysis – Questionnaire Inputs to a comprehensive Current State Analysis (CSA) include:
Organization’s Mission and Vision (if available)
Organization’s Values (if available)
Current Strategic Goals and Objectives (if available)
Actual Performance vs. Planned Performance
Critical Success Metric Performance
Critical Process Management and Performance
Organizational Design – Structure and Roles
Employee Satisfaction, Competences and Capabilities
Customer Needs and Satisfaction
Current Products and Services Performance
Markets and Geographic Areas served
Distribution Channels
Competitor Analysis
STEEP Factors – Social, Technological, Economic, Environmental, Political
…<br>

Tool Box: SWOT Analysis A SWOT Analysis is an examination of the internal strengths (S), weaknesses (W), external opportunities (O), and threats (T) affecting an organization.<br>

Tool Box: SWOT Analysis Strengths:
What advantages does your organization have?
What do you do better than anyone else?
What unique or lowest-cost resources can you draw upon that others can't?
What do people in your market see as your strengths?
What factors mean that you "get the sale"?
What is your organization's Unique Selling Proposition (USP)? Opportunities:
What good opportunities can you spot?
What interesting trends are you aware of?
Useful opportunities can come from such things as:
Changes in technology and markets on both a broad and narrow scale.
Changes in government policy related to your field.
Changes in social patterns, population profiles, lifestyle changes, and so on.
Local events. Weaknesses:
What could you improve?
What should you avoid?
What are people in your market likely to see as weaknesses?
What factors lose you sales?
Do other people seem to perceive weaknesses that you don't see?
Are your competitors doing any better than you? Threats
What obstacles do you face?
What are your competitors doing?
Are quality standards or specifications for your job, products or services changing?
Is changing technology threatening your position?
Do you have bad debt or cash-flow problems?
Could any of your weaknesses seriously threaten your business?<br>

Tool Box: Criticality Matrix A Criticality Matrix is a useful tool to assess and visualize the “Significance” and “Probability of Occurrence” for potential or perceived threats (T) identified during the development of the SWOT Analysis. Most Current State Analysis will generate 8 – 12 critical issues that will need to be considered during the strategic planning process.<br>

Tool Box: Affinity Diagram An Affinity Diagram organizes large numbers of ideas or findings into their natural relationship and taps the team’s creativity and intuition.
Step 1: Record each idea/finding on a separate Post-It note and stick it to on a flip chart.
Step 2: Look for ideas/findings that seem to be related and place then side by side, until all ideas/findings are grouped. Very important is that no one talk during this exercise.
Step 3: Select a heading for each group and write it on a separate Post-It note. You can talk during this step.
Step 4: Ensure that every idea/finding in a group aligns with the heading. Make final adjustment if necessary.<br>

Group Work: Current State Analysis The Task:
Perform a Current State Analysis for your organization and document your key findings using the “Strategy Deployment - Current State Analysis” worksheet.
Make a list of any open issues that require additional research, data and/or analysis. Assign individuals to each action item and agree on a timeline.
Develop a SWOT Matrix, including a review of your organization's Core Competencies, capturing the key findings of your Current State Analysis. Utilize Affinity Diagrams to consolidate and group your findings if needed.
Agree on critical issues to be included into the organization’s Strategic Plan.<br>

Strategic Planning & Deployment Process The End …

“Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.” - Vince Lombardi<br>

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