strategic business plan opportunities

How to make a business plan

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How to make a good business plan: step-by-step guide.

A business plan is a strategic roadmap used to navigate the challenging journey of entrepreneurship. It's the foundation upon which you build a successful business.

A well-crafted business plan can help you define your vision, clarify your goals, and identify potential problems before they arise.

But where do you start? How do you create a business plan that sets you up for success?

This article will explore the step-by-step process of creating a comprehensive business plan.

What is a business plan?

A business plan is a formal document that outlines a business's objectives, strategies, and operational procedures. It typically includes the following information about a company:

Products or services

Target market

Competitors

Marketing and sales strategies

Financial plan

Management team

A business plan serves as a roadmap for a company's success and provides a blueprint for its growth and development. It helps entrepreneurs and business owners organize their ideas, evaluate the feasibility, and identify potential challenges and opportunities.

As well as serving as a guide for business owners, a business plan can attract investors and secure funding. It demonstrates the company's understanding of the market, its ability to generate revenue and profits, and its strategy for managing risks and achieving success.

Business plan vs. business model canvas

A business plan may seem similar to a business model canvas, but each document serves a different purpose.

A business model canvas is a high-level overview that helps entrepreneurs and business owners quickly test and iterate their ideas. It is often a one-page document that briefly outlines the following:

Key partnerships

Key activities

Key propositions

Customer relationships

Customer segments

Key resources

Cost structure

Revenue streams

On the other hand, a Business Plan Template provides a more in-depth analysis of a company's strategy and operations. It is typically a lengthy document and requires significant time and effort to develop.

A business model shouldn’t replace a business plan, and vice versa. Business owners should lay the foundations and visually capture the most important information with a Business Model Canvas Template . Because this is a fast and efficient way to communicate a business idea, a business model canvas is a good starting point before developing a more comprehensive business plan.

A business plan can aim to secure funding from investors or lenders, while a business model canvas communicates a business idea to potential customers or partners.

Why is a business plan important?

A business plan is crucial for any entrepreneur or business owner wanting to increase their chances of success.

Here are some of the many benefits of having a thorough business plan.

Helps to define the business goals and objectives

A business plan encourages you to think critically about your goals and objectives. Doing so lets you clearly understand what you want to achieve and how you plan to get there.

A well-defined set of goals, objectives, and key results also provides a sense of direction and purpose, which helps keep business owners focused and motivated.

Guides decision-making

A business plan requires you to consider different scenarios and potential problems that may arise in your business. This awareness allows you to devise strategies to deal with these issues and avoid pitfalls.

With a clear plan, entrepreneurs can make informed decisions aligning with their overall business goals and objectives. This helps reduce the risk of making costly mistakes and ensures they make decisions with long-term success in mind.

Attracts investors and secures funding

Investors and lenders often require a business plan before considering investing in your business. A document that outlines the company's goals, objectives, and financial forecasts can help instill confidence in potential investors and lenders.

A well-written business plan demonstrates that you have thoroughly thought through your business idea and have a solid plan for success.

Identifies potential challenges and risks

A business plan requires entrepreneurs to consider potential challenges and risks that could impact their business. For example:

Is there enough demand for my product or service?

Will I have enough capital to start my business?

Is the market oversaturated with too many competitors?

What will happen if my marketing strategy is ineffective?

By identifying these potential challenges, entrepreneurs can develop strategies to mitigate risks and overcome challenges. This can reduce the likelihood of costly mistakes and ensure the business is well-positioned to take on any challenges.

Provides a basis for measuring success

A business plan serves as a framework for measuring success by providing clear goals and financial projections . Entrepreneurs can regularly refer to the original business plan as a benchmark to measure progress. By comparing the current business position to initial forecasts, business owners can answer questions such as:

Are we where we want to be at this point?

Did we achieve our goals?

If not, why not, and what do we need to do?

After assessing whether the business is meeting its objectives or falling short, business owners can adjust their strategies as needed.

How to make a business plan step by step

The steps below will guide you through the process of creating a business plan and what key components you need to include.

1. Create an executive summary

Start with a brief overview of your entire plan. The executive summary should cover your business plan's main points and key takeaways.

Keep your executive summary concise and clear with the Executive Summary Template . The simple design helps readers understand the crux of your business plan without reading the entire document.

2. Write your company description

Provide a detailed explanation of your company. Include information on what your company does, the mission statement, and your vision for the future.

Provide additional background information on the history of your company, the founders, and any notable achievements or milestones.

3. Conduct a market analysis

Conduct an in-depth analysis of your industry, competitors, and target market. This is best done with a SWOT analysis to identify your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Next, identify your target market's needs, demographics, and behaviors.

Use the Competitive Analysis Template to brainstorm answers to simple questions like:

What does the current market look like?

Who are your competitors?

What are they offering?

What will give you a competitive advantage?

Who is your target market?

What are they looking for and why?

How will your product or service satisfy a need?

These questions should give you valuable insights into the current market and where your business stands.

4. Describe your products and services

Provide detailed information about your products and services. This includes pricing information, product features, and any unique selling points.

Use the Product/Market Fit Template to explain how your products meet the needs of your target market. Describe what sets them apart from the competition.

5. Design a marketing and sales strategy

Outline how you plan to promote and sell your products. Your marketing strategy and sales strategy should include information about your:

Pricing strategy

Advertising and promotional tactics

Sales channels

The Go to Market Strategy Template is a great way to visually map how you plan to launch your product or service in a new or existing market.

6. Determine budget and financial projections

Document detailed information on your business’ finances. Describe the current financial position of the company and how you expect the finances to play out.

Some details to include in this section are:

Startup costs

Revenue projections

Profit and loss statement

Funding you have received or plan to receive

Strategy for raising funds

7. Set the organization and management structure

Define how your company is structured and who will be responsible for each aspect of the business. Use the Business Organizational Chart Template to visually map the company’s teams, roles, and hierarchy.

As well as the organization and management structure, discuss the legal structure of your business. Clarify whether your business is a corporation, partnership, sole proprietorship, or LLC.

8. Make an action plan

At this point in your business plan, you’ve described what you’re aiming for. But how are you going to get there? The Action Plan Template describes the following steps to move your business plan forward. Outline the next steps you plan to take to bring your business plan to fruition.

Types of business plans

Several types of business plans cater to different purposes and stages of a company's lifecycle. Here are some of the most common types of business plans.

Startup business plan

A startup business plan is typically an entrepreneur's first business plan. This document helps entrepreneurs articulate their business idea when starting a new business.

Not sure how to make a business plan for a startup? It’s pretty similar to a regular business plan, except the primary purpose of a startup business plan is to convince investors to provide funding for the business. A startup business plan also outlines the potential target market, product/service offering, marketing plan, and financial projections.

Strategic business plan

A strategic business plan is a long-term plan that outlines a company's overall strategy, objectives, and tactics. This type of strategic plan focuses on the big picture and helps business owners set goals and priorities and measure progress.

The primary purpose of a strategic business plan is to provide direction and guidance to the company's management team and stakeholders. The plan typically covers a period of three to five years.

Operational business plan

An operational business plan is a detailed document that outlines the day-to-day operations of a business. It focuses on the specific activities and processes required to run the business, such as:

Organizational structure

Staffing plan

Production plan

Quality control

Inventory management

Supply chain

The primary purpose of an operational business plan is to ensure that the business runs efficiently and effectively. It helps business owners manage their resources, track their performance, and identify areas for improvement.

Growth-business plan

A growth-business plan is a strategic plan that outlines how a company plans to expand its business. It helps business owners identify new market opportunities and increase revenue and profitability. The primary purpose of a growth-business plan is to provide a roadmap for the company's expansion and growth.

The 3 Horizons of Growth Template is a great tool to identify new areas of growth. This framework categorizes growth opportunities into three categories: Horizon 1 (core business), Horizon 2 (emerging business), and Horizon 3 (potential business).

One-page business plan

A one-page business plan is a condensed version of a full business plan that focuses on the most critical aspects of a business. It’s a great tool for entrepreneurs who want to quickly communicate their business idea to potential investors, partners, or employees.

A one-page business plan typically includes sections such as business concept, value proposition, revenue streams, and cost structure.

Best practices for how to make a good business plan

Here are some additional tips for creating a business plan:

Use a template

A template can help you organize your thoughts and effectively communicate your business ideas and strategies. Starting with a template can also save you time and effort when formatting your plan.

Miro’s extensive library of customizable templates includes all the necessary sections for a comprehensive business plan. With our templates, you can confidently present your business plans to stakeholders and investors.

Be practical

Avoid overestimating revenue projections or underestimating expenses. Your business plan should be grounded in practical realities like your budget, resources, and capabilities.

Be specific

Provide as much detail as possible in your business plan. A specific plan is easier to execute because it provides clear guidance on what needs to be done and how. Without specific details, your plan may be too broad or vague, making it difficult to know where to start or how to measure success.

Be thorough with your research

Conduct thorough research to fully understand the market, your competitors, and your target audience . By conducting thorough research, you can identify potential risks and challenges your business may face and develop strategies to mitigate them.

Get input from others

It can be easy to become overly focused on your vision and ideas, leading to tunnel vision and a lack of objectivity. By seeking input from others, you can identify potential opportunities you may have overlooked.

Review and revise regularly

A business plan is a living document. You should update it regularly to reflect market, industry, and business changes. Set aside time for regular reviews and revisions to ensure your plan remains relevant and effective.

Create a winning business plan to chart your path to success

Starting or growing a business can be challenging, but it doesn't have to be. Whether you're a seasoned entrepreneur or just starting, a well-written business plan can make or break your business’ success.

The purpose of a business plan is more than just to secure funding and attract investors. It also serves as a roadmap for achieving your business goals and realizing your vision. With the right mindset, tools, and strategies, you can develop a visually appealing, persuasive business plan.

Ready to make an effective business plan that works for you? Check out our library of ready-made strategy and planning templates and chart your path to success.

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Essential Guide to the Strategic Planning Process

By Joe Weller | April 3, 2019 (updated March 26, 2024)

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In this article, you’ll learn the basics of the strategic planning process and how a strategic plan guides you to achieving your organizational goals. Plus, find expert insight on getting the most out of your strategic planning.

Included on this page, you'll discover the importance of strategic planning , the steps of the strategic planning process , and the basic sections to include in your strategic plan .

What Is Strategic Planning?

Strategic planning is an organizational activity that aims to achieve a group’s goals. The process helps define a company’s objectives and investigates both internal and external happenings that might influence the organizational path. Strategic planning also helps identify adjustments that you might need to make to reach your goal. Strategic planning became popular in the 1960s because it helped companies set priorities and goals, strengthen operations, and establish agreement among managers about outcomes and results.

Strategic planning can occur over multiple years, and the process can vary in length, as can the final plan itself. Ideally, strategic planning should result in a document, a presentation, or a report that sets out a blueprint for the company’s progress.

By setting priorities, companies help ensure employees are working toward common and defined goals. It also aids in defining the direction an enterprise is heading, efficiently using resources to achieve the organization’s goals and objectives. Based on the plan, managers can make decisions or allocate the resources necessary to pursue the strategy and minimize risks.

Strategic planning strengthens operations by getting input from people with differing opinions and building a consensus about the company’s direction. Along with focusing energy and resources, the strategic planning process allows people to develop a sense of ownership in the product they create.

“Strategic planning is not really one thing. It is really a set of concepts, procedures, tools, techniques, and practices that have to be adapted to specific contexts and purposes,” says Professor John M. Bryson, McKnight Presidential Professor of Planning and Public Affairs at the Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota and author of Strategic Planning for Public and Nonprofit Organizations: A Guide to Strengthening and Sustaining Organizational Achievement . “Strategic planning is a prompt to foster strategic thinking, acting, and learning, and they all matter and they are all connected.”

What Strategic Planning Is Not

Strategic planning is not a to-do list for the short or long term — it is the basis of a business, its direction, and how it will get there.

“You have to think very strategically about strategic planning. It is more than just following steps,” Bryson explains. “You have to understand strategic planning is not some kind of magic solution to fixing issues. Don’t have unrealistic expectations.”

Strategic planning is also different from a business plan that focuses on a specific product, service, or program and short-term goals. Rather, strategic planning means looking at the big picture.

While they are related, it is important not to confuse strategic planning with strategic thinking, which is more about imagining and innovating in a way that helps a company. In contrast, strategic planning supports those thoughts and helps you figure out how to make them a reality.

Another part of strategic planning is tactical planning , which involves looking at short-term efforts to achieve longer-term goals.

Lastly, marketing plans are not the same as strategic plans. A marketing plan is more about introducing and delivering a service or product to the public instead of how to grow a business. For more about marketing plans and processes, read this article .

Strategic plans include information about finances, but they are different from financial planning , which involves different processes and people. Financial planning templates can help with that process.

Why Is Strategic Planning Important?

In today’s technological age, strategic plans provide businesses with a path forward. Strategic plans help companies thrive, not just survive — they provide a clear focus, which makes an organization more efficient and effective, thereby increasing productivity.

“You are not going to go very far if you don’t have a strategic plan. You need to be able to show where you are going,” says Stefan Hofmeyer, an experienced strategist and co-founder of Global PMI Partners . He lives in the startup-rich environment of northern California and says he often sees startups fail to get seed money because they do not have a strong plan for what they want to do and how they want to do it.

Getting team members on the same page (in both creating a strategic plan and executing the plan itself) can be beneficial for a company. Planners can find satisfaction in the process and unite around a common vision. In addition, you can build strong teams and bridge gaps between staff and management.

“You have to reach agreement about good ideas,” Bryson says. “A really good strategy has to meet a lot of criteria. It has to be technically workable, administratively feasible, politically acceptable, and legally, morally, and ethically defensible, and that is a pretty tough list.”

By discussing a company’s issues during the planning process, individuals can voice their opinions and provide information necessary to move the organization ahead — a form of problem solving as a group.

Strategic plans also provide a mechanism to measure success and progress toward goals, which keeps employees on the same page and helps them focus on the tasks at hand.

When Is the Time to Do Strategic Planning?

There is no perfect time to perform strategic planning. It depends entirely on the organization and the external environment that surrounds it. However, here are some suggestions about when to plan:

If your industry is changing rapidly

When an organization is launching

At the start of a new year or funding period

In preparation for a major new initiative

If regulations and laws in your industry are or will be changing

“It’s not like you do all of the thinking and planning, and then implement,” Bryson says. “A mistake people make is [believing] the thinking has to precede the acting and the learning.”

Even if you do not re-create the entire planning process often, it is important to periodically check your plan and make sure it is still working. If not, update it.

What Is the Strategic Planning Process?

Strategic planning is a process, and not an easy one. A key is to make sure you allow enough time to complete the process without rushing, but not take so much time that you lose momentum and focus. The process itself can be more important than the final document due to the information that comes out of the discussions with management, as well as lower-level workers.

“There is not one favorite or perfect planning process,” says Jim Stockmal, president of the Association for Strategic Planning (ASP). He explains that new techniques come out constantly, and consultants and experienced planners have their favorites. In an effort to standardize the practice and terms used in strategic planning, ASP has created two certification programs .

Level 1 is the Strategic Planning Professional (SPP) certification. It is designed for early- or mid-career planners who work in strategic planning. Level 2, the Strategic Management Professional (SMP) certification, is geared toward seasoned professionals or those who train others. Stockmal explains that ASP designed the certification programs to add structure to the otherwise amorphous profession.

The strategic planning process varies by the size of the organization and can be formal or informal, but there are constraints. For example, teams of all sizes and goals should build in many points along the way for feedback from key leaders — this helps the process stay on track.

Some elements of the process might have specific start and end points, while others are continuous. For example, there might not be one “aha” moment that suddenly makes things clear. Instead, a series of small moves could slowly shift the organization in the right direction.

“Don’t make it overly complex. Bring all of the stakeholders together for input and feedback,” Stockmal advises. “Always be doing a continuous environmental scan, and don’t be afraid to engage with stakeholders.”

Additionally, knowing your company culture is important. “You need to make it work for your organization,” he says.

There are many different ways to approach the strategic planning process. Below are three popular approaches:

Goals-Based Planning: This approach begins by looking at an organization’s mission and goals. From there, you work toward that mission, implement strategies necessary to achieve those goals, and assign roles and deadlines for reaching certain milestones.

Issues-Based Planning: In this approach, start by looking at issues the company is facing, then decide how to address them and what actions to take.

Organic Planning: This approach is more fluid and begins with defining mission and values, then outlining plans to achieve that vision while sticking to the values.

“The approach to strategic planning needs to be contingent upon the organization, its history, what it’s capable of doing, etc.,” Bryson explains. “There’s such a mistake to think there’s one approach.”

For more information on strategic planning, read about how to write a strategic plan and the different types of models you can use.

Who Participates in the Strategic Planning Process?

For work as crucial as strategic planning, it is necessary to get the right team together and include them from the beginning of the process. Try to include as many stakeholders as you can.

Below are suggestions on who to include:

Senior leadership

Strategic planners

Strategists

People who will be responsible for implementing the plan

People to identify gaps in the plan

Members of the board of directors

“There can be magic to strategic planning, but it’s not in any specific framework or anybody’s 10-step process,” Bryson explains. “The magic is getting key people together, getting them to focus on what’s important, and [getting] them to do something about it. That’s where the magic is.”

Hofmeyer recommends finding people within an organization who are not necessarily current leaders, but may be in the future. “Sometimes they just become obvious. Usually they show themselves to you, you don’t need to look for them. They’re motivated to participate,” he says. These future leaders are the ones who speak up at meetings or on other occasions, who put themselves out there even though it is not part of their job description.

At the beginning of the process, establish guidelines about who will be involved and what will be expected of them. Everyone involved must be willing to cooperate and collaborate. If there is a question about whether or not to include anyone, it is usually better to bring on extra people than to leave someone out, only to discover later they should have been a part of the process all along. Not everyone will be involved the entire time; people will come and go during different phases.

Often, an outside facilitator or consultant can be an asset to a strategic planning committee. It is sometimes difficult for managers and other employees to sit back and discuss what they need to accomplish as a company and how they need to do it without considering other factors. As objective observers, outside help can often offer insight that may escape insiders.

Hofmeyer says sometimes bosses have blinders on that keep them from seeing what is happening around them, which allows them to ignore potential conflicts. “People often have their own agendas of where they want to go, and if they are not aligned, it is difficult to build a strategic plan. An outsider perspective can really take you out of your bubble and tell you things you don’t necessarily want to hear [but should]. We get into a rhythm, and it’s really hard to step out of that, so bringing in outside people can help bring in new views and aspects of your business.”

An outside consultant can also help naysayers take the process more seriously because they know the company is investing money in the efforts, Hofmeyer adds.

