Strategic Planning

How many of you have a strategic plan?  Over the past month, I have been working with a group that is in the process of updating their strategic plan.  This should be lesson for all of us. Strategic plans are not a one time process, but instead, a living document, worthy of updates and our accountability to the plan.

To simplify your development of a strategic plan, you may want to use the four basic pillars of business as your guide: financial, business processes, employee relations and customer/patient relations.  By doing so, you can easily categorize your efforts to ensure you have accountability. 

Once you have identified your various actions steps and properly categorized them, it is essential that you prioritize these actions.  While all may be important, there is clearly a prioritzation in your mind.  Again, keeping to this prioritizaiton ensures accountability remains intact.  

And speaking of accountability, the next step is to assign the action step to the appropriate staff member.  I like assigning accountability to one person as that ensures there are no excuses...accountabilty stays intact.  Of course, teams may be developed to complete an action step, but make sure you assign the leader, who in turn, is accountable.

Lastly, make sure identify timelines.  Timelines can be further defined by establishing milestone points in the action step process.  Merely setting a completion date leaves too much risk that the action step may not be completed.  Setting milestones and associated dates ensures your teams are fully engaged in the process.

As stated before,  stragtegic plans are living, moving documents.  Our changing environment, economic, new technology development, etc. force us to review and update the plan as necessary.  At minimum, you should be reviewing your strategic plan progress every six months, and, at critical milestone dates.

Practices that develop and more importantly, managed their business with the benefit of a strategic plan, are in better shape to succeed in challenging times.  There are many resources avaiable to you in establishing your strategic plan.  If Primoro, Inc. can be of service, give us a call.