'Tis the season for strategizing

'Tis the Season! Now is the time for businesses to celebrate the end of this calendar year and begin the process of planning for the next.

Many organizations truly enjoy the opportunity to sit back, reflect and design a strategy for the near and distant future.

Others find the experience boring, daunting, repetitive, or a complete waste of productive time.

No matter what your feelings toward strategic planning, it is vital for your organization to regularly engage in the process, involve as many of your stakeholders as possible, and design a road map that is exciting and practical.

Strategic planning involves both art and science.

It is not simply making a list of action steps for all to blindly follow, but conducted appropriately, it is an opportunity for key decision-makers to make important business decisions engaging both intuition and analysis, listening to their hearts and their minds.

Organizational planning involves three aspects: strategic thinking, longrange planning and tactical planning.

Strategic thinking is mostly intuitive (art), long-range planning is both intuitive and analytical, and tactical planning is mostly analytical (scientific).

Both art and science are integral components in the planning process and in the long-term success of your organization.

Strategic planning employs art.

According to Webster, art requires the use of skill acquired by experience, study or observation.

This implies using the personal, creative power of the people who know your business best.

It involves getting in touch with the feel of your business and asking questions such as:What is our business really about? To what extent is it operating congruently with our mission and values? Who are our clients and customers and what do they really want from us? What do we feel about the future and our role in it? Answering these questions helps create the organization's future perspective while stabilizing a foundation.

Strategic planning also utilizes science.

After establishing your organization's perspective, you will need to use a systematic process to collect data, analyze facts and figures and evaluate key measurable factors.

It is your opportunity to develop a tactical plan for improving performance, productivity and profits while creating a format for present and future accountabilities.

So, both intuition and analysis are involved in the three facets of planning: strategic thinking, long-range planning and tactical planning.

A number of different people should be involved in these three areas of planning.

Strategic thinking is generally the function of upper management, the chief executive officer or president, board of directors, major department managers, key advisors, planning facilitators and others as appropriate.

Many organizations have found value in involving others not typically involved in this level of planning.

These other stakeholders could include employees, customers, vendors, strategic partners, community representatives and outside representatives.

Essentially, the broader the view, the more accurate the perspective will be.

The second step, long-range planning, is the segment devoted to determining the desired position of the organization.

It focuses on both the present and the future, it looks toward strategy and critical issues and it could involve many of the same participants as those involved in strategic thinking.

The third application, tactical planning, is the development of a system to make effective use of limited resources and to achieve desired results, especially those derived from strategic thinking and long-range planning.

Managers and their subordinates conduct most tactical planning.

However, the more that managers are in sync with the goals and vision of the organization, the more they will be supportive, cooperative and enthusiastic in their planning efforts.

Strategic planning is a wonderful team building activity with great benefits to the organization and its stakeholders.

Everyone can gain from learning about the art and science of planning and utilizing it in their work activities.

Managers and aspiring leaders will more readily grow into valuable assets when they are brought early into the fold and taught how to use both their hearts and minds to move the business forward.

Plus it's a great way to help your people bond together, stay motivated, and remain eager for personal and professional improvement.

The following are a number of areas to be scrutinized during the planning process:

What exactly does our organization do? How do we do it? Who really makes what decisions in our company? What are our mission, vision and values? To what extent is our behavior consistent (or not) with our stated mission, vision and values? What are our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT analysis)? Who are our best and worst clients - and why? What do we want our organization to look like in five years? Discuss revenues, number and type of staff, physical plant, style of business and clients.

How do we envision our typical day, week, month, year? What do we want our legacy to be? As you can see, these questions require both intuition and analysis.

They require us to search our heart, our souls and our minds for answers and for direction.

Like the human organism, which needs to use all of its parts to stay alive and healthy, so do our organizations.

Enjoy the process, do not rush into the dreaded to-do list, and always keep the big strategic picture in clear view.

Hopefully, yours will look more like a Rembrandt than a Picasso.

Happy New Year and Happy Planning.

Idora Silver is CEO of the I.

Silver Management Group, Inc., and a Certified Professional Consultant to Management, as well as a Certified Speaking Professional.