No matter who is involved in the planning process, make sure at least one person serves as an administrator and documents all planning committee actions.

What Is in a Strategic Plan?

A strategic plan communicates goals and what it takes to achieve them. The plan sometimes begins with a high-level view, then becomes more specific. Since strategic plans are more guidebooks than rulebooks, they don’t have to be bureaucratic and rigid. There is no perfect plan; however, it needs to be realistic.

There are many sections in a strategic plan, and the length of the final document or presentation will vary. The names people use for the sections differ, but the general ideas behind them are similar: Simply make sure you and your team agree on the terms you will use and what each means.

One-Page Strategic Planning Template

“I’m a big fan of getting a strategy onto one sheet of paper. It’s a strategic plan in a nutshell, and it provides a clear line of sight,” Stockmal advises.

You can use the template below to consolidate all your strategic ideas into a succinct, one-page strategic plan. Doing so provides you with a high-level overview of your strategic initiatives that you can place on your website, distribute to stakeholders, and refer to internally. More extensive details about implementation, capacity, and other concerns can go into an expanded document.

Download One-Page Strategic Planning Template Excel | Word | Smartsheet

The most important part of the strategic plan is the executive summary, which contains the highlights of the plan. Although it appears at the beginning of the plan, it should be written last, after you have done all your research.

Of writing the executive summary, Stockmal says, “I find it much easier to extract and cut and edit than to do it first.”

For help with creating executive summaries, see these templates .

Other parts of a strategic plan can include the following:

Description: A description of the company or organization.

Vision Statement: A bold or inspirational statement about where you want your company to be in the future.

Mission Statement: In this section, describe what you do today, your audience, and your approach as you work toward your vision.

Core Values: In this section, list the beliefs and behaviors that will enable you to achieve your mission and, eventually, your vision.

Goals: Provide a few statements of how you will achieve your vision over the long term.

Objectives: Each long-term goal should have a few one-year objectives that advance the plan. Make objectives SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, and time-based) to get the most out of them.

Budget and Operating Plans: Highlight resources you will need and how you will implement them.

Monitoring and Evaluation: In this section, describe how you will check your progress and determine when you achieve your goals.

One of the first steps in creating a strategic plan is to perform both an internal and external analysis of the company’s environment. Internally, look at your company’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as the personal values of those who will implement your plan (managers, executives, board members). Externally, examine threats and opportunities within the industry and any broad societal expectations that might exist.

You can perform a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis to sum up where you are currently and what you should focus on to help you achieve your future goals. Strengths shows you what you do well, weaknesses point out obstacles that could keep you from achieving your objectives, opportunities highlight where you can grow, and threats pinpoint external factors that could be obstacles in your way.

You can find more information about performing a SWOT analysis and free templates in this article . Another analysis technique, STEEPLE (social, technological, economic, environmental, political, legal, and ethical), often accompanies a SWOT analysis.

Basics of Strategic Planning

How you navigate the strategic planning process will vary. Several tools and techniques are available, and your choice depends on your company’s leadership, culture, environment, and size, as well as the expertise of the planners.

All include similar sections in the final plan, but the ways of driving those results differ. Some tools are goals-based, while others are issues- or scenario-based. Some rely on a more organic or rigid process.

Hofmeyer summarizes what goes into strategic planning:

Understand the stakeholders and involve them from the beginning.

Agree on a vision.

Hold successful meetings and sessions.

Summarize and present the plan to stakeholders.

Identify and check metrics.

Make periodic adjustments.

Items That Go into Strategic Planning

Strategic planning contains inputs, activities, outputs, and outcomes. Inputs and activities are elements that are internal to the company, while outputs and outcomes are external.

Remember, there are many different names for the sections of strategic plans. The key is to agree what terms you will use and define them for everyone involved.

Inputs are important because it is impossible to know where you are going until you know what is around you where you are now.

Companies need to gather data from a variety of sources to get a clear look at the competitive environment and the opportunities and risks within that environment. You can think of it like a competitive intelligence program.

Data should come from the following sources:

Interviews with executives

A review of documents about the competition or market that are publicly available

Primary research by visiting or observing competitors

Studies of your industry

The values of key stakeholders

This information often goes into writing an organization’s vision and mission statements.

Activities are the meetings and other communications that need to happen during the strategic planning process to help everyone understand the competition that surrounds the organization.

It is important both to understand the competitive environment and your company’s response to it. This is where everyone looks at and responds to the data gathered from the inputs.

The strategic planning process produces outputs. Outputs can be as basic as the strategic planning document itself. The documentation and communications that describe your organization’s strategy, as well as financial statements and budgets, can also be outputs.

The implementation of the strategic plan produces outcomes (distinct from outputs). The outcomes determine the success or failure of the strategic plan by measuring how close they are to the goals and vision you outline in your plan.

It is important to understand there will be unplanned and unintended outcomes, too. How you learn from and adapt to these changes influence the success of the strategic plan.

During the planning process, decide how you will measure both the successes and failures of different parts of the strategic plan.

Sharing, Evaluating, and Monitoring the Progress of a Strategic Plan

After companies go through a lengthy strategic planning process, it is important that the plan does not sit and collect dust. Share, evaluate, and monitor the plan to assess how you are doing and make any necessary updates.

“[Some] leaders think that once they have their strategy, it’s up to someone else to execute it. That’s a mistake I see,” Stockmal says.

The process begins with distributing and communicating the plan. Decide who will get a copy of the plan and how those people will tell others about it. Will you have a meeting to kick off the implementation? How will you specify who will do what and when? Clearly communicate the roles people will have.

“Before you communicate the plan [to everyone], you need to have the commitment of stakeholders,” Hofmeyer recommends. Have the stakeholders be a part of announcing the plan to everyone — this keeps them accountable because workers will associate them with the strategy. “That applies pressure to the stakeholders to actually do the work.”

Once the team begins implementation, it’s necessary to have benchmarks to help measure your successes against the plan’s objectives. Sometimes, having smaller action plans within the larger plan can help keep the work on track.

During the planning process, you should have decided how you will measure success. Now, figure out how and when you will document progress. Keep an eye out for gaps between the vision and its implementation — a big gap could be a sign that you are deviating from the plan.

Tools are available to assist with tracking performance of strategic plans, including several types of software. “For some organizations, a spreadsheet is enough, but you are going to manually enter the data, so someone needs to be responsible for that,” Stockmal recommends.

Remember: strategic plans are not written in stone. Some deviation will be necessary, and when it happens, it’s important to understand why it occurred and how the change might impact the company's vision and goals.

Deviation from the plan does not mean failure, reminds Hofmeyer. Instead, understanding what transpired is the key. “Things happen, [and] you should always be on the lookout for that. I’m a firm believer in continuous improvement,” he says. Explain to stakeholders why a change is taking place. “There’s always a sense of re-evaluation, but do it methodically.”

Build in a schedule to review and amend the plan as necessary; this can help keep companies on track.

What Is Strategic Management?

Strategic planning is part of strategic management, and it involves the activities that make the strategic plan a reality. Essentially, strategic management is getting from the starting point to the goal effectively and efficiently using the ongoing activities and processes that a company takes on in order to keep in line with its mission, vision, and strategic plan.

“[Strategic management] closes the gap between the plan and executing the strategy,” Stockmal of ASP says. Strategic management is part of a larger planning process that includes budgeting, forecasting, capital allocation, and more.

There is no right or wrong way to do strategic management — only guidelines. The basic phases are preparing for strategic planning, creating the strategic plan, and implementing that plan.

No matter how you manage your plan, it’s key to allow the strategic plan to evolve and grow as necessary, due to both the internal and external factors.

“We get caught up in all of the day-to-day issues,” Stockmal explains, adding that people do not often leave enough time for implementing the plan and making progress. That’s what strategic management implores: doing things that are in the plan and not letting the plan sit on a shelf.

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How To Write A Strategic Plan That Gets Results + Examples

Are you feeling overwhelmed with the thought of writing a strategic plan for your business? Do you want to create a plan that will help you move your team forward with inspired alignment and disciplined execution? You're not alone.

Gone are the days of rigid, 5- or 10-year planning cycles that do not leave room for flexibility and innovation. To stay ahead of the curve, you need a dynamic and execution-ready strategic plan that can guide your business through the ever-evolving landscape.

At Cascade, we understand that writing a strategic plan can be dreadful, especially in today's unpredictable environment. That's why we've developed a simple model that can help you create a clear, actionable plan to achieve your organization's goals. With our tested and proven strategic planning template , you can write a strategic plan that is both adaptable and effective .

Whether you're a seasoned strategy professional or a fresh strategy planner, this guide will walk you through the process step-by-step on how to write a strategic plan. By the end, you'll have a comprehensive, easy-to-follow strategic plan that will help you align your organization on the path to success.

Follow this guide step-by-step or skip to the part you’re most interested in: 

• Pre-Planning Phase: Build The Foundation

Cascade Model For Strategic Planning: What You Need To Know

• Key Elements of a Strategic Plan

How To Write A Strategic Plan In 6 Simple Steps

3 strategic plan examples to get you started, how to achieve organizational alignment with your strategic plan.

• Quick Overview of Key Steps In Writing A Strategic Plan

Create An Execution-Ready Strategic Plan With Cascade 🚀

*Editor’s note: This article is part of our ‘How to create a Strategy’ collection. At the end of this article, you’ll find a link to each piece within this collection so you can dig deeper into each element of an effective strategic plan and more related resources to master strategy execution.

Pre-Planning Phase: Build The Foundation 

Before we dive into writing a strategic plan, it's essential to know the basics you should cover before the planning phase. The pre-planning phase is where you'll begin to gather the data and strategic insights necessary to create an effective strategic plan.

1. Run a strategic planning workshop

The first step is to run a strategic planning workshop with your team. Get your team in the room, get their data, and gather their insights. By running this workshop, you'll foster collaboration and bring fresh perspectives to the table. And that’s not all. 

The process of co-creating and collaborating to put that plan together with stakeholders is one of the most critical factors in strategy execution . According to McKinsey’s research , initiatives in which employees contribute to development are 3.4 times more likely to be successful. They feel like the plan is a result of their efforts, and they feel ownership of it, so they're more likely to execute it. 

💡 Tip: Use strategy frameworks to structure your strategy development sessions, such as GAP analysis , SWOT analysis , Porter’s Five Forces , Ansoff matrix , McKinsey 7S model , or GE matrix . You can even apply the risk matrix that will help you align and decide on key strategic priorities.

2. Choose your strategic planning model

Before creating your strategic plan, you need to decide which structure you will use. There are hundreds of ways to structure a strategic plan. You’ve likely heard of famous strategic models such as OKRs and the Balanced Scorecard .

But beyond the well-known ones, there's also a myriad of other strategic planning models ranging from the extremely simple to the absurdly complex.

Many strategic models work reasonably well on paper, but in reality, they don't show you how to write a strategic plan that fits your organization's needs.

Here are some common weaknesses most popular strategic models have:

• They're too complicated. People get lost in terminology rather than focus on execution.
• They don’t scale. They work well for small organizations but fail when you try to extend them across multiple teams.
• They're too rigid. They force people to add layers for the sake of adding layers.
• They're neither tangible nor measurable. They’re great at stating outcomes but lousy at helping you measure success.
• They're not adaptable. As we saw in the last years, the business environment can change quickly. Your model needs to be able to work in your current situation and adapt to changing economic landscapes.

Our goal in this article is to give you a simpler, more effective way to write a strategic plan. This is a tested and proven strategic planning model that has been refined over years of working with +20,000 teams around the world. We call it the Cascade Strategy Model.

This approach has proven to be more effective than any other model we have tried when it comes to executing and implementing the strategy .

It’s easy to use and it works for small businesses, fast-growing startups, as well as multinationals trying to figure out how to write a fail-proof strategic plan.

We’ve created a simple diagram below to illustrate what a strategic plan following the Cascade Model will look like when it's completed:

Rather than a traditional roadmap , imagine your strategy as a flowchart. Each row is a mandatory step before moving on to the next.

We call our platform  Cascade for a reason: strategy must cascade throughout an organization along with values, focus areas, and objectives.

Above all, the Cascade Model is intended to be execution-ready —in other words, it has been proven to deliver success far beyond strategic planning. It adds to a successful strategic management process.Key elements of a Strategic Plan

Key Elements Of A Strategic Plan

The key elements of a strategic plan include: 

• Vision : Where do you want to get to? 
• Values : How will you behave on the journey? 
• Focus Areas : What are going to be your strategic priorities? 
• Strategic objectives : What do you want to achieve? 
• Actions and projects : How are you going to achieve the objectives? 
• KPIs : How will you measure success?

In this part of the article, we will give you an overview of each element within the Cascade Model. You can follow this step-by-step process in a spreadsheet , or sign up to get instant access to a free Cascade strategic planning template and follow along as we cover the key elements of an effective strategic plan.

Your vision statement is your organization's anchor - it defines where you want to get to and is the executive summary of your organization's purpose. Without it, your strategic plan is like a boat without a rudder, at the mercy of strong winds and currents like Covid and global supply chain disruptions.

A good vision statement can help funnel your strategy towards long-term goals that matter the most to your organization, and everything you write in your plan from this point on will help you get closer to achieving your vision.

Trying to do too much at once is a surefire way to sink your strategic plan. By creating a clear and inspiring vision statement , you can avoid this trap and provide guidance and inspiration for your team. A great vision statement might even help attract talent and investment into your organization.

For example, a bike manufacturing company might have a vision statement like, “To be the premier bike manufacturer in the Pacific Northwest.” This statement clearly articulates the organization's goals and is a powerful motivator for the team.

In short, don't start your strategic plan without a clear vision statement. It will keep your organization focused and help you navigate toward success.

📚 Recommended read: How to Write a Vision Statement (With Examples, Tips, and Formulas)

Values are the enablers of your vision statement —they represent how your organization will behave as you work towards your strategic goals. Unfortunately, many companies throw around meaningless words just for the purpose of PR, leading to a loss of credibility.

To avoid this, make sure to integrate your organization’s core values into everyday operations and interactions. In today's highly-competitive world, it's crucial to remain steadfast in your values and cultivate an organizational culture that's transparent and trustworthy.

Companies with the best company cultures consistently outperform competitors and their average market by up to 115.6%, as reported by Glassdoor . 

For example, a bike manufacturing company might have core values like:

• Accountability

These values reflect the organization's desire to become the leading bike manufacturer, while still being accountable to employees, customers, and shareholders.

👉 Here’s how to add vision and values to your strategic plan in Cascade: 

After you sign up and invite your team members to collaborate on the plan, navigate to Plans and Teams > Teams page, and add the vision, mission and values. This will help you to ensure that the company’s vision, mission statement, and values are always at top of mind for everyone.

📚When you're ready to start creating some company values, check out our guide, How To Create Company Values .

3. Focus Areas

Your focus areas are the strategic priorities that will keep your team on track and working toward the company’s mission and vision. They represent the high-level areas that you need to focus on to achieve desired business outcomes.

In fact, companies with clearly defined priorities are more likely to achieve their objectives. According to a case study by the Harvard Business Review , teams that focus on a small number of key initiatives are more likely to succeed than those that try to do too much. 

That’s also something that we usually recommend to our customers when they set up their strategic plan in Cascade. Rather than spreading your resources too thin over multiple focus areas, prioritize three to five. 

Following our manufacturing example above, some good focus areas include:

• Aggressive growth
• Producing the nation's best bikes
• Becoming a modern manufacturer
• Becoming a top place to work

Your focus areas should be tighter in scope than your vision statement, but broader than specific goals, time frames, or metrics. 

By defining your focus areas, you'll give your teams a guardrail to work within, which can help inspire innovation and creative problem-solving. 

With a clear set of focus areas, your team will be better able to prioritize their work and stay focused on the most important things, which will ultimately lead to better business results.

👉Here’s how you can set focus areas in Cascade: 

In Cascade, you can add focus areas while creating or importing an existing strategic plan from a spreadsheet. With Cascade’s Focus Area deep-dive functionality , you will be able to: 

• Review the health of your focus areas in one place.
• Get a breakdown by plans, budgets, resources, and people behind each strategic priority. 
• See something at-risk? Drill down into each piece of work regardless of how many plans it's a part of.

📚 Recommended read: Strategic Focus Areas: How to create them + Examples

4. Strategic Objectives

The importance of setting clear and specific objectives for your strategic plan cannot be overstated. 

Strategic objectives are the specific and measurable outcomes you want to achieve . While they should align with your focus areas, they should be more detailed and have a clear deadline. 

According to the 2022 State of High Performing Teams report , there is a strong correlation between goals and success not only at the individual and team level but also at the organizational level. Here’s what they found: 

• Employees who are unaware of their company's goals are over three times more likely to work at a company that is experiencing a decline in revenue than employees who are aware of the goals. 
• Companies with shrinking revenues are almost twice as likely to have employees with unclear work expectations. 

Jumping straight into actions without defining clear objectives is a common mistake that can lead to missed opportunities or misalignment between strategy and execution.

To avoid this pitfall, we recommend you add between three and six objectives to each focus area .

It's here that we need to start being a bit more specific for the first time in your strategic planning process . Let's take a look at an example of a well-written strategic objective:

• Continue top-line growth that outpaces the industry by 31st Dec 2023.

This is too specific to be a focus area. While it's still very high level, it indicates what the company wants to accomplish and includes a clear deadline. Both these aspects are critical to a good strategic objective.

Your strategic objectives are the heart and soul of your plan, and you need to ensure they are well-crafted. So, take the time to create well-planned objectives that will help you achieve your vision and lead your organization to success. 

👉Here’s how you can set objectives in Cascade: 

Adding objectives in Cascade is intuitive, straightforward, and accessible from almost anywhere in the workspace. With one click, you’ll open the objective sidebar and fill out the details. These can include a timeline, the objective’s owner, collaborators, and how your objective will be measured (success criteria).

📚 Recommended read: What are Strategic Objectives? How to write them + Examples

5. Actions and projects

Once you’ve defined your strategic objectives, the next step is to identify the specific strategic initiatives or projects that will help you achieve those objectives . They are short-term goals or actionable steps you or your team members will take to accomplish objectives. They should leverage the company’s resources and core competencies. 

Effective projects and actions in your strategic plan should: 

• Be extremely specific. 
• Contain a deadline.
• Have an owner.
• Align with at least one of your strategic objectives.
• Provide clarity on how you or your team will achieve the strategic objective.

Let's take a look at an example of a well-written project continuing with our bike manufacturing company using the strategic objective from above:

Strategic objective: Continue top-line growth that outpaces the industry by 31st Dec 2023.

Project: Expand into the fixed gear market by 31st December 2023.

