Benefits of Strategic Planning
Strategic planning serves a variety of purposes for organizations, including to:
Build consensus about where an organization is going
Clearly define the purpose of the organization and to establish realistic goals and objectives consistent with that mission in a defined time frame within the organization's capacity for implementation
Communicate those goals and objectives to the organization's constituents
Develop a sense of ownership of the plan
Ensure the most effective use is made of the organization's resources by focusing the resources on the key priorities
Provide a base from which progress can be measured and establish a mechanism for informed change when needed
Other reasons include that strategic planning:
Bridges staff and Village Board
Identifies and addresses major problems
Increases productivity from increased efficiency and effectiveness
Provides clearer focus for the organization, producing more efficiency and effectiveness
The Village of Howard has been working on coordinating our VillageTrack (performance measurement program), strategic planning, and annual budget processes into a comprehensive performance management process, called Managing for Results.