Planning for Success
Kara Huff
ORG300-21 – Applying Leadership Principles
Colorado State University – Global Campus
Barbara Yankowy
March 1, 2015
Planning for Success
It is a critical part of an organizations success to develop plans to achieve long term and short terms goals. When an organization properly plans to achieve its goals, it not only provides a roadmap for how the company plans to accomplish its mission but is vital to the success of the future of the organization. Not only does proper planning provide a direction for the organizations goals it is an opportunity to establish performance standards and make adjustments to how the company currently conducts business. Before an organization can begin to formulate a plan a clear end resulting goal needs to be established. Goals should achievable and measurable while encouraging participates to grow professional, stretching beyond their current abilities and knowledge to an elevated level of performance. The most common way to set and measure goals is by using the concept of SMART goals which stand for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely. Using the SMART goal concept, organization will be able to define the specifics of the goal and have a tangible way to measure the achievement and overall success of the final result. Once an organization has set parameters to measure a goal’s achievability the organization can implement a plan to successfully achieve that goal. There are the three major types of plans that help organizations achieve their goals: strategic, tactical and operational. It is important to understand that operational planning leads to the achievement of tactical plans, which in turn leads to achieving strategic plans. Leaders within the company must not only be willing to set achievable goals but have a directional vision for the organization. Once a vision has been established, it is imperative the organization implement proper planning with strategies that allow achievement of both short-term and long-term goals.
Strategic Planning vs. Tactical Planning
Strategic planning is the process of envisioning the future of an organization by setting long term goals. This type of planning is a framework that will require further planning but allows the organization to translate its vision into loosely defined goals and objectives. Strategic planning is centered on the greater good of the company by focusing 3-5 years or longer into the future in efforts to create a more successful outlook for the organization. (Simerson, 2011) This requires leaders not ask where the organization is currently but where it wants to be moving forward. Once an organization has established its future vision and outlined objectives they wish to accomplish, it is necessary to begin planning a strategy to achieve this goal. Tactical planning takes the organizations loosely defined objectives and sets short-term actions that support the strategic plan in a specific measurable way. Unlike strategic planning, tactical planning is focused on a specific area of the organization and its present circumstances. Strategic planning requires the organization to ask “What are we trying to accomplish” whereas tactical planning requires asking “How are we going to accomplish it”. (Scandinavian Journal, 2014) Strategic planning and tactical planning complement each other because just as car without gas will not allow you to reach your destination, and company without a plan will never reach its future vision and achieve its objectives for success. (Simersosn, 2011)
Operational Planning
Once a long-term goal of the organization is reached and a tactical plan has been developed it is necessary to plan operational strategies that focus on the products and services to develop and maximize financial gains of the organization. This type of planning is on a smaller scale compare to strategic and tactical, it directly affect the