Creating and Implementing Your Strategic Plan is the best-selling companion to John Bryson's landmark book, Strategic Planning for Public and Nonprofit Organizations. This new edition of the workbook is completely revised and updated and can be used as a stand-alone resource or as a companion to Strategic Planning for Public and Nonprofit Organizations. A step-by-step guide to putting strategic planning to work in public and nonprofit organizations, this indispensable workbook includes easy-to-understand worksheets and clear instructions for creating a strategic plan tailored to the needs of the individual organization. From setting up the meeting room to establishing a vision of the future, every step of the strategic planning process is covered. The workbook shows how to: Refine your organization’s mission and values Assess your internal and external environment Identify and frame strategic issues Formulate strategies to help manage the issues Create, review, and adopt the strategic plan Assess the strategic planning process

If you’re starting a new business or planning your business’s future, there are plenty of things you should take into account. Strategic Planning For Dummies covers everything you need to know to develop a plan for building and maintaining a competitive advantage — no matter what business you’re in. Written by Erica Olsen, founder and President of a business development firm that helps entrepreneurial-minded businesses plan for a successful future, this handy guide covers all the basics, including: How a strategic plan is different than a business plan Establishing a step-based planning process Planning for and encouraging growth Taking a long-view of your organization Evaluating past performance Defining and refining your mission, values, and vision Sizing up your current situation Examining your industry landscape Setting your strategic priorities Planning for unknown contingencies If you’re in business, you have to plan for everything — especially if you intend your business to grow. Whether you’re planning for a small business, large conglomerate, nonprofit, or even a government agency, this book has the planning specifics you need for your organization. Step-by-step, you’ll learn how to lay the foundations for a plan, understand how your plan will affect your business, form planning teams, discover what your strengths are, see where you are, and, finally, plan where you’re going. And there’s much more: Learn to analyze business trends that will determine your business’s future Set measurable, realistic goals that you can plan for and achieve Make strategic planning a habitual part of the organization Prioritize multiple strategies that you can implement simultaneously Set a defining vision for the organization that guides all your planning and strategy This friendly, simple guide puts the power of strategic planning in the palm of your hand. For small businesses that can’t afford to hire strategic planning consultants, it’s even more imperative. Careful, constant planning is the only way to handle an uncertain business future. With this book, you’ll have all the step-by-step guidance you need to ensure you’re ready for anything that comes.

Faced with the challenges of strained resources, ageing infrastructure and new forms of competition, water utilities must adopt a strategic business perspective, similar to ones that characterize successful business organizations. This reports discusses the many implications and demonstrates integration of the strategic planning process into annual planning. Coverage includes expectations of consumers, policy boards, state and federal guidelines and funding, competitive issues, long and short term options, planning, collaboration, prioritizing and communications.

This new edition features the strategy change cycle, a proven planning process used by a large number of organizations; offers detailed guidance on implementing the planning process and includes specific tools and techniques to make the process work in any organization; introduces new material on creating public value, stakeholder analysis, strategy mapping, balanced scorecards, collaboration, and more; includes information about the organizational designs that will encourage strategic thought and action throughout the entire organization; and contains a wealth of updated examples and cases.

TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Synthesis 326: Strategic Planning and Decision Making in State Departments of Transportation examines state and provincial transportation departments' experience with strategic planning and synthesizes current approaches to linking strategic planning with other decision-making processes, including operational and tactical planning, resource allocation, performance management, and performance measurement.

Easy-to-follow and understand, The Systems Thinking Approach to Strategic Planning and Management presents the first practical application of "systems thinking", a concept first introduced by Peter Senge in the Fifth Discipline as a new, better and elegantly simple A-B-C approach to strategic management, planning, and change. It provides a unique S

Your total guide to putting a powerful management tool to work in your organization Why strategic planning? Because a well wrought strategic plan helps you set priorities and acquire and allocate the resources needed to achieve your goals. It provides a framework for analyzing and quickly adapting to future challenges. And it helps all board and staff members focus more clearly on your organization's priorities, while building commitment and promoting cooperation and innovation But to be effective, your plan will need to address the special needs of the nonprofit sector. And for more than a decade, Strategic Planning for Nonprofit Organizations has been the number-one source of guidance on all facets of strategic planning for managers at nonprofits of every size and budget. This thoroughly revised, updated, and expanded edition arms you with the expert knowledge and tools you need to develop and implement surefire strategic plans, including tested-in-the-trenches worksheets, checklists, and tables--in print and on the companion website--along with a book-length case study that lets you observe strategic planning in action. Packed with real-world insights and practical pointers, it shows you how to: Develop a clear mission, vision, and set of values Conduct SWOT analyses and program evaluations Assess client needs and determine stakeholder concerns Set priorities and develop core strategies, goals, and objectives Balance the dual bottom lines of mission and money Write and implement a solid strategic plan Develop a user-friendly annual work plan Establish planning cycles, gauge progress, and update strategies

From the author: This 3rd edition is about organized common sense in the fire service. Section One provides support to fire departments that already have a strategic plan and just need to update and revise their existing plan. I have found over my 30 years of consulting with fire department’s that they want to accomplish their next iteration of their strategic plan as rapidly as possible. Section Two provides a detailed “How-to” guide to help a fire department create its first strategic plan. Section Two is divided into four parts: (1) Understanding the Department, (2) Understanding the Situation, (3) Understanding the Strategic Issues Facing the Department, and (4) Creating Organizational Change. A new chapter (Chapter 20) provides assistance to those departments having challenges with their strategic plan and obtaining the desired outcomes/results. It adds a new troubleshooting process for those departments having challenges to create an effective and successful strategic plan. The book is designed to be effective as a manual to develop an individual fire department’s strategic plan as well as a textbook for use in upper division college/university courses or as a text for post-graduate courses.

Making Strategic Plans Work introduces an innovative and creative approach to understanding the theory and practice of strategic planning. Based on proverbs and folktales, the book provides detailed analyses of the stages of the strategic planning process - preparation, formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. It also discusses the roles and responsibilities of the key players in the process - boards, management, donors, consultants and communities and how to build their capacity for more effectiveness. It equally provides at each stage templates for assessing the effectiveness of the strategic planning process as well as the key players. The book is unique in that it uses the wisdom contained in African proverbs and folktales to discuss the stages of the strategic planning process, and roles and responsibilities of players in the process. Being metaphors, proverbs and folktales often bring out more lucidly the meanings embodied in the normally arcane language of strategic planning. Proverbs and folktales also create strong mental pictures, which are often very effective in impressing ideas upon people's minds, communicating them at a deeper level, and motivating them to action. The book is based on research, tested use of the proverbs and folktales in strategic planning practice in different contexts in combination with the author's experience as a professional organization development (OD) consultant. It will be especially useful to students, teachers, executives, board members and all players in international development, community development, organizational development, international businesses and African Studies. Volunteers and expatriates working Africa and other developing regions will equally find the book useful as it provides insight into the culture and mode of thinking of the people they work with.