This is more specific than the objective it links to, and it details what you will do to achieve the objective.

Another common problem area for strategic plans is that they never quite get down to the detail of what you're going to do.

It's easier to state "we need to grow our business," but without concrete projects and initiatives, those plans will sit forever within their PowerPoint templates, never to see the light of day after their initial creation.

Actions and projects are where the rubber meets the road. They connect the organizational strategic goals with the actual capabilities of your people and the resources at their disposal. Defining projects is a vital reality check every strategic plan needs.

👉Here’s how you create actions and projects in Cascade: 

From the Objective sidebar, you can choose to add a project or action under your chosen objective. In the following steps, you can assign an owner and timeline to each action or project.

Plus, in Cascade, you can track the progress of each project or action in four different ways. You can do it manually, via milestones, checklists, or automatically by integrating with Jira and 1000+ other available integrations .  

📚 Recommended read: How to create effective projects

Measuring progress towards strategic objectives is essential to effective strategic control and business success. That's where Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) come in. KPIs are measurable values that track progress toward achieving key business objectives . They keep you on track and help you stay focused on the goals you set for your organization.

To get the most out of your KPIs, make sure you link them to a specific goal or objective. In this way, you'll avoid creating KPIs that don't contribute to your objectives and distract you from focusing on what matters. 

Ideally, you will add both leading and lagging KPIs to each objective so you can get a more balanced view of how well you're progressing. Leading KPIs can indicate future performance while lagging KPIs show how well you’ve done in the past. Both types of KPIs are critical for operational planning and keeping your business on track.

Think of KPIs as a form of signpost in your organization. They provide critical insights that inform business leaders of their organization’s progress toward key business objectives. Plus, they can help you identify opportunities faster and capitalize on flexibility. 

👉Here’s how you can set and track KPIs in Cascade: 

In Cascade , you can add measures while creating your objectives or add them afterward. Open the Objective sidebar and add your chosen measure. 

When you create your Measure, you can choose how to track it. Using Cascade, you can track it manually or automatically. You can automate tracking via 1000+ integrations , including Excel spreadsheets and Google Sheets. In this way, you can save time and ensure that your team has up-to-date information for faster and more confident decision-making.

📚 Recommended reads:

• 10 Popular KPI Software Tools To Connect & Visualize Your Data (2023 Guide)
• ‍ How To Track KPIs To Hit Your Business Goals

Corporate Strategic Plan 

Following the steps outlined above, you should end up with a strategic plan that looks something like this:

This is a preview of a corporate strategic plan template that is pre-filled with examples. Here you can use the template for free and begin filling it out to align with your organization's needs. Plus, it’s suitable for organizations of all sizes and any industry. 

Once you fill in the template, you can also switch to the timeline view. You’ll get a complete overview of how the different parts of your plan are distributed across the roadmap in a Gantt chart view.

This template will help you create a structured approach to the strategic planning process, focus on key strategic priorities, and drive accountability to achieve necessary business outcomes. 

👉 Get your free corporate strategic plan template here.

Coca-Cola Strategic Plan 

Need a bit of extra inspiration to start writing your organization’s strategic plan? Check out this strategic plan example, inspired by Coca-Cola’s business plan: 

This template is pre-filled with Coca-Cola’s examples so you can inspire your strategic success on one of the most iconic brands on the planet. 

👉 Grab your free example of a Coca-Cola strategic plan here.

The Ramsay Health Care expansion strategy

Ramsay Health Care is a multinational healthcare provider with a strong presence in Australia, Europe, and Asia.

Almost all of its growth was organic and strategic. The company founded its headquarters in Sydney, Australia, but in the 21st century, it decided to expand globally through a primary strategy of making brownfield investments and acquisitions in key locations.

Ramsay's strategy was simple yet clever. By becoming a majority shareholder of the biggest local players, the company expanded organically in each region by leveraging and expanding their expertise.

Over the last two decades, Ramsay's global network has grown to 460 locations across 10 countries with over $13 billion in annual revenue.

📚 Recommended read: Strategy study: The Ramsay Health Care Growth Study

✨ Bonus resource: We've created a list of the most popular and free strategic plan templates in our library that will help you build a strategic plan based on the Cascade model explained in this article. You can use these templates to create a plan on a corporate, business unit, or team level.

We highlighted before that other strategic models often fail to scale strategic plans and goals scales across multiple teams and organizational levels. 

In an ideal world, you want to have a maximum of two layers of detail underneath each of your focus areas. This means you'll have a focus area, followed by a layer of objectives. Underneath the objectives, you'll have a layer of actions, projects, and KPIs.

If you have a single team that’s responsible for the strategy execution, this works well. However, how do you implement a strategy across multiple and cross-functional teams? And why is it important? 

According to LSA research of 410 companies across 8 industries, highly aligned companies grow revenue 58% faster and are 72% more profitable. And this is what Cascade can help you achieve. 

To achieve achieve organization-wide alignment with your strategic plan and impact the bottom line, there are two ways to approach it in Casade: through contributing objectives or shared objectives .

1. Contributing objectives

This approach involves adding contributing objectives that link to your main strategic objectives, like this:

For each contributing objective, you simply repeat the Objective → Action/Project → KPI structure as follows:

Here's how you can create contributing objectives in Cascade: 

Option A: Create contributing objectives within the same plan 

This means creating multiple contributing objectives within the same strategic plan that contribute to the main objective. 

However, be aware that if you have a lot of layers, your strategic plan can become cluttered, and people might have difficulty understanding how their daily efforts contribute to the strategic plan at the top level. 

For example, the people responsible for managing contributing objectives at the bottom of the plan ( functional / operational level ) will lose visibility on how are their objectives linked to the main focus areas and objectives (at a corporate / business level ). 

This approach is best suited to smaller organizations that only need to add a few layers of objectives to their plan.

Option B: Create contributing objectives from multiple plans linking to the main objective

This approach creates a network of aligned strategic plans within your organization. Each plan contains a set of focus areas and one single layer of objectives, each with its own set of projects, actions, and KPIs. This concept looks like this:

This example illustrates an objective that is a main objective in the IT strategic plan , but also contributes to the main strategic plan's objective.

For example, let’s say that your main business objective is to improve customer satisfaction by reducing product delivery time by 25% in the next quarter. This objective requires multiple operational teams within your organization to work together to achieve a shared objective. 

Each team will create its own objective in its plan to contribute to the main objective: 

• Logistics team: Reduce the shipment preparation time by 30%
• IT team: Implement new technology to reduce manual handling in the warehouse
• Production team: Increase production output by hour for 5%   

Here’s how this example would look like within Cascade platform:

Although each contributing objective was originally created in its own plan, you can see how each contributing objective relates to the main strategic objective and its status in real-time.

2. Shared objectives

In Cascade, shared objectives are the same objectives shared across different strategic plans.

For example, you can have an objective that is “Achieve sustainable operations”. This objective can be part of the Corporate Strategy Plan, but also part of the Operations Plan , Supply Chain Plan , Production Plan, etc. In short, this objective becomes a shared objective between multiple teams and strategic plan. 

This approach helps you to:

• Cascade your business strategy as deep as you want across a near-infinite number of people while maintaining strategic alignment throughout your organization .
• Create transparency and a much higher level of engagement in the strategy throughout your organization since objective owners are able to identify how their shared efforts contribute to the success of the main business objectives.

The more shared objectives you have across your organization, the more your teams will be aligned with the overarching business strategy. This is what we call " alignment health ”. 

Here’s how you can see the shared objectives in the alignment map and analyze alignment health within Cascade:

You get a snapshot of how is your corporate strategic plan aligned with sub-plans from different business units or departments and the status of shared objectives. This helps you quickly identify misaligned initiatives and act before it’s too late.  Plus, cross-functional teams have better visibility of how their efforts contribute to shared objectives. 

So whether you choose contributing objectives or shared objectives, Cascade has the tools and features to help you achieve organization-wide alignment and boost your bottom line.

Quick Overview Of Key Steps In Writing A Strategic Plan

Here’s a quick infographic to help you remember how everything connects and why each element is critical to creating an effective strategic plan:

This simple answer to how to write a strategic plan avoids confusing jargon and has elements that the whole organization can both get behind and understand. 

💡Tip: Save this image or bookmark this article for your next strategic planning session.

If you're struggling to write an execution-ready strategic plan, the Cascade model is the solution you've been looking for. With its clear, easy-to-understand terminology, and simple linkages between objectives, projects, and KPIs, you can create a plan that's both scalable and flexible.

But why is a flexible and execution-ready strategic plan so important? It's simple: without a clear and actionable plan, you'll never be able to achieve your business objectives. By using the Cascade Strategic Planning Model, you'll be able to create a plan that's both tangible and measurable, with KPIs that help you track progress towards your goals.

However, the real value of the Cascade framework lies in its flexibility . By creating links between main business objectives and your teams’ objectives, you can easily scale your plan without losing focus. Plus, the model's structure of linked layers means that you can always adjust your strategy in response to new challenges or opportunities and keep everyone on the same page. 

So if you want to achieve results with your strategic plan, start using Cascade today. With its unique combination of flexibility and focus, it's the perfect tool for any organization looking to master strategy execution and succeed in today's fast-paced business world. 

Want to see Cascade in action? Get started for free or book a 1:1 demo with Cascade’s in-house strategy expert.

This article is part one of our mini-series "How to Write a Strategic Plan". This first article will give you a solid strategy model for your plan and get the strategic thinking going.

Think of it as the foundation for your new strategy. Subsequent parts of the series will show you how to create the content for your strategic plan.

Articles in our How to Write a Strategic Plan series

• How To Write A Strategic Plan: The Cascade Model (This article)
• How to Write a Good Vision Statement
• How To Create Company Values
• Creating Strategic Focus Areas
• How To Write Strategic Objective
• How To Create Effective Projects
• How To Write KPIs + Ultimate Guide To Strategic Planning

More resources on strategic planning and strategy execution: 

• 6 Steps to Successful Strategy Execution
• 4-Step Strategy Reporting Process (With Template)
• Annual Planning: Plan Like a Pro In 5 Steps (+ Template) 
• 18 Free Strategic Plan Templates (Excel & Cascade) 2023
• The Right Way To Set Team Goals
• 23 Best Strategy Tools For Your Organization in 2023

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Viva Goals Vs. Cascade: Goal Management Vs. Strategy Execution

What Is A Maturity Model? Overview, Examples + Free Assessment

How To Implement The Balanced Scorecard Framework (With Examples)

The Best Management Reporting Software For Strategy Officers (2024 Guide)

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How to Set Strategic Planning Goals

• 29 Oct 2020

In an ever-changing business world, it’s imperative to have strategic goals and a plan to guide organizational efforts. Yet, crafting strategic goals can be a daunting task. How do you decide which goals are vital to your company? Which ones are actionable and measurable? Which goals to prioritize?

To help you answer these questions, here’s a breakdown of what strategic planning is, what characterizes strategic goals, and how to select organizational goals to pursue.

Access your free e-book today.

What Is Strategic Planning?

Strategic planning is the ongoing organizational process of using available knowledge to document a business's intended direction. This process is used to prioritize efforts, effectively allocate resources, align shareholders and employees, and ensure organizational goals are backed by data and sound reasoning.

Research in the Harvard Business Review cautions against getting locked into your strategic plan and forgetting that strategy involves inherent risk and discomfort. A good strategic plan evolves and shifts as opportunities and threats arise.

“Most people think of strategy as an event, but that’s not the way the world works,” says Harvard Business School Professor Clayton Christensen in the online course Disruptive Strategy . “When we run into unanticipated opportunities and threats, we have to respond. Sometimes we respond successfully; sometimes we don’t. But most strategies develop through this process. More often than not, the strategy that leads to success emerges through a process that’s at work 24/7 in almost every industry."

Related: 5 Tips for Formulating a Successful Strategy

4 Characteristics of Strategic Goals

To craft a strategic plan for your organization, you first need to determine the goals you’re trying to reach. Strategic goals are an organization’s measurable objectives that are indicative of its long-term vision.

Here are four characteristics of strategic goals to keep in mind when setting them for your organization.

1. Purpose-Driven

The starting point for crafting strategic goals is asking yourself what your company’s purpose and values are . What are you striving for, and why is it important to set these objectives? Let the answers to these questions guide the development of your organization’s strategic goals.

“You don’t have to leave your values at the door when you come to work,” says HBS Professor Rebecca Henderson in the online course Sustainable Business Strategy .

Henderson, whose work focuses on reimagining capitalism for a just and sustainable world, also explains that leading with purpose can drive business performance.

“Adopting a purpose will not hurt your performance if you do it authentically and well,” Henderson says in a lecture streamed via Facebook Live . “If you’re able to link your purpose to the strategic vision of the company in a way that really gets people aligned and facing in the right direction, then you have the possibility of outperforming your competitors.”

Related: 5 Examples of Successful Sustainability Initiatives

2. Long-Term and Forward-Focused

While strategic goals are the long-term objectives of your organization, operational goals are the daily milestones that need to be reached to achieve them. When setting strategic goals, think of your company’s values and long-term vision, and ensure you’re not confusing strategic and operational goals.

For instance, your organization’s goal could be to create a new marketing strategy; however, this is an operational goal in service of a long-term vision. The strategic goal, in this case, could be breaking into a new market segment, to which the creation of a new marketing strategy would contribute.

Keep a forward-focused vision to ensure you’re setting challenging objectives that can have a lasting impact on your organization.

3. Actionable

Strong strategic goals are not only long-term and forward-focused—they’re actionable. If there aren’t operational goals that your team can complete to reach the strategic goal, your organization is better off spending time and resources elsewhere.

When formulating strategic goals, think about the operational goals that fall under them. Do they make up an action plan your team can take to achieve your organization’s objective? If so, the goal could be a worthwhile endeavor for your business.

4. Measurable

When crafting strategic goals, it’s important to define how progress and success will be measured.

According to the online course Strategy Execution , an effective tool you can use to create measurable goals is a balanced scorecard —a tool to help you track and measure non-financial variables.

“The balanced scorecard combines the traditional financial perspective with additional perspectives that focus on customers, internal business processes, and learning and development,” says HBS Professor Robert Simons in the online course Strategy Execution . “These additional perspectives help businesses measure all the activities essential to creating value.”

The four perspectives are:

• Internal business processes
• Learning and growth

The most important element of a balanced scorecard is its alignment with your business strategy.

“Ask yourself,” Simons says, “‘If I picked up a scorecard and examined the measures on it, could I infer what the business's strategy was? If you've designed measures well, the answer should be yes.”

Related: A Manager’s Guide to Successful Strategy Implementation

Strategic Goal Examples

Whatever your business goals and objectives , they must have all four of the characteristics listed above.

For instance, the goal “become a household name” is valid but vague. Consider the intended timeframe to reach this goal and how you’ll operationally define “a household name.” The method of obtaining data must also be taken into account.

An appropriate revision to the original goal could be: “Increase brand recognition by 80 percent among surveyed Americans by 2030.” By setting a more specific goal, you can better equip your organization to reach it and ensure that employees and shareholders have a clear definition of success and how it will be measured.

If your organization is focused on becoming more sustainable and eco-conscious, you may need to assess your strategic goals. For example, you may have a goal of becoming a carbon neutral company, but without defining a realistic timeline and baseline for this initiative, the probability of failure is much higher.

A stronger goal might be: “Implement a comprehensive carbon neutrality strategy by 2030.” From there, you can determine the operational goals that will make this strategic goal possible.

No matter what goal you choose to pursue, it’s important to avoid those that lack clarity, detail, specific targets or timeframes, or clear parameters for success. Without these specific elements in place, you’ll have a difficult time making your goals actionable and measurable.

Prioritizing Strategic Goals

Once you’ve identified several strategic goals, determine which are worth pursuing. This can be a lengthy process, especially if other decision-makers have differing priorities and opinions.

To set the stage, ensure everyone is aware of the purpose behind each strategic goal. This calls back to Henderson’s point that employees’ alignment on purpose can set your organization up to outperform its competitors.

Calculate Anticipated ROI

Next, calculate the estimated return on investment (ROI) of the operational goals tied to each strategic objective. For example, if the strategic goal is “reach carbon-neutral status by 2030,” you need to break that down into actionable sub-tasks—such as “determine how much CO2 our company produces each year” and “craft a marketing and public relations strategy”—and calculate the expected cost and return for each.

The ROI formula is typically written as:

ROI = (Net Profit / Cost of Investment) x 100

In project management, the formula uses slightly different terms:

ROI = [(Financial Value - Project Cost) / Project Cost] x 100

An estimate can be a valuable piece of information when deciding which goals to pursue. Although not all strategic goals need to yield a high return on investment, it’s in your best interest to calculate each objective's anticipated ROI so you can compare them.

Consider Current Events

Finally, when deciding which strategic goal to prioritize, the importance of the present moment can’t be overlooked. What’s happening in the world that could impact the timeliness of each goal?

For example, the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and the ever-intensifying climate change crisis have impacted many organizations’ strategic goals in 2020. Often, the goals that are timely and pressing are those that earn priority.

Learn to Plan Strategic Goals

As you set and prioritize strategic goals, remember that your strategy should always be evolving. As circumstances and challenges shift, so must your organizational strategy.

If you lead with purpose, a measurable and actionable vision, and an awareness of current events, you can set strategic goals worth striving for.

Do you want to learn more about strategic planning? Explore our online strategy courses and download our free flowchart to determine which is right for you and your goals.

This post was updated on November 16, 2023. It was originally published on October 29, 2020.

About the Author

PWW Insights and Intelligence Blog

Published: September 6, 2019

Dime-a-dozen strategic business plans carry dime-a-dozen results. When creating their organization’s long-term strategic priorities, too many leaders fall victim to templates lacking the substantive measures needed to steer toward a brighter business future — or any future, for that matter.

Worse, others may become overwhelmed with the perceived complexity of the task. Strategic planning’s onus of breaking abstract and lofty visions into measurable daily actions is straightforward in theory, yet time-consuming and resource-intensive in practice, no matter what the leading management theories say.

There is a better way to create a strategic business plan tailored to your organization’s DNA, one that’s devisable, deployable and — ultimately — value-additive for your authentic enterprise growth.

How to Create a Strategic Business Plan: The Foundation

Several terms illustrate the core tenets of a strategic business plan.

• Vision: What do we want our company to look like in one, two, five, 10 years? In other words, what ideal successes, accomplishments and accolades do we want to develop a reputation for?
• Focus areas: How can we get where we want to be? What high-level feats or domains do we want to accomplish that’ll lend a long-term competitive advantage?
• Objectives: How will we scaffold those goals? What substantial start-and-stop activities pave the foundation for a successfully forged focus area?
• Initiatives: What everyday projects and operations will help us gradually achieve our objectives? How will we translate high-level ideas into a set of everyday, operational projects?
• Outcomes: How will we know we’ve completed an objective? How will we track, measure, benchmark and report KPIs across initiatives?

