Strategic Process Is Important

Every part of the strategic process is important. From the thinking to the planning, to the technology used to implement it. The strategic momentum is what all of the forward movement of the well laid out plans that go into moving forward with the companies goals towards a bigger, brighter, more successful future is all about. But what are some of the things that a strategic manager needs to remember to keep the plans on track and the strategic momentum going strong? Let's take a look at what we can do to optimize our time and that of our employees to keep the ball rolling.

The key to successful strategic momentum is a good system of support strategies. There are many questions to evaluate your support strategies. Using the strategic thinking map for evaluation gives many examples of what to think about to see if it is going to work. Let's break some of these questions down and see what they mean to be used effectively.

The first thing you need to consider is whether the organizations culture is appropriate for the overall strategy (Ginter, 2008). To answer this, you need to know many things, and one of the most important is how your company is ran and what your employees' personalities are like. Also, what kind of product or service are you offering, and who are your intended target consumers. If your employees and services are geared for younger consumers, it would be wise to think and plan on a more modern and forward thinking strategy, and stay away from ultra-conservative, old-school style thinking. Conversely, if you are more geared towards older consumers and your employees are more mature and conservative, you may want to adjust your strategies accordingly. A good strategic plan is only going to work if it fits all elements of your company, from the employees to the services to the end market consumers.

Another question to consider is if the organizations' values are reflected in the service delivery (Ginter, 2008). If your values are minimalist, nothing in excess straight forward services, you don't want to deliver you service in an extravagant, over the top manner. Your consumers are choosing you for what your company is selling itself as. Don't let them down, this will ultimately hurt business and create negative feed-back from some of you customers. Stay true to what you are selling yourself as.

You may also need to do some thinking about whether your organization has enough finances to carry out the proposed strategic plan (Ginter, 2008). It is easy to come up with and carry out a great plan if you have unlimited funding to work with, but it is just as easy to come up with the same plan and fail because you cannot afford all of the proposed ideas. For instance, let's say one of your plans is to run a commercial on television for your target audience. You have great plans on getting successful, well known individuals to star in your commercial, great visual effects, and a paid commercial spot right smack dab in the middle of the Super Bowl, when everyone is sure to see it. That will get your company out to the public in a big way, and fast. This is a great plan, if you are Budweiser.