Poor strategic plan is worse than no strategic plan. It can be a big waste of time and money. Even worse, it can lead to disaster. Avoid all this with Simplified Strategic Planning–a proven process to focus for superior performance without straining your resources. Whether you have been doing strategic planning for years or starting from scratch, you can acquire a streamlined process for developing and implementing your strategy. You will have this time-tested methodology, which has produced outstanding results for many companies from a wide variety of business types.

Every one in any organisation will at one time or another express a wish that more planning “could have gone into this”, as they struggle to respond to the latest set of challenges. In fact of course, no matter how much planning you do it is inevitable that your organisation will need to respond to unforeseen changes and frankly it is and always be part of what you do.

However, organisations (for profit or for no-profit) that are most successful are those that are consistently thinking ahead of their competitors and always seem ready for the next set of changes or challenges. Consciously or otherwise, they are thinking strategically and are planning ahead. They have a Strategic Plan.

Our concept of Strategic Planning is not about a frozen plan that will outline what you need to do at any given time, it is about the following:

• Being clear throughout your organisation as to why you exist at all
• Developing a strategic approach in response to achieving that goal
• Documenting that approach and having all levels of the organisation accept the process
• Have in place a system where it is reviewed and adjusted as necessary

Obviously much work goes to achieving those simple statements. However it is not as time consuming as you might think, but it is about a willingness to embrace a culture of thinking strategically and incorporating that in day to day operations. Often this is left to the CEO or similar to do, but what makes them the only one that can do this? What happens if they run out of ideas or just get tired? Imagine what it would be like if many people were able to think at a strategic level and contribute to this process, wouldn’t that would put any organisation ahead of their competitors?

The real importance is seen in executing the plan. Companies may have the know-how and insight to create the right strategy, executing it, however, is another matter. In most of the cases before the planning process is even finished, that well-crafted plan is obsolete. Many companies lack the tools for turning strategy into execution process that guarantees accountability and yet is adaptable to change. Following are the seven keys to execute strategy successfully:

• Quantify the Vision
• Communicate strategy through Mantras
• Plan Results, Not Activities
• Plan what you are Not going to Do
• Open Strategy to the Organisation
• Automate Status and Progress Management
• Create a Virtuous Circle of Execution and Strategy and in the decision-process should be in practice.

Our professional systems at GICF Group, brings all the pieces together for plan development and implementation. Namely, market analysis, company capacities, organisation structure, human resource management, financial analysis, financial strategy, marketing strategy, IT strategy, E-Marketing strategy, all that is required for ‘organisational excellence’.

At GICF Group we use the concept of manoeuvre warfare - a philosophy tailor-made for today's uncertain combat environment - and analyse its applicability to business. Manoeuvre warfare isn't designed to destroy and adversary. Rather, it is used to render and enemy unable to fight as an effective, coordinated whole. This approach recognises that it is impossible to control disorder and uncertainty; thus, the only viable option is to use those forces against ones opponent. The seven guiding elements of manoeuvre warfare: targeting critical vulnerabilities, boldness, surprise, focus, decentralized decision-making, rapid tempo, and combined arms. These have been explained well in both the military and corporate arenas. Though warfare and business seems as facile metaphor there are arguments that principles of manoeuvre warfare are relevant to business strategy because they have been developed to address conditions that mirror those faced by today's executives. Further, the approach - with its focus not on overpowering a rival but on outflanking him, targeting his weaknesses, and rendering one to analyse the situation- can help achieve a decisive advantage with minimal deployment resources.

How can the optimistic scenario change to sour so quickly? We offer solutions for how to prevent change initiatives from faltering. Any organisation - can keep a turnaround on track: Don't miss your moment. Precious momentum is lost when you fail to capitalize on fleeting market opportunities or high morale within your organisation.

Connect change initiatives to your core business. Promising programs can wither if they are not integrated into your mainstream operations. Don't mistake incremental improvements for strategic transformation. Operational success can blind you to the need to reinvent the business. Be realistic about your limits and the pace of change. Raising expectations that can't be met, at least at the moment, can undermine changes that are achievable.