p.1 over the years our experiences as consultants to organizations have convinced us that most planning
processes are poorly conceptualized and even more poorly executed... that it is rarely creative when it is done and, moreover,
is largely tactical rather than strategic in nature... Most planning processes, in fact, result in long-range rather than
strategic plans.
p.1 Strategic planning is critical to the success of any organization.
p.2-3 We define Applied Strategic Planning as the process by which the guiding members of an organization
envision its future and develop the necessary procedures and operations to achieve that future (Goodstein, Nolan, &
Pfeiffer, 1993.) ... Using our model requires that the organization simultaneously develop a strategic plan and a
strategic management process - one that will ensure that the plan will be successfully implemented...
Envisioning involves the conviction that our present actions can influence our future - we can help create our own
future rather than passively accept whatever comes to pass. A powerful well-thought-out vision can become a magnet
pulling an organization toward its ideal future.
p.3 Strategic thinking will be essential for the members of the planning group
if their work is to be successful.
p.4 Two differences from typical planning processes are so important that we have built them into our model.
One is the emphasis we place on identifying and clarifying the personal and organizational values and the
resultant organizational culture as the basis for all organizational decision making. A second is the importance of
creative envisioning of the desired future state.
p.8 Contingency Planning
Probability and impact are the two important aspects of Contingency Planning. We assume that the basic strategic
plan involves the scenario with the highest probability of successful implementation. But there always are other high-impact
events that are less likely to occur than those on which the basic strategic plan is based.
These are the events that need to be considered and for which a contingency plan should
be developed. If this cannot be done because of time or resource constraints, the strategic plan should include methods
for tracking these alternative events so that the organization's strategic plan can be re-examined and necessary changes initiated
when it is clear that this is necessary.
p.24 Once it [something new] becomes labeled as a threat, then everyone directs his or her energies into
reducing the impact of the threat. The individual who can naturally reframe the threat into a potential opportunity can generate
positive energy to pursue that opportunity.
p.48 Sustainability involves meeting present needs without compromising future needs,
which we regard as an example of the previously discussed tension between short-term and long-term goals - also a values-based
issue.
p.48 most business decisions involve balancing competing values, interests, and costs.
p.134 The success of the strategic plan requires aligning of the organization with the plan.