Creating a strategic business plan means developing a template that implements these concepts, then communicates them with all relevant business stakeholders.

Where to Begin When Building a New Business Plan

We’re all familiar with the two-day retreat booked off-premises — the one where business leaders meet, drink coffee and prepare the official annual strategic plan before returning to their offices to commence business as usual. That concept is inherently flawed, because it’s impossible to master business maturity in two days.

The most successful business strategic plans take shape gradually, initiated after a series of competitive intelligence, market research and qualitative analysis benchmarks where your organization is now — versus where it can go.

1. Perform Intelligence-Based External Assessments

Market research reveals various angles to your organization’s current strengths, weaknesses and risk categories. It also compares your operations and structures to competitors in your industry, providing authoritative and data-backed analyses to benchmark capacities.

Without conducting any prior competitive intelligence, your strategic plans have no roadmap designating where your business currently operates and where it strives to go.

Consider any of the following competitive intelligence strategic research before creating any official plan documents.

• Scenario planning: Scenario planning presents a broad, yet methodical, range of circumstances that may agitate your business operations and endeavors. These include industry and market disruptions , competitor breakthroughs, technological advancements and even geopolitical instances that could affect your industry, allowing you to plan accordingly.
• War gaming: War gaming is a set of guided role-playing exercises where organizations immerse themselves into the business models of their top competitors. Businesses can then better preempt the actions and strategies of those competitors, using briefings, market data and additional resources to get ahead of the opposition.
• Competitive profiling: Competitive market assessments see the most productive results through partnering with a strategic planning and market research firm. These firms deliver customized reports that detail your relative competitive position compared to others in the market , therefore empowering smarter investments and resource allocation to detect blind spots, close gaps and establish new opportunities — the goal of any robust strategic plan.

2. Select a Business Strategy Framework

Business strategy frameworks help document the perceived value you provide your customers. More importantly, they detail how you deliver that value — cataloging the products, policies, procedures, personnel and more that make up the anatomy of your operations.

You cannot implement a successful strategic plan altering the course of your business’ future without first pausing to know where you are: your strengths, weaknesses, past performances, etc.

Organizations assess their DNA through one of many strategic planning frameworks:

• Transformational business modeling
• SWOT analysis
• Porter’s five forces
• PESTLE model
• Balanced scorecard methodology
• And dozens more

3. Institutionalize Performance Measuring

Organizations must implement the infrastructure needed to manage, support and refine KPI measurements.

Without such technologies and systems, your organization has no way to hold itself accountable for any initiatives devised under the strategic plan.

Performance measurements for a strategic plan should:

• Be valid and verifiable
• Measure a specific value or business unit
• Inspire desired employee outcomes or behaviors
• Aggregate simply and intuitively, unburdening employees from undue manual data collection practices
• Ultimately answer specific, strategic questions guiding decision-makers toward improved business plans

Best Practices to Create a Successful Strategic Business Plan

There is no objective, “one-size-fits-all” business planning model. Strategic plans must be hand-drawn to the organization spearheading it, with steps, inputs, outputs and procedures as distinct as your handprint.

There are, however, a series of fundamental variables that must guide ideas from abstract to implementable. Follow these best practices to set the stage for more actionable, intelligent and executable strategic business plans.

1. Appoint a Cross-Functional Strategic Planning Team

A genuinely cross-functional team contains representatives from every major business department within your organizational structure. These include, but are not limited to:

• Human resources
• Financial planning and accounting
• Research and development

Ensuring all departments have a seat at the strategic planning table is the only way to account for the nebulous perspectives, processes, pain points and priorities that make up the daily operations of a business.

2. Identify Your Primary Focus Areas

Focus areas are the defining goals of your strategic plan. Think of them as a strategic plan’s north stars, the loftier tenets of your plan guiding the upcoming smaller list of pre-planned, individual objectives, initiatives and measurement KPIs. As separate efforts see completion, you step closer toward accomplishing the focus area.

The average strategic plan will contain anywhere from three to six focus areas prorated across three to five years . Those focus areas themselves will waterfall into half a dozen to a dozen concentrated objectives.

It’s essential to have a cross-functional leadership team devise primary focus areas as early as possible, using organizational values as their compass. These focus areas set the stage and will trigger the formation of more granular objectives and initiatives down the road, harmonizing short-term activities with the cited long-term vision.

3. Translate Objectives Into S.M.A.R.T. Goals

S.M.A.R.T. goals have been in the business lexicon for decades. The popularity and continued deployment of this framework is a testament to its nature, which takes abstract and often intangible focus areas and scaffolds them in practical actions, otherwise known as objectives.

S.M.A.R.T. goals have the following components.

• Specific: The goal pertains to a single topic, domain or interest.
• Measurable: The goal has a quantitative perimeter.
• Actionable: It’s possible to initiate the goal with your organization’s current capacities.
• Reasonable: The goal is logical for your market position, resources and values.
• Timely: The goal has a deadline.

Begin cataloging each of your focus domains into one- to two-sentence S.M.A.R.T. objectives. For example, let’s say your organization selects “Financial growth: increasing gross revenue” as a focus area. The S.M.A.R.T. objective of that focus area may then be, “Experience three consecutive monthly recurring revenues of $100,000 within the next 12 months.”

4. Review Budgets

Budget forecasting must run tangential to strategic planning.

In particular, the planning team must begin to consider current versus prospective resource allocation, given the priorities outlined in the S.M.A.R.T. objectives.

You don’t have to funnel every last dollar toward strategic planning goals, yet you should still set up a system that tracks current budget requirements, trends and spend strengths and weaknesses to inform better resource allocation along the plan’s three- to five-year timetable. Reviewing financial allotments during annual and even quarterly budgeting cycles may not cut it when it comes to intelligent strategic planning.

5. Include Relevant Departments and Employees to Cascade Specific Initiatives

Too many strategic plans fail due to siloed departments and unstructured communications. Representatives on the strategic planning committee must make it a priority to collaborate with their teams to relay all relevant focus areas, S.M.A.R.T objectives and budget reprioritizations.

This best practice also allows objectives to transform into their next progression: initiatives. Initiatives will be the micro-projects, action items and process changes executed at the departmental level that, eventually, deliver on the S.M.A.R.T objective. In short, it’s the actual, daily operational changes that will bring about strategic transformation — the mini “sprints” that complete the strategy marathon.

Employee ideation and feedback are imperative here. These are the individuals in the thick of your operations. You can only successfully realize tactical goals when they align with the everyday lived reality of your workforce — which you only aggregate if you rope them in.

Take the objective from earlier: “Experience three consecutive monthly recurring revenues (MRRs) of $100,000 within the next 12 months.” Interdepartmental insight may scaffold a series of initiatives to reach this MRR target, including the following.

• Production: Reduce the average cycle time of per-unit production from 30 minutes to 25 minutes.
• Accounts receivable: Reduce the average order transaction processing time from five minutes to three minutes by implementing more automated authorizations.
• Sales: Increase upsell rates by 15% among repeat customers.
• Marketing: Roll out a new A/B test strategy on key sales pages.
• Sales, marketing, production: Offer a new upmarket service line, subscription or product package.

6. Don’t Forget to Assign Key Performance Indicators to Every Initiative

Performance measurements communicate progress on objectives to teams and stakeholders alike. For every objective outlined under each focus area, you may devise multiple KPIs giving qualitative, expressive measures on the development of that objective — in turn relaying granular feedback on what’s succeeding and what needs more focus.

Structure your strategic planning KPIs to include the following.

• A measure: The unit of progress for a business action item.
• A benchmark: Outside market or industry data to compare KPIs to — and one of the many reasons to perform routine competitive analyses .
• A data source: The system you use to aggregate and store data.
• A report frequency: The amount and means by which you share KPI data.

7. Create a Strategic Plan Dashboard Accessible to All

Strategic planning dashboards create a visual representation of the strategic business plan, complete with every initiative, input and process change, as well as what objective they’re under. They most often live within an employee-accessible project management tracker or strategy management software.

That representation is cohesive, yet comprehensive. It serves as the project management-like repository for every component building up to the core focus areas of the strategic plan, while also creating a breadcrumb trail of accountability and workflows.

8. Continually Evaluate Performance Data

KPI reviews are an ongoing endeavor, not a one-and-done activity by a sole team member. In the strategic management maturity model, organizations which execute frequent and fluid KPI evaluations move closer to the fifth and highest level of business maturity evolution , continuous improvement.

Regular performance data reviews also empower organizations to refine initiatives they initially forecasted to contribute to an objective’s completion, but are proving to underperform. The earlier organizations spot these data discrepancies, the sooner they can take steps to put the strategic plan timeline back on track.

9. Prioritize Downstream Communication Before Plan Changes

If KPI analysis reveals any gaps or discrepancies, funnel them back into the initiatives occuring in the micro-environment. Before implementing them, though, department leaders must communicate these adaptations as well as their KPI-driven logic to their teams, ensuring buy-in and smooth re-implementation of the redefined action items.

Remember, your entire strategic plan — with its focus areas, objectives and building-block initiatives — takes shape across years, not months or weeks. Frequent departmental status meetings may seem like an endless game of management-employee ping-pong, but they are essential to keep your strategic plan execution on track.

Select change communication strategies that fit your organizational culture and structure:

• Granular departmental strategic planning meetings reviewing KPIs and new initiative directions
• One-on-one meetings between managers and team members
• Department-wide email memos and reviews
• Reports from project management offices or the office of strategy management , within project management software or similar digital strategy platforms

10. Consider Ongoing Accountability Efforts

Strategic planning consultants or firms provide a suite of services complementary to every stage of strategic planning.

Insights drawn from their research services are valuable to review before drafting a tactical business plan and during plan implementation, as well as when maintaining and managing business improvements in the post-objective achievement phase.

At their core, strategic planning firms profile clients’ strengths, weaknesses, growth areas, competitive differentiation opportunities and much more. They deliver quantitative and qualitative data that leverages superior strategic insights into:

• User experience and voice-of-customer surveys and reports
• Competitive research profiles and market assessment
• Risk scenario planning
• And much more

8 Strategic Business Planning Tips to Adopt Today

With its surgical ability to cut through the noise and establish shared goals, few initiatives harmonize people, processes and technology like intelligent strategic business planning.

The tenets of a strategic plan will naturally vary, yet several business planning best practices consistently boost implementation rates.

1. Strategic Thinking Is Not Strategic Planning

Which team member would you prefer to have: the long-term critical thinker with genuinely innovative ideas, yet rare follow-through, or the methodical practitioner, the one who goes above and beyond in their work ethic, but may not make vocal contributions to a strategic vision?

Lightbulb moments of tactical brilliance have a time and a place. However, ideas must walk the walk and talk the talk. Leaders must be able to translate focus areas into enterprise-enriching objectives with clear outcomes and performance measurements. Anything less merely spins the strategic wheels without traction.

2. Set up Feedback Channels

Strategic planning relies on the comprehension, participation and overall buy-in of downstream employees in every department. Make it clear you value their input. After all, these employees perform the everyday work across a plan’s implementation steps and initiatives, which are the building blocks to complete a strategic objective.

Create two-way feedback channels for staff to lend their thoughts and insights. Send out surveys to temperature-check the latest projects’ strengths, pain points and processes that may need adjustment. Encourage department and team leaders to conduct one-on-one sessions with their employees to garner feedback on the everyday reality of executing the strategic plans . These insights are invaluable in creating a smoother strategic planning pipeline, today and tomorrow.

3. Make Meetings Granular

Many organizations practice the default annual or quarterly strategic report. While these are vital presentations, ongoing strategic planning is more successful when holding smaller, more frequent meetings at the departmental and executive level.

These meetings should focus on only a handful of projects or initiatives, ones cascading toward a higher strategic objective — rather than just jumping to the abstract goals or reviewing the entire broad swath of the plan itself.

4. Adopt a Business Strategy, Then Worry About Making It Agile

Continuous business planning — compared to ad-hoc static or even structured, but reactive, planning— is the goal of many organizations. Standardized, ongoing planning allows organizations to change objectives on the fly without unraveling the strands of the entire plan.

Strategic planning must walk before it can run. Evolving up the strategic management maturity model into the continuous improvement category is a process that takes time, commitment, tweaks and recurring competitive market research to ground your business vision in reality.

5. Invest in Training

Schedule employee training at the onset of your strategic planning timelines. Doing so ensures the employees executing daily strategic initiatives are fluent and familiar with the tools they need to actually perform their roles.

Consider employee trainings for any of the following:

• New technology integral to strategic initiative execution, including strategy management software or new project management trackers
• New project workflows
• New performance measurement trackers, reports and data systems
• Any additional new infrastructure related to the execution of strategic priorities

6. Remember Your Customers/Clients

Customer insights inform some of the highest-value, propelling and profitable strategic priorities. Ensure your leaders aren’t putting the blinders on, creating insular objectives detached from real-world end users. Perform regular customer insight research such as voice-of-customer surveys and user experience syndications. You will enrich your short- and long-term plans as a result.

7. Integrate Continual Competitive Research and Market Assessments

Like voice-of-customer and user experience, competitive intelligence (CI) empowers businesses to create hyper-tactical and hyper-appropriate strategic objectives informed by market positions.

CI and strategic planning are like sparks and tinder. Data from CI and market analysis serves to ignite the very issues, gaps and opportunities a strategic plan remedies, including:

• Articulating your current strong market segments
• Pinpointing your top competitive threats
• Identifying strategies to mitigate, if not beat, those threats
• Narrowing paths and strategic choices to achieve competitive differentiators — e.g., the strategic plan

Partnering with a professional CI and market research firm  yields the most robust — and actionable — research. These consultants create detailed profiles pinpointing exact strength and growth areas, then assist in creating milestone roadmaps that close those gaps and propel strategic action.

8. Keep Principles and Values First

Strategic planning is more organic and more primed for success when its objectives align with company culture. These values are the DNA of your company. Reference them when developing your short- and long-term strategies, and those strategies will be far more likely to stick.

Need a Map Through Your Business’ Strategic Maze?

Explore Proactive Worldwide’s portfolio of strategic planning services .

Proactive Worldwide specializes in personalized research packages, deployment models and overall strategic planning consultancy and support for organizations that have had enough of shapeless strategic plans. By personalized, we mean personalized — no client receives the same pre-published market findings, data sets or regurgitated transformation templates.

Reach out when you’re ready to move beyond basic business strategy .

What can we help you achieve?

Get in touch with our market intelligence company today to start planning for the future of your organization.

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SWOT analysis: Examples and templates

A SWOT analysis helps you identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for a specific project or your overall business plan. It’s used for strategic planning and to stay ahead of market trends. Below, we describe each part of the SWOT framework and show you how to conduct your own.

Whether you’re looking for external opportunities or internal strengths, we’ll walk you through how to perform your own SWOT analysis, with helpful examples along the way. 

What is a SWOT analysis?

A SWOT analysis is a technique used to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for your business or even a specific project. It’s most widely used by organizations—from small businesses and non-profits to large enterprises—but a SWOT analysis can be used for personal purposes as well. 

While simple, a SWOT analysis is a powerful tool for helping you identify competitive opportunities for improvement. It helps you improve your team and business while staying ahead of market trends.

What does SWOT stand for?

SWOT is an acronym that stands for: 

Opportunities

When analyzed together, the SWOT framework can paint a larger picture of where you are and how to get to the next step. Let’s dive a little deeper into each of these terms and how they can help identify areas of improvement. 

Strengths in SWOT refer to internal initiatives that are performing well. Examining these areas helps you understand what’s already working. You can then use the techniques that you know work—your strengths—in other areas that might need additional support, like improving your team’s efficiency . 

When looking into the strengths of your organization, ask yourself the following questions:

What do we do well? Or, even better: What do we do best?

What’s unique about our organization?

What does our target audience like about our organization?

Which categories or features beat out our competitors?

 Example SWOT strength:

Customer service: Our world-class customer service has an NPS score of 90 as compared to our competitors, who average an NPS score of 70.

Weaknesses in SWOT refer to internal initiatives that are underperforming. It’s a good idea to analyze your strengths before your weaknesses in order to create a baseline for success and failure. Identifying internal weaknesses provides a starting point for improving those projects.

Identify the company’s weaknesses by asking:

Which initiatives are underperforming and why?

What can be improved?

What resources could improve our performance?

How do we rank against our competitors?

Example SWOT weakness:

E-commerce visibility: Our website visibility is low because of a lack of marketing budget , leading to a decrease in mobile app transactions.

Opportunities in SWOT result from your existing strengths and weaknesses, along with any external initiatives that will put you in a stronger competitive position. These could be anything from weaknesses that you’d like to improve or areas that weren’t identified in the first two phases of your analysis. 

Since there are multiple ways to come up with opportunities, it’s helpful to consider these questions before getting started:

What resources can we use to improve weaknesses?

Are there market gaps in our services?

What are our business goals for the year?

What do your competitors offer?

Example SWOT opportunities:

Marketing campaign: To improve brand visibility, we’ll run ad campaigns on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.

Threats in SWOT are areas with the potential to cause problems. Different from weaknesses, threats are external and ‌out of your control. This can include anything from a global pandemic to a change in the competitive landscape. 

Here are a few questions to ask yourself to identify external threats:

What changes in the industry are cause for concern?

What new market trends are on the horizon?

Where are our competitors outperforming us?

Example SWOT threats:

New competitor: With a new e-commerce competitor set to launch within the next month, we could see a decline in customers.

SWOT analysis example

One of the most popular ways to create a SWOT analysis is through a SWOT matrix—a visual representation of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The matrix comprises four separate squares that create one larger square. 

A SWOT matrix is great for collecting information and documenting the questions and decision-making process . Not only will it be handy to reference later on, but it’s also great for visualizing any patterns that arise. 

Check out the SWOT matrix below for a simple example. As you can see, each of the quadrants lists out the company's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

When used correctly and effectively, your matrix can be a great toolkit for evaluating your organization’s strengths and weaknesses. 

How to do a SWOT analysis, with examples 

A SWOT analysis can be conducted in a variety of ways. Some teams like to meet and throw ideas on a whiteboard, while others prefer the structure of a SWOT matrix. However you choose to make your SWOT analysis, getting creative with your planning process allows new ideas to flow and results in more unique solutions. 

There are a few ways to ensure that your SWOT analysis is thorough and done correctly. Let’s take a closer look at some tips to help you get started.

