Strategic Planning 101

Tonight when I got home, my two little grandaughters were here. They are two and four. The four year old wanted to know about my day and what I did. I told her what I did during my day and she picked up on strategic planning. She wanted to know what strategic planning was. I explained that it was important that an organization make maximum use of their resources. Why? So they don’t waste them. What are resources? Things like people and money and inventory. What is strategic planning? Well, planning is done so a company knows what they are doing. I got a puzzled look. I then explained that tonight her sister and she were going to go to visit a friend and have dinner and watch a movie. They had a plan. Without that plan, I may have given her dinner and when she was at her friend’s house she wouldn’t be hungry. With the plan, she would be prepared for the evening and the fun. That made sense to her. It also makes sense that if a company doesn’t have a plan, they are more apt to “eat” whatever resources are in front of them, regardless of where those resources should be going.