Annual Budgeting & Planning…Part 2.
The final step to the strategic planning process is setting the company’s annual tactics. This is where your strategy comes to life. The tactics are the specific action items by functional leader.
These tactics are based on two primary criteria:
- What are the major projects budgeted for the year that is driving Capital spending or Expense spending?
- What are the weaknesses the company has identified through the strategic planning process that must be improved to be consistent with the positioning of your company?
The entire strategic planning process is a team effort. Setting the tactics stage is no different. We, as a leadership team, get together and provide input across the organization. In fact, we pursue input from our entire organization to identify what are the biggest areas which require our attention. We do this as a “brainstorm,” capturing all ideas, no matter what function or functions are responsible. At this stage it is all about the ideas and there should be no worries about offending anyone from any function.
The following steps are:
- Consolidate the list so that minor action items can be joined together to create more significant tactics.
- Prioritize the list based on CapEx spending and strategic importance.
- Identify who will be responsible for achieving the tactic for the year and, if necessary, what other leader may be involved in a supporting role.
- Select the tactics such that each function has no more than five major tactics he or she has the primary responsibility to accomplish.
You can also use these tactics as initiatives to evaluate your staff in a formal employee review process. Your staff can delegate these initiatives to their staff as well. With this approach you can assure the efforts throughout the organization are aligned with the strategic objectives of the company. Everyone is “pulling on the same end of the rope,” supporting each other and working toward the same goals.
Not every initiative may be accomplished by the end of the year, but most will be. Those initiatives that are not completed, can go on your list of tactics for next year to re-prioritize.
With this critical final tactics step in your strategic planning process, you will put yourself in a better position to achieve your financial objectives and fulfill your strategic planning goals.
