How to Improve Strategic Planning – Addressing 5 Major Challenges

What are the biggest opportunities and challenges you face when you consider how to improve strategic planning?

We’ve asked thousands of you who download our strategy eBooks and resources some version of that question. And we regularly review and analyze the answers to shape the content we develop and share with ideas on how to improve strategic planning.

We categorized all the answers recently to identify an aggregated list of challenges across sizes of companies. Five of the most mentioned areas are:

• Cultivating Strategic Thinking
• Building Buy-in and Alignment
• Working toward Successful Implementation & Results
• Facilitating Strategy Development
• Engaging Participants

How to Improve Strategic Planning – Addressing 5 Major Challenges

In the first in a series of articles addressing how to improve strategic planning, here are actionable resources to address each of these five areas:

Cultivating Strategic Thinking

• 6 Characteristics of Strategic Thinking Skills vs. Tactical Thinking
• Improve Strategic Thinking with a 3-Part Formula
• Who Should the Strategic Thinkers Be in Your Organization?
• 29 Clues You’re Not Dealing with a Strategic Thinker

Building Buy-in and Alignment

• 4 Vital Characteristics of Collaborative Strategy Leaders
• 3 Ways to Keep Strategic Priorities Front and Center with Executives
• 3 Roles to Focus a Distracted Organization on Results
• Strategic Alignment – 4 Lessons for Line and Staff Organizations Working Well

Working toward Successful Implementation & Results

• 5 Implementation Strategy Steps Pave the Way for Success
• No Implementation Success? 13 Reasons Things Getting Done Is a Problem
• Implementation Strategy – 15 Questions to Identify Heads Up People
• 5 Ways to Turn Your Implementation Plan into Results

Facilitating Strategy Development

• Creating a Workshop to Develop Strategy
• 10 Vital Characteristics in Facilitating Strategic Planning?
• 12 Resources to Lead a Strategic Planning Process When You’re New
• 4 Ways to Make a Strategic Planning Process More Productive

Engaging Participants

• The Best Time to Engage Your Audience in Collaborative Strategic Planning
• 5 Things Collaborative Strategic Planning Isn’t
• 3 Strategic Planning Ideas in a Matrix Organization
• Never Suffer from a Boring Strategic Planning Process Again

More Ideas are on the Way on How to Improve Strategic Planning

Additionally, I’m working on a first-ever eCourse right now on how to simplify, speed up, and make strategic planning fun – whether you are leading strategic planning or are trying to get a plan done all on your own as a business leader. It will be the first time we’ve shared many of the secrets, tips, and hacks that we use at Brainzooming to make strategic planning something that people enjoy and look forward to doing! – Mike Brown

How will you stay up on all the ideas for developing innovation strategies if you don’t join us and subscribe to the Brainzooming newsletter? We have a ton of ideas already out here, and more are coming all the time. Sign up to gain your strategic advantage!