Tip 1: Consider internal factors 

Often, strengths and weaknesses stem from internal processes. These tend to be easier to solve since you have more control over the outcome. When you come across internal factors, you can start implementing improvements in a couple of different ways.

Meet with department stakeholders to form a business plan around how to improve your current situation.

Research and implement new tools, such as a project management tool , that can help streamline these processes for you. 

Take immediate action on anything that can be changed in 24 hours or less. If you don’t have the capacity, consider delegating these items to others with deadlines. 

The way you go about solving internal factors will depend on the type of problem. If it’s more complex, you might need to use a combination of the above or a more thorough problem management process.

Tip 2: Evaluate external factors

External factors stem from processes outside of your control. This includes competitors, market trends, and anything else that’s affecting your organization from the outside in. 

External factors are trickier to solve, as you can’t directly control the outcome. What you can do is pivot your own processes in a way that mitigates negative external factors. 

You can work to solve these issues by:

Competing with market trends

Forecasting market trends before they happen

Improving adaptability to improve your reaction time

Track competitors using reporting tools that automatically update you as soon as changes occur 

While you won’t be able to control an external environment, you can control how your organization reacts to it. 

Let’s say, for instance, that you’re looking to compete with a market trend. For example, a competitor introduced a new product to the market that’s outperforming your own. While you can’t take that product away, you can work to launch an even better product or marketing campaign to mitigate any decline in sales. 

Tip 3: Hold a brainstorming session

Brainstorming new and innovative ideas can help to spur creativity and inspire action. To host a high impact brainstorming session, you’ll want to: 

Invite team members from various departments. That way, ideas from each part of the company are represented. 

Be intentional about the number of team members you invite, since too many participants could lead to a lack of focus or participation. The sweet spot for a productive brainstorming session is around 10 teammates. 

Use different brainstorming techniques that appeal to different work types.

Set a clear intention for the session.

Tip 4: Get creative

In order to generate creative ideas, you have to first invite them. That means creating fun ways to come up with opportunities. Try randomly selecting anonymous ideas, talking through obviously bad examples, or playing team building games to psych up the team.

Tip 5: Prioritize opportunities

Now, rank the opportunities. This can be done as a team or with a smaller group of leaders. Talk through each idea and rank it on a scale of one through 10. Once you’ve agreed on your top ideas based on team capabilities, competencies, and overall impact, it’s easier to implement them.

Tip 6: Take action

It’s all too easy to feel finished at this stage —but the actual work is just beginning. After your SWOT analysis, you’ll have a list of prioritized opportunities. Now is the time to turn them into strengths. Use a structured system such as a business case , project plan, or implementation plan to outline what needs to get done—and how you plan to do it.

SWOT analysis template

A SWOT analysis template is often presented in a grid format, divided into four quadrants. Each quadrant represents one of the four elements. 

Use this free SWOT analysis template to jump-start your team’s strategic planning.

Identify the strengths that contribute to achieving your objectives. These are internal characteristics that give you an advantage. Some examples could be a strong brand reputation, an innovative culture, or an experienced management team.

Next, focus on weaknesses. These are internal factors that could serve as obstacles to achieving your objectives. Common examples might include a lack of financial resources, high operational costs, or outdated technology. 

Move on to the opportunities. These are external conditions that could be helpful in achieving your goals. For example, you might be looking at emerging markets, increased demand, or favorable shifts in regulations.

Lastly, let's address threats. These are external conditions that could negatively impact your objectives. Examples include increased competition or potential economic downturns.

Why is a SWOT analysis important?

A SWOT analysis can help you improve processes and plan for growth. While similar to a competitive analysis , it differs because it evaluates both internal and external factors. Analyzing key areas around these opportunities and threats will equip you with the insights needed to set your team up for success.

A SWOT analysis isn’t only useful for organizations. With a personal SWOT analysis, you can examine areas of your life that could benefit from improvement, from your leadership style to your communication skills. These are the benefits of using a SWOT analysis in any scenario. 

1. Identifies areas of opportunity

One of the biggest benefits of conducting an analysis is to determine opportunities for growth. It’s a great starting point for startups and teams that know they want to improve but aren’t exactly sure how to get started. 

Opportunities can come from many different avenues, like external factors such as diversifying your products for competitive advantage or internal factors like improving your team’s workflow . Either way, capitalizing on opportunities is an excellent way to grow as a team.

2. Identifies areas that could be improved

Identifying weaknesses and threats during a SWOT analysis can pave the way for a better business strategy.

Ultimately, learning from your mistakes is the best way to excel. Once you find areas to streamline, you can work with team members to brainstorm an action plan . This will let you use what you already know works and build on your company’s strengths.

3. Identifies areas that could be at risk

Whether you have a risk register in place or not, it’s always crucial to identify risks before they become a cause for concern. A SWOT analysis can help you stay on top of actionable items that may play a part in your risk decision-making process. 

It may be beneficial to pair your SWOT analysis with a PEST analysis, which examines external solutions such as political, economic, social, and technological factors—all of which can help you identify and plan for project risks .

When should you use a SWOT analysis?

You won’t always need an in-depth SWOT analysis. It’s most useful for large, general overviews of situations, scenarios, or your business.

A SWOT analysis is most helpful:

Before you implement a large change—including as part of a larger change management plan

When you launch a new company initiative

If you’d like to identify opportunities for growth and improvement

Any time you want a full overview of your business performance

If you need to identify business performance from different perspectives

SWOT analyses are general for a reason—so they can be applied to almost any scenario, project, or business. 

SWOT analysis: Pros and cons

Although SWOT is a useful strategic planning tool for businesses and individuals alike, it does have limitations. Here’s what you can expect.

The simplicity of SWOT analysis makes it a go-to tool for many. Because it is simple, it takes the mystery out of strategic planning and lets people think critically about their situations without feeling overwhelmed. 

For instance, a small bakery looking to expand its operations can use SWOT analysis to easily understand its current standing. Identifying strengths like a loyal customer base, weaknesses such as limited seating space, opportunities like a rising trend in artisanal baked goods, and threats from larger chain bakeries nearby can all be accomplished without any specialized knowledge or technical expertise.

Versatility

Its versatile nature allows SWOT analysis to be used across various domains. Whether it’s a business strategizing for the future or an individual planning their career path, SWOT analysis lends itself well. 

For example, a tech start-up in the competitive Silicon Valley landscape could employ SWOT to navigate its pathway to profitability. Strengths might include a highly skilled development team; weaknesses could be a lack of brand recognition; opportunities might lie in emerging markets; and threats could include established tech giants. 

Meaningful analysis

SWOT excels in identifying external factors that could impact performance. It nudges organizations to look beyond the present and anticipate potential future scenarios. 

A retail company, for example, could use SWOT analysis to identify opportunities in e-commerce and threats from changing consumer behavior or new competitors entering the market. By doing so, the company can strategize on how to leverage online platforms to boost sales and counteract threats by enhancing the customer experience or adopting new technologies.

Subjectivity and bias

The subjective nature of SWOT analysis may lead to biases. It relies heavily on individual perceptions, which can sometimes overlook crucial data or misinterpret information, leading to skewed conclusions. 

For example, a manufacturing company might undervalue the threat of new entrants in the market due to an overconfidence bias among the management. This subjectivity might lead to a lack of preparation for competitive pricing strategies, ultimately affecting the company's market share.

Lack of prioritization

SWOT analysis lays out issues but falls short on prioritizing them. Organizations might struggle to identify which elements deserve immediate attention and resources. 

For instance, a healthcare provider identifying numerous opportunities for expansion into new services may become overwhelmed with the choices. Without a clear way to rank these opportunities, resources could be spread too thinly or given to projects that do not have as much of an impact, leading to less-than-ideal outcomes.

Static analysis

Since SWOT analysis captures a snapshot at a particular moment, it may miss the evolving nature of challenges and opportunities, possibly leading to outdated strategies. An example could be a traditional retail business that performs a SWOT analysis and decides to focus on expanding physical stores, overlooking the growing trend of e-commerce. As online shopping continues to evolve and gain popularity, the static analysis might lead to investment in areas with diminishing returns while missing out on the booming e-commerce market trend.

SWOT analysis FAQ

What are the five elements of swot analysis.

Traditionally, SWOT stands for its four main elements: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. However, a fifth essential element often overlooked is "actionable strategies." Originally developed by Albert Humphrey, SWOT is more than just a list—it's a planning tool designed to generate actionable strategies for making informed business decisions. This fifth element serves to tie the other four together, enabling departments like human resources and marketing to turn analysis into actionable plans.

What should a SWOT analysis include?

A comprehensive SWOT analysis should focus on the internal and external factors that affect your organization. Internally, consider your strong brand and product line as your strengths, and maybe your supply chain weaknesses. Externally, you'll want to look at market share, partnerships, and new technologies that could either pose opportunities or threats. You should also account for demographics, as it helps in market targeting and segmentation.

How do you write a good SWOT analysis?

Writing an effective SWOT analysis begins with research. Start by identifying your strengths, like a strong brand, and your weaknesses, like a small human resources department. Following that, look outward to find opportunities, possibly in technological advancement, and threats, like fluctuations in market share. Many businesses find it helpful to use a free SWOT analysis template to structure this information. A good SWOT analysis doesn't just list these elements; it integrates them to provide a clear roadmap for making business decisions.

What are four examples of threats in SWOT analysis?

New technologies: Rapid technological advancement can make your product or service obsolete.

Supply chain disruptions: Whether due to natural disasters or geopolitical tensions, an unstable supply chain can seriously jeopardize your operations.

Emerging competitors: New players entering the market can erode your market share and offer alternative solutions to your customer base.

Regulatory changes: New laws or regulations can add costs and complexity to your business, affecting your competitiveness.

How do you use a SWOT analysis?

Once you've completed a SWOT analysis, use the results as a decision-making aid. It can help prioritize actions, develop strategic plans that play to your strengths, improve weaknesses, seize opportunities, and counteract threats. It’s a useful tool for setting objectives and creating a roadmap for achieving them.

Plan for growth with a SWOT analysis

A SWOT analysis can be an effective technique for identifying key strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Understanding where you are now can be the most impactful way to determine where you want to go next. 

Don’t forget, a bit of creativity and collaboration can go a long way. Encourage your team to think outside of the box with 100+ team motivational quotes .

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How to Write a SWOT Analysis for a Business Plan

• March 21, 2024
• Business Plan , How to Write

Navigating the complexities of business requires a clear understanding of your strategic position, and a SWOT analysis is an essential tool to help you achieve this clarity. It’s a straightforward method that breaks down into Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats, providing a snapshot of where your business stands and guiding your future strategic moves.

With this guide, you’ll learn how to leverage your advantages, address challenges, seize new opportunities, and guard against potential threats. Let’s dive into the process together and set a strong foundation for your business’s strategic planning. Let’s dive in!

What is a SWOT Analysis?

A SWOT analysis is a strategic planning tool used to identify and understand the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats related to business competition or project planning. This method helps organizations in assessing both internal and external factors that could impact their objectives.

• Strengths : Positive attributes internal to the organization and within its control. Strengths are resources and capabilities that can be used as a basis for developing a competitive advantage.
• Weaknesses : Factors that are within an organization’s control but detract from its ability to attain the desired goal. These are areas the business needs to improve to remain competitive.
• Opportunities : External chances to improve performance in the environment. Opportunities reflect the potential you can leverage to grow your business or project.
• Threats : External challenges to the business’s performance or project’s success. Threats might stem from various sources, such as economic downturns, increased competition, or changes in regulatory landscapes.

Why Use a SWOT Analysis?

We use a SWOT analysis for several important reasons in business and strategic planning:

• Strategic Overview : It provides a concise and comprehensive overview of the current strategic position of the business or project. By examining internal and external factors, stakeholders can get a clear picture of their situation.
• Decision Making : SWOT analysis aids in decision-making by highlighting the strengths to leverage, weaknesses to address, opportunities to pursue, and threats to mitigate. It helps in prioritizing actions based on the analysis.
• Opportunity Identification : SWOT analysis is instrumental in identifying new opportunities for growth and expansion. Opportunities might come from market trends , economic shifts, or changes in technology.
• Risk Management : By identifying threats, organizations can develop strategies to address or mitigate these risks before they become significant issues. It’s a proactive approach to managing potential external challenges.
• Resource Allocation : Understanding the organization’s strengths and weaknesses helps in the effective allocation of resources. Resources can be directed to areas where they are needed most or where they will have the highest impact.
• Competitive Advantage : It helps businesses identify unique features and capabilities that give them a competitive edge in the market. Recognizing these strengths can guide marketing strategies and business development.

How to Write a SWOT Analysis

Writing a strength in a SWOT analysis involves identifying and articulating the internal attributes and resources of a business or project that contribute to its success and competitive advantage. Here’s how to effectively write a strength in a SWOT analysis:

• Identify Internal Positive Attributes : Focus on internal factors that are within the control of the business. These can include resources, skills, or other advantages relative to competitors. Consider areas like strong brand reputation, proprietary technology, skilled workforce, financial resources, strategic location, and efficient processes.
• Be Specific and Relevant : General statements like “we have a good team” are less helpful than specific ones like “our team includes industry-recognized experts in X field.” The more precise you are, the more actionable your analysis will be. Ensure that the strengths are directly relevant to achieving the business’s goals and objectives.
• Use Quantifiable Data When Possible : Whenever you can, back up your strengths with quantifiable data. For example, “a customer satisfaction rate of 95%” or “a 20% lower production cost than industry average” provides concrete evidence of your strengths.
• Compare to Competitors : Strengths are often relative to the competition. Identify areas where your business outperforms competitors or fills a gap in the market. This might involve superior product quality, a unique service model, or a more extensive distribution network.

Example: Instead of simply stating “Experienced management team” as a strength, you could write: “Our management team has over 50 years of combined experience in the tech industry, including a track record of successful product launches and market expansions. This depth of experience provides us with strategic insights and operational expertise that have consistently resulted in market share growth and above-industry-average profitability.”

Writing a weakness in a SWOT analysis involves acknowledging and detailing the internal factors that limit or challenge your business or project’s ability to achieve its goals. Here’s a structured approach to effectively articulate weaknesses in a SWOT analysis:

• Identify Internal Limitations : Focus on internal attributes that are within the control of the organization but currently act as disadvantages. Weaknesses might include insufficient resources, lack of expertise, outdated technology, poor location, limited product range, or inefficiencies in processes.
• Be Specific and Honest : It’s important to be honest and specific about your organization’s weaknesses. Vague statements won’t help in addressing these issues. For instance, rather than saying “we need to improve our marketing,” specify “our current marketing strategy does not effectively reach our target demographic of 18-25-year-olds on digital platforms.”
• Use Internal Comparisons and Feedback : Compare your performance, processes, and resources against your own past performance or industry benchmarks. Utilize customer feedback, employee insights, and performance data to identify areas of weakness.
• Keep it Constructive : While it’s crucial to be honest about weaknesses, frame them in a way that focuses on potential for improvement. Consider each weakness as an area for development and growth.

Example: Instead of a broad statement like “Inadequate online presence,” a more effective description would be: “Our business currently lacks a robust online presence, reflected in our outdated website and minimal engagement on key social media platforms. This limits our ability to attract younger demographics who predominantly discover and interact with brands online. Improving our online visibility and engagement could enhance brand awareness and customer acquisition.”

Opportunities

Writing opportunities in a SWOT analysis involves identifying and articulating external factors that your business or project could exploit to its advantage. Opportunities are elements in the environment that, if leveraged effectively, could provide a pathway for growth, improvement, or competitive advantage. Here’s how to systematically approach writing opportunities in your SWOT analysis:

• Spot External Trends : Focus on the trends and changes outside your organization that could be beneficial. These might include technological advancements, shifts in consumer behavior, market gaps, regulatory changes, or economic trends.
• Be Relevant and Actionable : Ensure that the opportunities you identify are relevant to your business and actionable. They should align with your business’s strengths and capabilities, allowing you to take practical steps toward capitalizing on them.
• Use Market Research : Base your identification of opportunities on solid market research. Understand your target market , industry trends, and the competitive landscape to pinpoint where the real opportunities lie.
• Detail Potential Benefits : Clearly articulate how each opportunity could benefit your business. Whether it’s entering a new market, launching a new product line, or adopting new technology, explain the potential impact on your business growth and success.

Example: Rather than vaguely stating “New market segments,” a more strategic description of an opportunity could be: “With increasing consumer interest in sustainable living, there’s a growing market segment for eco-friendly products. Our business’s strong commitment to sustainability and existing lineup of environmentally friendly products positions us well to capture this emerging market. Expanding our product range to include more items that cater to eco-conscious consumers can tap into this trend, potentially opening up new revenue streams and enhancing our brand’s reputation as a leader in sustainability.”

Writing threats in a SWOT analysis involves identifying external challenges that could pose risks to your business or project’s success. These are factors outside your control that have the potential to harm your operations, financial performance, or strategic positioning. Addressing threats effectively in a SWOT analysis requires a focused approach:

• Identify External Challenges : Start by pinpointing the external factors that could negatively impact your business. This can include new competitors entering the market, changes in consumer preferences, technological advancements that render your product less desirable, regulatory changes, or economic downturns.
• Be Precise and Realistic : Clearly define each threat in specific terms, avoiding vague descriptions. Being realistic about the level of risk each threat poses is crucial; not every external challenge is a dire threat, but understanding the potential impact is key for strategic planning.
• Assess the Impact : For each threat identified, evaluate how it could impact your business. Consider the worst-case scenario and more likely outcomes to gauge the potential severity of the threat. This helps in prioritizing which threats need immediate attention and strategic response.
• Use Reliable Sources : Base your identification of threats on solid, reliable information. This might include industry reports, economic forecasts, and news sources that provide insights into market dynamics and external conditions.
• Consider Your Weaknesses : Link potential threats to your identified weaknesses. Understanding how external threats could exploit your vulnerabilities offers valuable insights for fortifying your business against these challenges.

Example: Instead of broadly stating “Economic uncertainty,” a more actionable description of a threat would be: “The looming economic downturn poses a significant threat to discretionary consumer spending. Given our business’s reliance on non-essential luxury products, a reduction in consumer spending could directly impact sales. This economic uncertainty requires us to diversify our product offerings and identify more value-oriented options to maintain customer engagement and spending during tighter economic conditions.”

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What Is SWOT Analysis?

Understanding swot analysis, how to do a swot analysis, the bottom line.

• Fundamental Analysis

SWOT Analysis: How To With Table and Example

These frameworks are essential to fundamentally analyzing companies

Ariel Courage is an experienced editor, researcher, and former fact-checker. She has performed editing and fact-checking work for several leading finance publications, including The Motley Fool and Passport to Wall Street.

SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis is a framework used to evaluate a company's competitive position and to develop strategic planning. SWOT analysis assesses internal and external factors, as well as current and future potential.

A SWOT analysis is designed to facilitate a realistic, fact-based, data-driven look at the strengths and weaknesses of an organization, initiatives, or within its industry. The organization needs to keep the analysis accurate by avoiding pre-conceived beliefs or gray areas and instead focusing on real-life contexts. Companies should use it as a guide and not necessarily as a prescription.

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Key Takeaways

• SWOT analysis is a strategic planning technique that provides assessment tools.
• Identifying core strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats leads to fact-based analysis, fresh perspectives, and new ideas.
• A SWOT analysis pulls information internal sources (strengths of weaknesses of the specific company) as well as external forces that may have uncontrollable impacts to decisions (opportunities and threats).
• SWOT analysis works best when diverse groups or voices within an organization are free to provide realistic data points rather than prescribed messaging.
• Findings of a SWOT analysis are often synthesized to support a single objective or decision that a company is facing.

Investopedia / Xiaojie Liu

SWOT analysis is a technique for assessing the performance, competition, risk, and potential of a business, as well as part of a business such as a product line or division, an industry, or other entity.

Using internal and external data , the technique can guide businesses toward strategies more likely to be successful, and away from those in which they have been, or are likely to be, less successful. Independent SWOT analysts, investors, or competitors can also guide them on whether a company, product line, or industry might be strong or weak and why.

SWOT analysis was first used to analyze businesses. Now, it's often used by governments, nonprofits, and individuals, including investors and entrepreneurs. There is seemingly limitless applications to the SWOT analysis.

Components of SWOT Analysis

Every SWOT analysis will include the following four categories. Though the elements and discoveries within these categories will vary from company to company, a SWOT analysis is not complete without each of these elements:

Strengths describe what an organization excels at and what separates it from the competition : a strong brand, loyal customer base, a strong balance sheet, unique technology, and so on. For example, a hedge fund may have developed a proprietary trading strategy that returns market-beating results. It must then decide how to use those results to attract new investors.

Weaknesses stop an organization from performing at its optimum level. They are areas where the business needs to improve to remain competitive: a weak brand, higher-than-average turnover, high levels of debt, an inadequate supply chain, or lack of capital.

Opportunities

Opportunities refer to favorable external factors that could give an organization a competitive advantage. For example, if a country cuts tariffs, a car manufacturer can export its cars into a new market, increasing sales and market share .

Threats refer to factors that have the potential to harm an organization. For example, a drought is a threat to a wheat-producing company, as it may destroy or reduce the crop yield. Other common threats include things like rising costs for materials, increasing competition, tight labor supply. and so on.

Analysts present a SWOT analysis as a square segmented into four quadrants, each dedicated to an element of SWOT. This visual arrangement provides a quick overview of the company’s position. Although all the points under a particular heading may not be of equal importance, they all should represent key insights into the balance of opportunities and threats, advantages and disadvantages, and so forth.

The SWOT table is often laid out with the internal factors on the top row and the external factors on the bottom row. In addition, the items on the left side of the table are more positive/favorable aspects, while the items on the right are more concerning/negative elements.

A SWOT analysis can be broken into several steps with actionable items before and after analyzing the four components. In general, a SWOT analysis will involve the following steps.

Step 1: Determine Your Objective

A SWOT analysis can be broad, though more value will likely be generated if the analysis is pointed directly at an objective. For example, the objective of a SWOT analysis may focused only on whether or not to perform a new product rollout . With an objective in mind, a company will have guidance on what they hope to achieve at the end of the process. In this example, the SWOT analysis should help determine whether or not the product should be introduced.

Step 2: Gather Resources

Every SWOT analysis will vary, and a company may need different data sets to support pulling together different SWOT analysis tables. A company should begin by understanding what information it has access to, what data limitations it faces, and how reliable its external data sources are.

In addition to data, a company should understand the right combination of personnel to have involved in the analysis. Some staff may be more connected with external forces, while various staff within the manufacturing or sales departments may have a better grasp of what is going on internally. Having a broad set of perspectives is also more likely to yield diverse, value-adding contributions.

Step 3: Compile Ideas

For each of the four components of the SWOT analysis, the group of people assigned to performing the analysis should begin listing ideas within each category. Examples of questions to ask or consider for each group are in the table below.

Internal Factors

What occurs within the company serves as a great source of information for the strengths and weaknesses categories of the SWOT analysis. Examples of internal factors include financial and human resources , tangible and intangible (brand name) assets, and operational efficiencies.

Potential questions to list internal factors are:

• (Strength) What are we doing well?
• (Strength) What is our strongest asset?
• (Weakness) What are our detractors?
• (Weakness) What are our lowest-performing product lines?

External Factors

What happens outside of the company is equally as important to the success of a company as internal factors. External influences, such as monetary policies , market changes, and access to suppliers, are categories to pull from to create a list of opportunities and weaknesses.

Potential questions to list external factors are:

• (Opportunity) What trends are evident in the marketplace?
• (Opportunity) What demographics are we not targeting?
• (Threat) How many competitors exist, and what is their market share?
• (Threat) Are there new regulations that potentially could harm our operations or products?

Companies may consider performing this step as a "white-boarding" or "sticky note" session. The idea is there is no right or wrong answer; all participants should be encouraged to share whatever thoughts they have. These ideas can later be discarded; in the meantime, the goal should be to come up with as many items as possible to invoke creativity and inspiration in others.

Step 4: Refine Findings

With the list of ideas within each category, it is now time to clean-up the ideas. By refining the thoughts that everyone had, a company can focus on only the best ideas or largest risks to the company. This stage may require substantial debate among analysis participants, including bringing in upper management to help rank priorities.

Step 5: Develop the Strategy

Armed with the ranked list of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, it is time to convert the SWOT analysis into a strategic plan. Members of the analysis team take the bulleted list of items within each category and create a synthesized plan that provides guidance on the original objective.

For example, the company debating whether to release a new product may have identified that it is the market leader for its existing product and there is the opportunity to expand to new markets. However, increased material costs, strained distribution lines, the need for additional staff, and unpredictable product demand may outweigh the strengths and opportunities. The analysis team develops the strategy to revisit the decision in six months in hopes of costs declining and market demand becoming more transparent.

Use a SWOT analysis to identify challenges affecting your business and opportunities that can enhance it. However, note that it is one of many techniques, not a prescription.

Benefits of SWOT Analysis

A SWOT analysis won't solve every major question a company has. However, there's a number of benefits to a SWOT analysis that make strategic decision-making easier.

• A SWOT analysis makes complex problems more manageable. There may be an overwhelming amount of data to analyze and relevant points to consider when making a complex decision. In general, a SWOT analysis that has been prepared by paring down all ideas and ranking bullets by importance will aggregate a large, potentially overwhelming problem into a more digestible report.
• A SWOT analysis requires external consider. Too often, a company may be tempted to only consider internal factors when making decisions. However, there are often items out of the company's control that may influence the outcome of a business decision. A SWOT analysis covers both the internal factors a company can manage and the external factors that may be more difficult to control.
• A SWOT analysis can be applied to almost every business question. The analysis can relate to an organization, team, or individual. It can also analyze a full product line , changes to brand, geographical expansion, or an acquisition. The SWOT analysis is a versatile tool that has many applications.
• A SWOT analysis leverages different data sources. A company will likely use internal information for strengths and weaknesses. The company will also need to gather external information relating to broad markets, competitors, or macroeconomic forces for opportunities and threats. Instead of relying on a single, potentially biased source, a good SWOT analysis compiles various angles.
• A SWOT analysis may not be overly costly to prepare. Some SWOT reports do not need to be overly technical; therefore, many different staff members can contribute to its preparation without training or external consulting.

SWOT Analysis Example

In 2015, a Value Line SWOT analysis of The Coca-Cola Company noted strengths such as its globally famous brand name, vast distribution network, and opportunities in emerging markets. However, it also noted weaknesses and threats such as foreign currency fluctuations, growing public interest in "healthy" beverages, and competition from healthy beverage providers.

Its SWOT analysis prompted Value Line to pose some tough questions about Coca-Cola's strategy, but also to note that the company "will probably remain a top-tier beverage provider" that offered conservative investors "a reliable source of income and a bit of capital gains exposure."

Five years later, the Value Line SWOT analysis proved effective as Coca-Cola remains the 6th strongest brand in the world (as it was then). Coca-Cola's shares (traded under ticker symbol KO) have increased in value by over 60% during the five years after the analysis was completed.

To get a better picture of a SWOT analysis, consider the example of a fictitious organic smoothie company. To better understand how it competes within the smoothie market and what it can do better, it conducted a SWOT analysis. Through this analysis, it identified that its strengths were good sourcing of ingredients, personalized customer service, and a strong relationship with suppliers. Peering within its operations, it identified a few areas of weakness: little product diversification, high turnover rates, and outdated equipment.

Examining how the external environment affects its business, it identified opportunities in emerging technology, untapped demographics, and a culture shift towards healthy living. It also found threats, such as a winter freeze damaging crops, a global pandemic, and kinks in the supply chain. In conjunction with other planning techniques, the company used the SWOT analysis to leverage its strengths and external opportunities to eliminate threats and strengthen areas where it is weak.

What Is an Example of SWOT Analysis?

Home Depot conducted a SWOT analysis, creating a balanced list of its internal advantages and disadvantages and external factors threatening its market position and growth strategy. High-quality customer service, strong brand recognition, and positive relationships with suppliers were some of its notable strengths; whereas, a constricted supply chain, interdependence on the U.S. market, and a replicable business model were listed as its weaknesses.

Closely related to its weaknesses, Home Depot's threats were the presence of close rivals, available substitutes, and the condition of the U.S. market. It found from this study and other analysis that expanding its supply chain and global footprint would be key to its growth.

What Are the 4 Steps of SWOT Analysis?

The four steps of SWOT analysis comprise the acronym SWOT: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. These four aspects can be broken into two analytical steps. First, a company assesses its internal capabilities and determines its strengths and weaknesses. Then, a company looks outward and evaluates external factors that impact its business. These external factors may create opportunities or threaten existing operations.

How Do You Write a Good SWOT Analysis?

Creating a SWOT analysis involves identifying and analyzing the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of a company. It is recommended to first create a list of questions to answer for each element. The questions serve as a guide for completing the SWOT analysis and creating a balanced list. The SWOT framework can be constructed in list format, as free text, or, most commonly, as a 4-cell table, with quadrants dedicated to each element. Strengths and weaknesses are listed first, followed by opportunities and threats.

Why Is SWOT Analysis Used?

A SWOT analysis is used to strategically identify areas of improvement or competitive advantages for a company. In addition to analyzing thing that a company does well, SWOT analysis takes a look at more detrimental, negative elements of a business. Using this information, a company can make smarter decisions to preserve what it does well, capitalize on its strengths, mitigate risk regarding weaknesses, and plan for events that may adversely affect the company in the future.

A SWOT analysis is a great way to guide business-strategy meetings. It's powerful to have everyone in the room discuss the company's core strengths and weaknesses, define the opportunities and threats, and brainstorm ideas. Oftentimes, the SWOT analysis you envision before the session changes throughout to reflect factors you were unaware of and would never have captured if not for the group’s input.

A company can use a SWOT for overall business strategy sessions or for a specific segment such as marketing, production, or sales. This way, you can see how the overall strategy developed from the SWOT analysis will filter down to the segments below before committing to it. You can also work in reverse with a segment-specific SWOT analysis that feeds into an overall SWOT analysis.

Although a useful planning tool, SWOT has limitations. It is one of several business planning techniques to consider and should not be used alone. Also, each point listed within the categories is not prioritized the same. SWOT does not account for the differences in weight. Therefore, a deeper analysis is needed, using another planning technique.

Business News Daily. " SWOT Analysis: What It Is and When to Use It ."

Seeking Alpha. " The Coca-Cola Company: A Short SWOT Analysis ."

Panmore. " Home Depot SWOT Analysis & Recommendations ."

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6 business analysis techniques to use in your strategic plans

August 10, 2021 by MindManager Blog

By: Emily Finlay

For businesses, efficiency and effectiveness are key. Whether you’re executing a major project or determining the best ways to train new employees, it’s important to use best practices to achieve exceptional results.

Business analysis uncovers the strategies and processes that can help your business improve. You can find the flaws in your operations while determining what you need to change to fix them. Auditing and refining your business also offers the insights you and your leadership need to make informed decisions that will benefit your work moving forward.

Like any method, however, the power of business analysis depends on the methods used to execute it. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the top business analysis techniques. You’ll learn what each option offers and how you can use them to analyze your own processes.

What are business analysis techniques?

Business analysis techniques are the specific processes used to audit and improve business operations. These step-by-step procedures help analysts stay organized and make strategic decisions during the analysis.

What are the different types of business analysis techniques?

The most common types of business analysis include BPM, SWOT, MOST, CATWOE, PESTLE, and Six Hats Thinking. These planning methods can be used in a variety of industries and projects. From streamlining your operations to aligning your company’s purpose, these tactics can maintain your organization’s long-term success.

Business Process Modeling (BPM)

This technique, also known as business process mapping , creates a visual representation of the procedures a company uses. By visualizing the processes, teams and analysts can identify any problems. They can also see where efficiency is lost.

As you develop strategies to address these shortcomings, you can apply them to the model to see how they will affect the targeted process. This will also highlight any potential problems that these changes might create in other areas.

Business analysis steps: BPM

According to the International Institute of Business Analysis , here are the steps you should follow:

• Strategic planning – Start by researching and understanding the processes and problems you’re going to solve. Discover everything involved before creating your model.
• Business Model Analysis – Develop a model (such as mind mapping , flow charting, or diagramming) of the business processes with the information gained in step one. Analyze this visual and use it to guide your strategies.
• Define and design the process – Create the solutions you need and apply them to the model.
• Technical Analysis for complex business solutions – Use your visualization to analyze and improve the solutions.

Business analysis example: BPM

If a company is changing the way they produce a specific product, this technique can help them understand how adjusting that element will impact others. Rather than theorizing, they can use a visual flow to pinpoint obstacles and areas of improvement.

Strength, Weakness, Opportunities, Threats (SWOT)

These four elements define this technique, identifying internal (Strengths and Weaknesses) and external (Threats and Opportunities) factors. The most popular type of business analysis, SWOT drives informed decision making in nearly every area of business.

Business analysis steps: SWOT

Create a map with four quadrants, as outlined below, and use it guide your solutions and decisions:

• Strengths – What processes, resources, and other factors give us an advantage over competitors?
• Weaknesses – What holds us back from doing better and growing?
• Opportunities – What is happening outside the business that we can use to our advantage?
• Threats – What external factors can limit or hurt our success?

Business analysis example: SWOT

You can apply this technique to performance reviews, using the information you gain to help employees make improvements and celebrate strengths.

Mission, Objectives, Strategies, and Tactics (MOST)

If you want to make sure your company is maintaining its main goals through every decision and transition, MOST is the best tactic to use. By analyzing your business based on the following elements, you can turn big-picture objectives into achievable actions.

• Mission – Your overarching purpose that defines everything you do.
• Objectives – The goals necessary to accomplish your mission.
• Strategies – What you need to do to reach your objectives.
• Tactics – How everyone in the organization can execute your strategies.

Business analysis steps: MOST

Starting from the top down, define these four elements for your business. Then, use them to create processes that prioritize your main goals throughout the organization.

Business analysis examples: MOST

When rebranding a company, the MOST technique helps you discover and refine the heart of your organization. You can realign your processes, products, and marketing efforts to reflect your goals more accurately. If your company has strayed from these primary values or shifted to new ones, MOST will help you clearly define your views and objectives.

Customers, Actors, Transformation, Worldview, Owner, Environmental constraints (CATWOE)

Your individual stakeholders’ viewpoints affect your goals and processes. Every change also affects all of your stakeholders. With CATWOE, you can understand how any action impacts your organization, customers, leadership, and more.

Business analysis steps: CATWOE

This technique should be used at the start of the project or strategizing process. Begin by defining these parties and asking these questions:

• Customers – Who benefits from your work and products? How does this issue or the proposed solution affect them?
• Actors – Who is directly involved in this process? How will they affect it?
• Transformation – What are the ultimate changes that will occur by implementing this solution or new procedures?
• Worldview – How will this change affect the organization’s mission and big picture?
• Owner – Who is responsible for the affected system and how are they related to it?
• Environmental constraints – On every level, what are the limitations that affect the solution?

Once you have these answers, use them to guide your strategies and final solutions.

Business analysis examples: CATWOE

If a development company wanted to build a new shopping center, they could use this technique to understand the impact it would have on the company, their future customers, and the people living in the surrounding community.

Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, Environmental (PESTLE)

Decisions and changes aren’t made in a vacuum. PESTLE identifies outside factors that will affect the decisions made within an organization, as well as how the company’s changes will impact other factors. This technique allows businesses to plan for any potential threats that might develop and strategize for seizing new opportunities.

Business analysis steps: PESTLE

Walk through the following list to determine the forces that can impact your organization.

• Political – How do government policies, initiatives, and financial support affect your business and your proposed solution?
• Economical – What is the economic climate and how does it affect you?
• Social – How do trends and attitudes concerning population, media, culture, lifestyle, and education affect the business?
• Technology – What is the rate of technological development, particularly for information and communication, and how does it impact your changes?
• Legal – Do local and national regulations and employment standards affect your work? How?
• Environmental – Are weather, pollution, waste, and recycling factors a concern for your organization? What is their impact?

Use this information to prepare for threats and opportunities that might affect your business’ ongoing performance.

Business analysis examples: PESTLE

When using the SWOT technique to evaluate your company’s direction and future, you can use PESTLE to develop and analyze each element of the process. This will help you create a more detailed understanding of your business, particularly concerning threats and opportunities.

Six Thinking Hats

Often, teams lack enough diverse viewpoints to find and understand the issues that are keeping them from full success. With the Six Thinking Hats technique , you can use different ways of thinking to uncover new perspectives. Using these new insights during brainstorming sessions can hone your team’s ideas for better results.

Business analysis steps: Six Thinking Hats

In your meetings, consider the problem and possible solutions with the type of thinking dictated by each “hat” and step.

• Start with the White Hat, which focuses on hard data and logic. What information do you know or need?
• Move to the Yellow Hat, which stands for brightness and positivity. Look for the possible values and benefits through optimistic thinking
• Now play devil’s advocate with the Black Hat of judgment. Find potential problems, obstacles, and threats.
• The Red Hat focuses on intuition. Share your feelings, fears, hunches, and emotions associated with the solution or process.
• Use the Green Hat of creativity to consider possibilities, thoughts, and ideas. Try to think outside the box.
• With the Blue Hat, you will bring your brainstorming back to earth. Consider the big picture of the project or changes. Ensure your ideas fit your operations and procedures.
• Use this process to hone your solutions and approach to problems.

