“Consistency with the right strategic plan is the ultimate key to success’’

Edmond Mbiaka

Why, When and How should people prepare a strategic plan?

Do you know how to create a simple action plan?

Do you know what SWOT analysis is?

Everyone understands that technology has changed every aspect of the way any business operates and this is one of the reasons that we need to develop new skills for staying up to date in a changing word. Strategic Planning sets up a sense of direction and it helps build a competitive advantage.

You may be thinking that ‘’Strategic Planning” is a concept that sounds complicated or it is something that only companies do, however, strategic planning will help you think strategically, even in your personal life.

Did you know that only 3% of the population sets goals and objectives? Maybe you have already set your goals, but you need a roadmap to get there.

This webquest prepares you to think strategically and use the strategic process to develop your own personal goals and/or use it for the development purposes of a newly establishment company, or a new product.

This webquest will help you to understand the key elements of the strategic planning and why it is important for your success. Furthermore, it will help you to develop your own vision and mission statements. Then, you will learn how to define your personal goals or your company’s goals and you will see what a SMART goal is and how to make your goals SMART. By the end, you will have the chance to create a simple strategic plan to achieve your personal goals.

Learn how to achieve your most important goals!

1. Get familiar with the Strategic Planning concept
Strategy planning can mean a lot of things. In this step, go through a series of sources to understand the concept of Strategic Planning. You will be able to access various links and videos showing different approaches. Find them under our the Useful links section and use them for information gathering.

You can use other resources than these links to answer the following questions.


Once you have learned about strategic planning, answer the following questions:
1. What is the meaning of Business Strategic Planning?
2. What is the meaning of Personal Strategic Planning?
3. Why is Strategic planning important for a company? 
4. What are the key factors for a successful strategic planning?
5. What are the differences between a Strategic Plan and a Marketing Plan and why do you need both?

You can create a google doc form to write your answers and share it with your peers, colleagues, and teachers etc. to get their feedback.


2. Set your goals
Do not forget that strategic planning is not just for companies, but it can also help you create your personal goals. At this step, it is important to decide if you want to develop your own personal goals and/or use the following steps for the development purposes of a new company, product, NGO etc.

Make a list with your current personal goals or the goals for your new company. You can write down something simple and then follow the next steps to elaborate your goals. Use the template below to write your goals.

	Goals (statements indicating what is expected to be achieved)
1.
2.
3.

3.  Develop vision and mission
As the first step in strategic planning, it is very important to develop a vision and a mission statement. Together, vision and mission determine the organization’s direction, help communicate the organization’s purpose to interested stakeholders, develop measurable personal goals and objectives, and offer you the opportunity to establish what is important to you.

What is a Vision Statement?
‘’The vision is the aspiration of the organization of what it would like to be in future’
Author: dima-project.eu  
See the links and videos in the allocated section for further readings and information about the vision statement.

Questions to consider in creating a Vision Statement:
o   What are the needs to be addressed?
o   What are the strengths and weaknesses?
o   What are the priorities?
o   What would success look like?

Practical Tips for creating a Vision Statement:
o   Be brief, clear and easily explained to others
o   Do not confuse with mission statement
o   Use the present tense

What is a Mission Statement?
The mission is a short statement, indicating the organization’s purpose, identifying the goal of its operations: what kind of product or service it provides and its primary customers or market.

See the links and videos in the allocated section for further readings and information about the vision statement.

Practical Tips for creating a Mission Statement
o   Describes what the organization will do and why
o   Involve target group in developing the mission
o   Use clear and concise language

Creating your vision and mission is the first step in the Strategic Planning process. By creating strong and ethical vision and mission statements, you build the foundations and steps to success.

Now, let’s begin by applying what you learned earlier. After reviewing the resources and the practical tips, write down your vision and mission statements based on the goals you have identified in Step 2. After that, you can share your vision and mission to get feedback from others.

4. How to conduct a SWOT analysis
SWOT is an acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.

See the links and videos in the allocated section for further readings and information about the SWOT analysis.
 
You can use the google doc to write the basic elements of the SWOT Analysis
In reaching this stage, you should be familiar with the components of SWOT analysis.
Now, it is time to prepare a SWOT analysis. Use your personal goals that you have identified in Step 2 and develop a matrix to identify strengths, opportunities, weaknesses and threats.

You can do this activity individually or collectively.  

5. Define a SMART goal  
In order to ensure that your strategic plan will be implemented, you need to develop clear and SMART goals.
Goals are the specific statements indicating what is expected to be achieved in order for the vision and mission to be achieved. Defining SMART goals means that they are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time-bound. See the links and videos in the allocated section for further readings and information about the setting a SMART goal.
Now, let’s write your goals! You can define them using your personal goals you have identified in Step 3. Write down them!


6. Develop a strategic plan
Once vision, mission, and goals are defined, the final step is to develop a strategic plan with a set of actions defined in it.
A strategic plan needs to identify the following components:
1. Goals - statements indicating what is expected to be achieved.
2. Deliverables - the tangible products for achieving the goals.
3. Indicators – clearly specified measurements that will indicate when an objective is met.
4. Activities /actions - the necessary actions for achieving a deliverable and respective objective. There can be one or several activities in order to achieve each output.
5. Timeframe – will clearly define what will be done by when.
6. Responsibilities – who is responsible for each goal, deliverable and activity.
7. Budget – defines the resources needed for each of the activities.

It is now time to develop the strategic plan. After reviewing the information from previous steps, use the following template to develop your own strategic plan.

Strategic Plan Title:
Goal	Deliverables	Indicators	Activity	Timeframe	Responsibility	Budget

Your journey starts now! Once your Strategic Plan is complete, it is time to implement those goals and deliverables. Do not forget to follow your strategic plan to achieve your personal goals.