Strategic Planning Foundation

Foundations are fundamental, basic and necessary in any undertaking or structure. Buildings have foundations, education has foundations and in business, strategic planning also has foundations. Foundations have the uncanny ability to preserve the structure of business or organizations and foundations do something else that is extremely important, they spread the load and stress to make the structure of business and organization stable.

Foundations are Fundamental

How does a business or organization create the foundation of strategic planning? This is a question that may cause our brain to be engaged in deep thought. How are foundations created? Foundations are basically created first by studying the locality where it is to be constructed. Is the soil soft? Is the soil hard? Or is it mixed? After which one decides which materials to use for the foundation.

There are parallels to this truth in strategic planning. Prior to the planning process, attention has to be directed in viewing the business scenario. This kind of viewing has to involve not only what can be seen visibly, that is the obvious, but also the kind of viewing where the nuances of the business scenario can be identified to the fore. To arrive at this end, business or organizations have to develop as the basic material a highly readable and understandable exploration of techniques that can match the mixture of deep analysis and intuition that successful business and organizations employ to their strategic planning.

Although the strategic planning responsibility is normally performed by the Chief Executive Officer, or by the Executive Vice President, it is never wrong to go against normal conventions. For the business or organization to maximize its strategic planning capability, the strategic planning responsibility may be executed by people in the business or organization that possesses the mind of the strategist. Oftentimes people in the business or organization who have no formal business education can go about creating ideas that create opportunities and solve problems for their companies.

The foundation of strategic planning is the people in the organization who have the mental agility that can be used to alter a business or organizations strength against the competition in the most efficient manner. Intuition and insight then becomes the basic materials in formulating and implementing a strategic plan. Apart from these, rational analyses form an integral part in the strategic plan. Rational analyses are the things can be communicated in an understandable fashion throughout the business or organization.

The Foundation of Motivation

People in the business or organization who possess the mind of the strategist cannot function well if they are not motivated first and foremost. Creating motivation then is the initial cornerstone of the foundation of strategic planning. No motivated people in the strategic planning staff, equals no stepping up to the next foundation.

Since the composition of the strategic planning staff or group is that of people who may be tagged as brainworkers and thinkers, business and organizations have to fully comprehend how these people will be able to do their tasks efficiently and excellently. They have certain characteristics that have to be fully comprehended to make them go the distance. Brainworkers and thinkers do not function well under coercion or intimidation. Fear, coercion and intimidation do not work as a motivational tool for them. They function at their peak through motivation.

This kind of motivation comes when there is an atmosphere of freedom and independence. Freedom and independence may be translated as the absence of prying eyes and the absence of certain protocol that may go against said surroundings. Motivation thrives in an atmosphere where they can express their insight and intuition regardless of what the initial results may be. In this kind of surrounding they can harness the power of insight and intuition and place it in its proper perspective in relation to strategic planning.

To fuel this motivation, business or organization should take the initiative to compliment these people not only through verbal recognition but to compliment them by allocating certain perks that will fuel in more motivation. Such perks make take the form of financial rewards, exclusive privileges and others that management may decide.