Business analysis example: Six Thinking Hats

The next time you think your project needs fresh eyes, gather your team for a Six Thinking Hats brainstorming session. You will be able to view your work in a new light and uncover ways to improve.

There isn’t a “right” technique for business analysis. Instead, use these tactics as they best fit your objectives. And don’t be afraid to combine these techniques for a single problem. As you analyze your business through different lenses, you can find the solutions that will offer the greatest benefits.

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Paintball Business Plan Template

Apr.09, 2018

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Table of Content

Do you want to start paintball business?

Are you thinking of how to start paintball business ? You can never go wrong with this venture considering paintball is now a popular sport not only the United States but across the entire globe. In the U.S alone, there are over 5 million active paintball fans who invest heavily in the equipment and attire. In addition, the increasing number of professional tournaments and leagues has increased the demand for modern paintball facilities. There are also numerous exciting activities associated with paintball and opening a paintball business will reward you with good profits so long as you carefully plan your business setup strategy .

Executive Summary

2.1 the business.

The paintball business will be known as ZonerB Paintball and will be located off Exit 3 in Brookside, Kansas City. This is an excellent population that serves a large population of residents making it an ideal sport to open the business. ZonerB is a family business that will be owned and managed by Phil Richards who is a Professional Paintball Instructor.

2.2 Management Team

Phil Richards is an accomplished paintball instructor who has been actively working in the industry for over fifteen years. During his career, Phil has managed several popular paintball facilities. He is a familiar and well respected instructor who has been deeply involved in the region’s paintball events. He was a league commissioner in several tournaments around the country.

2.3 Customer Focus

ZonerB Paintball aims to offer an exciting, relaxing and social atmosphere for clients. In planning how to start a paintball business , ZonerB is keen to provide a well-equipped and friendly facility for its customers.

2.4 Business Target

The business hopes to focus on investing in a modern and impressive paintball facility that will offer diverse fun activities that will keep everyone entertained.

Company Summary

3.1 company owner.

Phil Richards is a well-respected paintball instructor who has worked with several teams to clinch various awards and championships. During his career as an instructor and manager of several paintball facilities, Phil acquired first-hand experience in paintball business, something he hopes to replicate when opening a paintball field .

3.2 Aim of Starting the Business

The paintball culture has increased in the recent times inspiring Phil to go ahead with his plan of setting a nice, modern and well equipped paintball facility that meets the needs of paintball lovers. Despite Brookside having many paintball businesses, the rising popularity of the game has created numerous opportunities for ZonerB to explore.

3.3 How the Business will be Started

To make ZonerB a trendsetter paintball facility in Brookside, Kansas City, Phil Richards has hired professionals with vast knowledge in business startups to come up with a financial roadmap to meet business goals. Key financial data is indicated in the table below.

Services for Customers

ZonerB has invested heavily in modern equipment and technologies to grow the paintball culture in Kansas City. In order to start a paintball business that brings good profits, Phil Richards has decided to be innovative and diversify his range of services offered at the paintball facility. Services offered at ZonerB include:

• Indoor and outdoor paintball courts
• Provision of paintball ammunition and gear
• Fully equipped Go Kart facility
• Restaurant and dining business

With all these services, ZonerB has found a unique way to cater for needs of different clientele.

Marketing Analysis for Paintball Business

For ZonerB to accomplish its business goals, a detailed market analysis was carried out to identify what areas need to be focused on to successfully conquer the marketplace. Good paintball business plans have an elaborate marketing strategy that is designed with in line with the current market trends. The paintball business hopes to use this strategy to outshine its competitors and secure a large customer base.

5.1 Market Segmentation

After studying the paintball culture in Kansas City and doing an extensive market analysis, ZonerB intends to reach out to the following groups of customers. It’s worth noting that potential clients in this case are anyone interested in paintball games.

5.1.1 Under 18 years

Paintball is an exciting game that attracts large masses of young people. For this reason, this is a key customer group the business intends to reach out. A large section of the local population consists of teenagers and young children thus presenting an excellent opportunity for ZonerB to market its services. Despite many similar established businesses in the area, Phil Richards knows the appetite for paintball especially among this age group keeps growing. In addition, a large section of under 18 year olds are still in schools which play a huge role in popularizing paintball across the city.

5.1.2 19-64 Year olds

Many residents who fall in this age group belong to the working class and therefore, earn a steady income. Given the large middle class population, these residents can afford to buy paintball ammunition and attire required for an exciting gaming experience. The business hopes to sell various services and packages to this customer segment bearing in mind they have a disposable income that allows them to spend on numerous entertainment activities. After opening a paintball field business , this group of customers is expected to frequent the paintball club to have fun and unwind.

5.1.3 Over 65 Year Olds

This category caters for senior citizens who have retired from an active career life but are looking for something exciting to keep them busy. With paintball increasingly becoming popular, seniors have also been attracted to the game. They’re an extremely sensitive group and require good customer care and help to feel comfortable within the business premises.

5.1.4 Corporates

Because of the growing interest in paintball, corporates have joined the bandwagon by regularly organizing staff paintball fun days. In addition, there are numerous paintball tournaments and competitions where various corporate teams drawn from various companies participate. This is a lucrative market segment because a single corporate booking is guaranteed to generate the business good income.

5.1.5 Professional Paintball Stakeholders

ZonerB paintball field business plan also aims to target to professional paintball teams and league organizers looking for a venue to use for tournaments. Given the number of many venues across Kansas, the business has an uphill task of positioning itself strategically to reach out to this market.

5.2 Business Target

ZonerB comes into the market when paintball popularity is at its peak. This is a strategic time considering starting a paintball business when there’s so much hype about the game is smart and strategic. Innovativeness is the major driving factor for the business as it seeks to use a unique business model and customer approach to distinguish itself from competitors. It is expected the paintball will be able to recover its capital within the first three years of operation. Annual sales are expected to grow on an average of 15%.

5.3 Product Pricing

How much does it cost to start a paintball business and how do I recover my startup capital? To accurately determine whether a business will be able recover the initial, product pricing is a key component that needs to be well defined. Just like other paintball business plans , ZonerB understands it has to get the pricing right to be able to survive competition. The plan is to diversify pricing using different packages to ensure all customer groups are adequately catered for. Pricing will be arrived at after considering what other paintball businesses are charging their clients. The idea is to charge slightly less than competitors especially in the first few months to popularize the brand and win customer trust.

The success of a business is not only how to start a paintball business but which strategies are put in place to ensure business goals are realized. Phil Richards has worked closely with experts in business strategy to come up with a sustainable and result-oriented approach of consistently growing customer numbers and boost revenue. The following sales strategy has been adopted to help steer the business to positive growth.

6.1 Competitive Analysis

ZonerB Paintball field knows customer care and professionalism are the core values of success when starting a paintball field . The business intends to hire well trained and professional staff with hands-on skills to deal with various customers. In addition, the paintball field’s strategic location and nearness to public transport facilities is expected to bring in more customers.

6.2 Sales Strategy

In order for the paintball business to attract more customers to the facility, the following sales strategy will be rolled out.

• Engage in intensive marketing campaigns to create awareness for people looking for a nice and well equipped paintball field.
• Sponsor college league and weekly youth championships to reach out to the youths.
• Advertise the business on popular local media channels and incorporate digital media i.e. social media and paid local online adverts.
• Create advertising campaigns in locations such as local universities since they bring together a large number of potential customers.
• Invest in the latest state-of-the art equipment and technologies to improve customer experience
• Creatively design the paintball field with an attractive landscape and exciting colors to draw attention to the facility.
• Emphasize on exemplary customer service and ensure customer needs are well taken care of.

6.3 Sales Forecast

ZonerB is committed to fully implement the above defined sales strategies and keep a close eye on its financial books to increase annual sales. The information below summarizes sales forecasts for ZonerB Paintball business.

Personnel Plan

ZonerB is a large paintball field that requires staff with different expertise to work together and facilitate smooth operations of the business. For Phil Richards and anyone else planning how to start a paintball field , the following staff is key to run the business.

7.1 Personnel Plan

ZonerB Paintball field is owned by Phil Richards, an experienced Paintball Instructor who will be the overall manager of the business. The business will also employ the following professionals to work in various departments.

• One Assistant Manager
• One Accountant
• One League Coordinator
• One Customer Care Representative
• Two Marketing Executives
• Two Cleaners
• One Safety Inspector
• One Concession Person
• Two Referees

Successful candidates will undergo extensive training on various areas of focus associated with a paintball field before the business officially opens.

7.2 Average Staff Salaries

In the first three years of operations, ZonerB Paintball field intends to pay its personnel the following annual average salaries.

Financial Plan

ZonerB has a comprehensive financial plan that is expected to guide business management. Starting paintball field requires an elaborate financial plan to help the business meet its financial obligations and run its operations. Initial capital will be supplemented by a bank loan to help kickstart operations. The following is a summary of various financial statistics for ZonerB Paintball business. This is key information for anyone planning to open a paintball field business.

8.1 Important Assumptions

ZonerB has computed its financial expectations based on the assumptions below.

8.2 Brake-even Analysis

The graph below indicated ZonerB Paintball business Brake-even Analysis.

8.3 Projected Profit and Loss

Below is Profit and Loss information for ZonerB Paintball field determined on a monthly and annual basis.

8.3.1 Monthly Profit

8.3.2 yearly profit, 8.3.3 monthly gross margin, 8.3.4 yearly gross margin.

Below is a Profit and Loss Analysis for the business.

8.4 Projected Cash Flow

The diagram below indicates subtotal cash received, subtotal cash spent, subtotal cash spent on operations, subtotal cash from operations and Pro forma cash flow.

8.5 Projected Balance Sheet

Below is ZonerB Projected balance sheet indicating assets, liabilities, capital, current liabilities and long-term assets.

8.6 Business Ratios

This is a representation of Business Ratios, Ratio Analysis and business Net Worth for ZonerB Paintball business.

Download Paintball Business Plan Sample in pdf

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Fueling market growth with strategic career planning

Effective career planning comes out not just as a tool for personal development, but as a strategic asset critical for organizational growth .

This article dives into how integrating career planning into your organizational strategy can not only align employee goals with business objectives but also enhance agility and competitive advantage.

We will explore the transformative impact of career planning on both the workforce and your organization, highlighting how it facilitates internal mobility, continuous learning, and proactive adaptation to market demands.

As your organization strives to navigate the complexities of modern markets, the strategic implementation of career planning becomes essential, providing a blueprint for sustained growth and resilience.

Step 1 – Career aspirations identification

Step 2 – Skills and experience assessment

Step 3 – Gap analysis and development plan

Step 4 – Mentorship and networking

Step 5 – Progress tracking and adjustment

Step 6 – Opportunity matching and transition support

Let’s dive in!

Step 1: Career aspirations identification

In any organization (including yours), understanding the individual career goals and aspirations of employees is pivotal for nurturing a supportive and motivating work environment.

This mindset not only aids in aligning organizational objectives with employee growth but also enhances employee retention and satisfaction .  Here’s how to do it:

1.1 Utilizing digital platforms for career planning

Organizations must leverage digital platforms that enable employees to articulate their long-term career objectives and areas of interest within the company. Employees can easily submit detailed information about their career aspirations by providing a structured format on a digital platform.

Online labor platforms make it easier to find—and harder to retain—talented people. They give companies a real opportunity to transform the way they recruit, develop, and engage their employees – McKinsey

This setup encourages employees to think critically about their professional development and future career within your organization.

1.2 Actionable steps on the platform

The platform should allow employees to outline their desired career paths, specify interests in particular fields or projects, and identify the skills they wish to develop or acquire.

This can be facilitated through a series of interactive tools such as surveys, career planning modules, or even AI-driven career path suggestions based on their inputs and past performance.

1.3 Integrating employee aspirations with organizational goals

Once the data is collected, HR managers and supervisors can use this information to plan more effective career development programs that are personalized and relevant to each employee’s aspirations.

This tailored approach not only caters to individual employee needs but also strategically aligns their goals with the needs of your organization, ensuring mutual growth and success.

1.4 Benefits of understanding career aspirations

By understanding and actively supporting employees’ career aspirations, your organization can create a more engaged workforce, reduce turnover, and build a more robust talent pipeline within the company. This proactive engagement in employees’ career development plays a crucial role in building a resilient and adaptable organizational culture.

Step 2: Skills and experience assessment

A thorough evaluation of an employee’s current skills, competencies, and work history is essential to understand how these elements align with their career aspirations.

Organizations that provide compelling digital workforce experiences report higher engagement levels among their workers. These organizations experience 22% higher engagement rates and significantly greater customer satisfaction compared to those with less compelling experiences – Deloitte

This step is crucial for identifying both the strengths to be leveraged and the areas that require further development to facilitate career progression within your organization. Let’s break it down:

2.1 Using a digital platform for skills assessment

Organizations can effectively use digital platforms to conduct a comprehensive assessment of each employee’s skills and experience. This platform should be capable of integrating various data inputs, including self-reported skills, performance reviews, and past project involvements, to create a holistic profile of each employee.

2.2 Actionable steps on the platform

The platform should offer tools such as skill inventory assessments , competency evaluations, and digital portfolios that allow employees to showcase their work history and achievements.

Through these tools, employees can also indicate their proficiency levels in various skills, which can be validated through assessments or endorsements from peers and managers.

2.3 Identifying strengths and development needs

The gathered data helps in pinpointing the specific skills and experiences that align with the employee’s stated career goals. It also highlights gaps where additional training or experience is necessary.

For instance, if an employee aspires to move into a management role but lacks sufficient leadership experience, the platform can identify this gap and suggest relevant development activities such as leadership training or shadowing opportunities.

2.4 Leveraging insights for tailored development plans

HR managers can use the insights from this comprehensive assessment to design personalized development plans that specifically target the identified gaps.

These plans might include recommendations for formal education, on-the-job training, or assignments that provide relevant experience.

2.5 Benefits of skills and experience assessment

This structured approach ensures that the development efforts are highly targeted and efficient, maximizing the return on investment in employee development .

Moreover, by clearly understanding and addressing the specific needs of each employee to their career aspirations, your organization can better align their workforce capabilities with strategic business objectives, fostering a culture of continuous growth and development .

Step 3: Gap analysis and development plan

An integral component of career development involves identifying the disparity between an employee’s current capabilities and the requirements of their aspired future roles.

Gap analysis is not a one-time activity but a continuous process that should be integrated into the regular strategic review cycles of the organization to adapt to changing market conditions and internal dynamics​ – Learn Lean 6 Sigma

This gap analysis is crucial for setting realistic development targets and effectively preparing employees for upward or lateral movement within the company. Let’s divide this process into steps:

3.1 Using a digital platform to highlight skills gaps

To facilitate this critical evaluation, your organization must leverage a sophisticated digital platform designed to highlight these skills gaps clearly and comprehensively.

Digital platform analyzes the data from the previous assessments of skills and competencies, comparing them against the skill requirements of targeted future roles that align with the employee’s career aspirations.

The recruitment industry is facing challenges such as a growing skills gap and high competition for skilled candidates. Approximately 72% of employers find it difficult to acquire skilled candidates, which is a significant concern for the industry​ – Zippia

3.2 creating personalized development plans.

Once the skills gaps are identified, the next action is to use the platform to create personalized development plans for each employee.

These plans should be tailored to include specific interventions such as courses, certifications, and hands-on experiences that directly address the identified gaps.

For example, if an employee needs to enhance their ai coding skills to qualify for a senior developer position, the development plan could include specialized courses and projects that provide practical experience.

3.3 Incorporating strategic educational and training resources

The platform should facilitate access to a curated list of educational resources and training opportunities that match the development needs. This might include links to online courses from recognized platforms, registration for professional workshops, or information about internally provided training sessions.

Additionally, plans could recommend mentorship programs or peer-learning groups within your organization to foster a collaborative learning environment.

3.4 Implementing the development plan

Implementing these development plans should be a collaborative process between employees and their managers, ensuring that there is clarity in expectations and commitment from both sides. Regular follow-ups and plan adjustments may be necessary to respond to changing organizational needs or personal career shifts.

3.5 Benefits of effective gap analysis and development planning

This structured approach to gap analysis そして development planning not only aligns employee growth with organizational objectives but also significantly enhances employee engagement and retention. By clearly demonstrating a commitment to employee development, your organization can motivate their workforce and cultivate a culture that values continuous improvement and professional growth.

Step 4: Mentorship and networking

Mentorship and networking are pivotal components of career development that provide employees with valuable insights, guidance, and support from seasoned professionals.

86% of professionals acknowledge that access to mentoring is a key factor in their decision to stay with an organization​ – PushFar

These connections are especially vital for employees aiming to navigate their career paths effectively and align their aspirations with organizational goals. Let’s break this down:

4.1 Facilitating mentorship pairings through the platform

Your organization can leverage a digital platform to facilitate the pairing of employees with suitable mentors.

This platform can act as a bridge, connecting employees with mentors who have relevant experience and expertise in their desired career paths.

By incorporating a system that matches mentors and mentees based on shared interests, career goals, and professional backgrounds, the platform ensures that each pairing is meaningful and beneficial.

4.2 Enhancing access to internal networks

In addition to mentorship, the platform should provide employees with access to internal networks.

These networks are invaluable resources that allow employees to engage with peer groups, join professional forums, and participate in discussions that are pertinent to their career interests.

Through these interactions, employees can gain broader industry knowledge, learn about different roles within the organization, and receive diverse perspectives on career development.

4.3 Action steps for implementation

4.3.1 mentor profiles and matching.

Implement a strategy where potential mentors can create profiles detailing their skills, experience, and areas of expertise. Employees can browse these profiles and select mentors who align with their career aspirations.

4.3.2 Networking forums and groups

Establish dedicated forums and interest groups within the platform. These forums can host discussions, share industry news, and organize virtual meetups, fostering a vibrant community of learning and support.

4.3.3 Regular updates and opportunities

Ensure the platform regularly updates employees about new networking opportunities, upcoming events, and available mentors. This keeps the community dynamic and engaging.

4.3.4 Feedback and continuous improvement

Incorporate feedback mechanisms to assess the effectiveness of mentorship and networking initiatives. Use this feedback to continuously improve the features and support offered through the platform.

4.3 Benefits of mentorship and networking

Implementing a structured approach to mentorship and networking within your organization can significantly enhance career development for employees .

It not only helps them gain practical advice and support but also encourages a culture of learning and collaboration across the organization.

This strategy aids in building a more cohesive and informed workforce, ready to take on new challenges and advance in their careers.

Step 5: Progress tracking and adjustment

Effective career development requires not only setting goals and initiating plans but also continuously monitoring progress and making necessary adjustments.

Your organization must have a structured process to track and evaluate the advancement of employees toward their career objectives. It would be best if we break this down into:

5.1 Implementing platform features for tracking progress

Organizations can enhance their digital platforms by integrating features that allow both employees and their managers to monitor progress on individual development plans .

This tracking system should provide real-time data on training completions, skill enhancements, and milestones achieved, enabling a transparent view of each employee’s journey toward their career goals.

5.2 Action steps for effective progress tracking

5.2.1 dashboard implementation.

Create personalized dashboards for employees and managers, displaying key progress indicators, upcoming training activities, and milestones. This dashboard serves as a central hub for all pertinent information regarding career development.

5.2.2 Milestone celebrations

Incorporate features that allow for the recognition and celebration of significant achievements and milestones. This can include automated alerts and recognition badges within the platform, which helps motivate employees and acknowledge their hard work.

5.2.3 Dynamic adjustment of goals

Ensure the platform allows for easy adjustments to development plans. As employees grow and their interests evolve, or as organizational needs change, it should be straightforward to update goals and activities to reflect these new directions.

5.2.4 Regular feedback mechanisms

Implement regular feedback sessions facilitated through the platform, where employees can discuss their progress with managers. This feedback is crucial for making informed adjustments to development plans and aligning expectations.

5.2.5 Benefits of progress tracking and adjustments

By actively tracking progress and making adjustments, organizations can ensure that career development efforts are always aligned with both individual aspirations and business objectives.

This approach not only helps in retaining talent by actively supporting their career growth but also ensures that the workforce evolves in capability and remains competitive in a changing business environment.

5.2.6 Enhancing employee engagement and retention

This comprehensive progress tracking and adjustment process reinforces your organization’s commitment to your employees’ growth, enhancing engagement and retention.

Employees who see active investments in their careers are more likely to be motivated and committed to your organization, driving productivity and innovation.

Step 6: Opportunity matching and transition support

For your organization to retain top talent and optimize its workforce, it’s essential to align employee career progression with available internal opportunities.

This strategic alignment not only supports individual career growth but also helps you fill critical roles internally, maintaining continuity and deepening institutional knowledge. Here’s how to do it:

6.1 Using the platform for opportunity matching

A digital platform can be utilized effectively to match employees with suitable internal roles, projects, or temporary assignments that align with their career paths. This matching process should be driven by a deep understanding of each employee’s skills, aspirations, and progress within their personalized development plans.

6.2 Action steps for effective opportunity matching

6.2.1 role and project recommendations.

Integrate recommendation algorithms into the platform that analyze employee profiles and development progress to suggest relevant internal opportunities. These recommendations can include full-time roles, part-time projects, or temporary assignments that fit the employee’s career trajectory.

6.2.2 Application and transition support

Facilitate the application process directly through the platform, allowing employees to easily apply for the matched positions. Provide necessary resources such as resume tools, interview preparation materials, and detailed role descriptions to help employees transition smoothly into new roles.

6.2.3 Skills alignment

Ensure the platform includes a dynamic mapping feature that overlays employee skills with the competencies required for new opportunities. This feature helps both the employee and the organization assess fit and readiness for the role.

6.2.4 Managerial involvement

Enable managers to access insights into their team members’ suitability for various roles, encouraging proactive involvement in their career development . Managers can use this information to support employees through recommendations or developmental feedback.

6.3 Benefits of opportunity matching and transition support

This approach benefits your organization by maximizing internal talent utilization and reducing recruitment costs. For employees, it enhances job satisfaction and engagement, as they see clear, actionable paths within the company that align with their career goals.

6.4 Ensuring successful career transitions

By providing robust support and resources for transitions, your organization helps ensure that employees not only move into roles that fit their career aspirations but also contribute effectively from the start. This support includes onboarding for new roles, continuous learning opportunities tailored to the needs of the position, and ongoing mentorship to guide employees through their career journey.

Through these structured steps, you will help foster a culture where career growth is actively supported and aligned with internal opportunities, enhancing overall organizational health and employee retention.

To truly excel in career development, your organization must transcend traditional boundaries and embrace a dynamic approach to employee growth.

By integrating the strategies detailed in this guide, your company can not only foster a culture of continual improvement and personalized career paths but also align these efforts with broader organizational objectives.

This alignment is essential for cultivating a workforce that is both highly skilled and deeply committed.

However, the essence of success in career development lies not only in implementing systematic processes but in nurturing an environment where open communication, strategic career planning, and proactive development are ingrained in the corporate ethos. It is about creating a space where employees are encouraged to explore their potential, articulate their aspirations, and take ownership of their career trajectories.

As you move forward, remember that the path to a robust and sustainable talent pipeline is paved with commitment, foresight, and an unwavering dedication to employee engagement.

This is your opportunity to shape a future that not only meets the immediate needs of your business but also secures its long-term prosperity. Embrace this journey with the determination to innovate, inspire, and lead your workforce toward unprecedented growth and fulfillment.

Together, you can build an organization that thrives on the collective success of its people, ensuring a competitive edge in the marketplace and a legacy of excellence.

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Crafting a Marketing Strategy and Plan to Unlock Government Market Opportunities

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Format: E-course Duration: Approx. 90 minutes Instructors: Dr. Elena Bernard and Carroll Bernard, Govology Learning Credits: 1.5 CPEs, 1.5 ATCs APTAC BOK: C.21 Marketing to Government Agencies; B.1 Marketing; C.5 Government Buying Cycle *This course was recorded on April 24, 2024.

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Marketing to government agencies shares many similarities with marketing to commercial customers. To succeed in this arena, it’s crucial to identify your target market, understand the unique needs of your customers, develop a compelling value proposition, and effectively communicate your value proposition to potential buyers. In this course, Govology co-founder Carroll Bernard will provide valuable insights and practical strategies for mastering the art of marketing to government agencies.

During the course, you will gain knowledge on the following key topics:

• Conducting thorough market research tailored specifically to the government sector, utilizing a blend of online tools and primary research methods such as agency interviews.
• Identifying and creating essential marketing materials for engaging with government agencies and learning how to leverage them effectively.
• Crafting a strong value proposition that resonates with target customers, emphasizing the unique benefits of your products or services.
• Understanding the process of responding to sources sought notices to increase your chances of getting an opportunity set aside.

By the end of this course, you will know practical strategies and best practices to navigate the complexities of marketing to government agencies successfully. Don’t miss this opportunity to enhance your marketing skills and expand your reach in the government marketplace.

Target Audience: Small businesses pursuing federal government opportunities

Meet Your Instructors:

CARROLL BERNARD, Govology CEO & Co-Founder

Carroll Bernard is the CEO and Co-Founder of Govology.com. He has an extensive background in government contracting, resulting from his experience as a government buyer, a small business contractor, and a procurement advisor. 

Carroll started his acquisition career in the U.S. Navy Supply Corps, where he provided logistical support and acquisition management as a Supply Officer. After leaving active duty, Carroll continued his acquisition career in the Procurement Services Department of the City of Vancouver, WA, and later as a warranted Contracting Officer at the Department of Veterans Affairs. Carroll’s last federal employment was at the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), where he served as a Business Development Specialist for 8(a) companies in the Business Development Program. He also served as the SBA Portland District’s Veteran Business Development Officer and Primary HUBZone Liaison. Through his duties at the SBA, Carroll became a subject matter expert in small business programs, federal certifications, the SBA Mentor-Protégé Program, teaming, and small business contracting with federal agencies.

After his career in the federal government, Carroll supported small businesses in government contracting as a Procurement Counselor with the Defense Logistics Agency’s Procurement Technical Assistant Program (now Department of Defense APEX Accelerator), established to expand the number of companies capable of participating in government contracts.

Carroll has supported vendor outreach, education, and success in many ways. In 2015, Carroll and his team at Govology launched a world-class online training platform for government contractors. Since then, they have trained over 17,000 business professionals and saved small businesses millions of dollars through their collaborative approach with non-profit organizations, government agencies, universities, and corporations that share their mission and passion for powering up small businesses. As a result, Carroll and his wife, Elena Bernard, PhD were named 2020 Small Business Champions by the U.S. Small Business Administration.

ELENA BERNARD, Ph.D., Govology Co-Founder, CFO, CMO

Dr. Elena Bernard is the Co-Founder, Chief Financial Officer, and Chief Marketing Officer at Waypoint America LLC DBA Govology and an Associate Professor Emeritus at the University of Portland, Oregon. During her 20-year academic career, Dr. Bernard taught marketing courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels in the United States and internationally, including Australia, Hong Kong, and Singapore. She published several articles in academic journals and presented her research at national and international conferences. As a passionate community servant and educator, Dr. Bernard has actively shared her knowledge and expertise at various events supporting socially and economically disadvantaged entrepreneurs through organizations such as the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization (IRCO) in Portland, Oregon, and Oregon’s Association of Minority Entrepreneurs (OAME). 

In 2015, together with her husband and business partner, Carroll Bernard, Dr. Bernard built govology.com with the vision of providing exceptional government market education that is practical, impactful, and affordable. Often called “a dynamic duo,” Carroll and Elena Bernard have been on a mission to help small businesses reach their full potential in the government marketplace. Hence, in recognition of their contributions to the small business community, SBA recognized Govology with a prestigious Small Business Champion award in 2020.

Dr. Bernard holds a Ph.D. in Marketing from the Louisiana State University. She retired from teaching in 2021 to focus full-time on Govology.

1 review for Crafting a Marketing Strategy and Plan to Unlock Government Market Opportunities

Unknown Member (verified owner) – November 25, 2018

Amazing! Packed with resources, tools, and builds a solid foundation of how to market and position your marketing material geared for selling to the government.

Only logged in customers who have purchased this product may leave a review.

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How to Rethink Your Career as an Empty Nester

Don’t wait until the kids are gone to plan for what’s next.

When children leave the house for college or other opportunities, the sudden change and loss of predictability can be disruptive for working parents and their careers. It’s common for parents to feel grief when kids leave the house. Perhaps you’ve been caught unaware: you haven’t fully anticipated this time and season, and now your life looks like a blank canvas. How do you fill it? If you’re an empty nester (or will be soon), this article offers some questions for you to reflect on and strategies help you re-shape your life and find meaning — both personally and professionally — during this time.

As you progress through your career, you’ll no doubt encounter some major milestones and transition points that might spur you to pause and reassess the path that you’re on. One such milestone that affects working parents is becoming an empty nester. When children leave the house for college or other opportunities, so go predictable routines that order much of family life: sports practices and games, concerts, special school events, etc. What happens with all that time once your children move out? The sudden change and loss of predictability can be disruptive, both for your home life and your career.

• AS Anne Sugar is an executive coach and speaker who works with senior leaders in technology, marketing, and pharmaceutical companies. She is an executive coach for the Harvard Business School Executive Program and has guest lectured at MIT. You can reach her at annesugar.com .

Partner Center

I was LinkedIn's first head of HR. PIPs don't work — there's a better way to help struggling employees.

• Steve Cadigan has led HR teams at top companies for over three decades.
• He has seen how performance-improvement plans (PIPs) often fracture relationships between managers and employees. 
• The better alternative to PIPs allows employees to mutually agree to separate from the company.

Over the past three decades, I've witnessed various approaches to performance-improvement plans (PIPs) as an HR executive across five different industries and three countries.

Often, the traditional approach to PIPs — slapping them on employees who are underperforming without offering sufficient support — can feel punitive rather than constructive to many employees, fostering an environment of fear and mistrust.

But PIPs often fail to achieve their intended outcomes for a variety of reasons — from inadequately prepared managers to breakdowns in communication between managers and employees to subjective judgments of performance .

In my experience, the primary reason for the failure of PIPs lies in the irreparable fracture they create in the relationship between the employee and manager. Once the PIP process begins, this fracture in trust is seldom repaired. The atmosphere becomes palpably tense, and trust begins to erode.

PIPs lead to an irreparable fracture in the relationship

Recent stories of employees feeling unfairly targeted and demoralized and complaints of mishandling of PIPs have illuminated the complexities and challenges inherent in performance management.

These stories serve as cautionary tales, highlighting the potential pitfalls of traditional PIPs and the need for organizations to rethink their approach to managing underperformance.

Even if an employee successfully meets the objectives outlined in the PIP, the underlying tension and strain on the relationship often persist, adversely impacting productivity and morale not only for the manager and the employee, but for the entire team.

Related stories

I've rarely seen managers more tense than when addressing a PIP. These conditions don't set the stage for a productive process. At their core, PIPs should reflect an organization's commitment to achieving high performance. They should identify areas for improvement, set clear expectations, and provide a roadmap for progress.

A better approach involves choice

From 1998 to 2004, I was an HR executive at Cisco Systems, where I encountered a novel approach to the traditional PIP process.

Prior to my arrival, Cisco had recognized that something was broken in the PIP process. The HR team conducted a thorough analysis of PIPs across the company and made a fascinating discovery: most individuals placed on a PIP left the company within a year , regardless of whether their performance improved.

They spoke with many of the employees who survived their PIP and improved their performance yet still chose to leave, and the story they heard had a similar refrain. The employees felt their managers did not really support them, they no longer felt they were in a safe work environment, and many felt humiliated and deeply hurt by the process.

Looking at the data and listening to employees, the HR team developed a new approach that involved choice. Employees who were not performing to an acceptable level were offered two options:

Enter a PIP and try to improve, or

Mutually agree to separate from the company and receive more severance than they would if they failed the PIP.

By presenting employees with this alternative path, Cisco empowered them to make decisions aligned with their personal circumstances. This approach also alleviated stress for managers, enabling them to focus on other priorities. The conversations became more constructive, and employees appreciated being given a choice rather than feeling cornered into a dead-end PIP.

Challenge conventional practices

In the years since leaving Cisco, I've introduced this alternative approach to other organizations, contributing to healthier cultures and more constructive environments .

Performance evaluation is inherently subjective, and no process can eliminate all conflicts or unexpected reactions. However, offering employees a choice rather than a one-way ticket to a PIP can lead to more positive outcomes and healthier work environments.

As HR professionals and organizational leaders, it's our responsibility to challenge conventional practices and explore innovative solutions. By rethinking performance management and embracing alternative approaches, we can create a culture of trust, transparency, and continuous improvement where both employees and organizations thrive.

Steve Cadigan is a talent advisor to leaders and organizations around the world. He specializes in helping firms build talent strategies for the modern workplace.

Watch: Jill Kramer, CMO of Accenture, says disability inclusion should be baked into creative briefs

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May 9, 2024

Related Announcements

The Sexual & Gender Minority Research Office (SGMRO) in the Division of Program Coordination, Planning, and Strategic Initiatives (DPCPSI), Office of the Director (OD), National Institutes of Health (NIH), is developing the Fiscal Years (FYs) 2026 – 2030 NIH-Wide Strategic Plan for Sexual and Gender Minority Health (SGM) Research. NIH is publishing this Notice to solicit input from the scientific research community, clinical practice communities, patient and family advocates, scientific or professional organizations, federal partners, HHS and NIH staff, other interested constituents; and the public on topics to consider for the next strategic plan to optimize NIH’s research investments.

“Sexual and gender minority” is an umbrella term that includes, but is not limited to, individuals who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, asexual, transgender, Two-Spirit, queer, and/or intersex. Individuals with same-sex or -gender attractions or behaviors and those with variations in sex characteristics are also included. These populations also encompass those who do not self-identify with one of these terms but whose sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or reproductive development is characterized by non-binary constructs of sexual orientation, gender, and/or sex.

The SGMRO at  https://dpcpsi.nih.gov/sgmro  coordinates SGM health research and activities by working directly with the NIH Institutes, Centers, and Offices. The Office was officially established in September 2015 within DPCPSI.

In accordance with the 21st Century Cures Act, NIH is required to regularly update their strategic plans. In 2020, NIH launched its Strategic Plan to Advance Research on the Health and Well-being of Sexual and Gender Minorities, FYs 2021-2025 at  https://dpcpsi.nih.gov/sites/default/files/SGMStrategicPlan_2021_2025.pdf . The current strategic plan is NIH’s second strategic plan focused on SGM health research and has provided the NIH with a framework to improve the health of SGM populations through increased research and support of scientists conducting SGM health-related research. In January 2023, SGMRO published a mid-course review at https://dpcpsi.nih.gov/sites/default/files/2023-09/SGMRO-StrategicPlan-MidCourseReview-Report-5-508.pdf of the current NIH SGM strategic plan that provided recommendations to support further progress on the goals described therein. To establish NIH priorities in SGM health-related research for the next five years, SGMRO requests input from SGM health, research, and related communities in refining the goals of the FY26 – FY30 strategic plan.  

Request for Information

Please provide your perspective on the following topics:

• The highest priority needs, and emerging areas of opportunity related to SGM health research at NIH.
• Actions that NIH should prioritize to advance SGM health-related research.
• Partnerships NIH should pursue, both inside and outside of government, to advance SGM health-related research.
• Any other relevant topics that NIH should consider when developing the next NIH-Wide strategic plan for SGM health research.

How to Submit a Response

All responses should be submitted electronically at the RFI (nih.gov) https://rfi.grants.nih.gov/?s=660c63fa171bc46e9c038e92 submission website by 5:00 pm (ET) on July 15, 2024. You will receive an electronic confirmation acknowledging receipt of your response.

NIH encourages organizations (e.g., patient advocacy groups, professional organizations) to submit a single response reflective of the views of the organization or membership as a whole.

Responses to this RFI are voluntary and may be submitted anonymously. You may voluntarily include your name and contact information with your response. If you choose to provide NIH with this information, NIH will not share your name and contact information outside of NIH unless required by law.

Other than your name and contact information, please do not include any personally identifiable information or any information that you do not wish to make public. Proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should not be included in your response. The Government will use the information submitted in response to this RFI at its discretion. Other than your name and contact information, the Government reserves the right to use any submitted information on public NIH websites; in reports; in summaries of the state of the science; in any possible resultant solicitation(s), grant(s), or cooperative agreement(s); or in the development of future funding opportunity announcements. This RFI is for informational and planning purposes only and is not a solicitation for applications or an obligation on the part of the Government to provide support for any ideas identified in response to it. Please note that the Government will not pay for the preparation of any information submitted or for use of that information.

We look forward to your input and hope that you will share this RFI opportunity with your colleagues.

Please direct all inquiries to:

Sexual & Gender Minority Research Office (SGMRO)

[email protected]

Note: For help accessing PDF, RTF, MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Audio or Video files, see Help Downloading Files .