Online Class: Strategic Planning

Embark on a journey to master strategic planning with our course, designed to help visionary leaders create and implement robust plans that align with their organization's core mission and values. Gain insights into analyzing strengths, leveraging vulnerabilities, and future-proofing your strategies in a constantly changing business environment.
Self-Paced, Online Class
Nahant Public Library
 
  • 14
    Lessons
  • 21
    Exams &
    Assignments
  • 8
    Hours
    average time
  • 0.8
    CEUs
 
 
 

Course Description

Empowering Organizations: The Blueprint for Future Success

In the fast-paced world of business, it's imperative to think ahead. But how can an organization ensure its relevance, leadership, and innovation 20 years down the line? Enter the world of strategic planning - an essential tool for visionary leaders, committed to long-term success. Our course, "Blueprint for Future Success," is tailored to equip leaders with the skills and insights required to chart a course for sustained organizational excellence.

Strategic planning isn't just about setting goals; it's about envisioning the future, understanding the present, and building a bridge between the two. While business plans and long-term plans have their place, strategic planning is the compass that guides a business through uncertain waters, ensuring it remains true to its core values, mission, and vision.

Through this comprehensive course, participants will gain:

  1. Clarity and Focus: Understand the nuances and distinctions between various planning models - from business plans to long-term planning, and pinpoint the unique value that strategic planning brings to the table.

  2. Foundation Building: Learn the significance of mandates, both formal and informal, and craft compelling mission and vision statements that resonate and align with your organization's ethos. Dive deep into the role of values, and explore their transformative impact on decision-making and organizational culture.

  3. Strength and Vulnerability Analysis: Engage with diagnostic tools and frameworks to truly dissect your organization's strengths and weaknesses. More importantly, discover how perceived weaknesses might be leveraged as unique strengths or differentiators.

  4. Risk Management: In the business realm, risks are unavoidable. This course empowers leaders to evaluate, prioritize, and mitigate these risks, turning potential pitfalls into opportunities for growth.

  5. Resource Optimization: From human capital to financial assets, understand how to allocate and prioritize resources effectively to align with your strategic vision.

  6. Constructing the Blueprint: Dive into the structural elements of a strategic plan. Understand the significance and role of each segment, and gain hands-on experience in crafting a robust, actionable, and comprehensive strategic plan.

  7. Engagement and Communication: A strategic plan is only as effective as its execution. Unravel the secrets of ensuring organizational buy-in, fostering a sense of ownership among stakeholders, and effective communication strategies to keep everyone on the same page.

  8. Future-Proofing: The business landscape is ever-evolving. Acquire the tools and methodologies to keep your strategic plan dynamic, updated, and relevant, ensuring your organization is always one step ahead.

In conclusion, "Blueprint for Future Success" is not just another course; it's an investment in the future of your organization. Designed for forward-thinking leaders, this course offers a holistic and in-depth exploration of strategic planning, ensuring that your organization doesn't just survive but thrives in the decades to come. Join us in this transformative journey and carve a path to unparalleled success.

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Course Lessons

Average Lesson Rating:
4.41 / 5 Stars (Average Rating)
"Extraordinarily Helpful"
(415 votes)

Lesson 1. Navigating the Future: Understanding Strategic Planning

Strategic planning functions as both a detailed guide and a method of aligning organizational efforts towards future goals, evaluating where an organization currently stands and where it needs to be. It requires honest inquiry into organizational identity, objectives, and competitive landscape, forming actionable strategies. 10 Total Points
  • Lesson 1 Video
  • Lesson discussions: Reasons for Taking this Course
  • Assessment: Exam 1

Lesson 2. Why Analyzing Current Organizational State Matters

Assessing both internal and external factors, such as market presence and customer expectations, is pivotal in crafting an effective strategic plan that aligns with organizational goals. Honest and candid assessments are crucial to ensuring plans accurately reflect the organization's ability to meet future challenges. 10 Total Points
  • Lesson 2 Video
  • Assessment: Exam 2

Lesson 3. Understanding the Overlooked Mandates in Organizational Structure

An organization's mission statement provides clarity and focus, while mandates outline the rules that shape operations and strategy. Balancing these elements allows the organization to navigate legal obligations and traditions effectively, fostering long-term success. 10 Total Points
  • Lesson 3 Video
  • Assessment: Exam 3

Lesson 4. Navigating Internal and External Business Waters: A Deep Dive

By providing a structured method for evaluating strengths and weaknesses, this lesson demonstrates the vitality of positioning within the marketplace for strategic success. It defines the process of recognizing opportunities and threats as crucial for leveraging organizational assets efficiently. 11 Total Points
  • Lesson 4 Video
  • Complete: Lesson 4 Activity
  • Assessment: Exam 4

Lesson 5. Teamwork in Data Collection: Overcoming Key Challenges

For effective data collection, it's crucial for investigators to collaborate, voice insights, and develop comprehensive, relevant information for strategic plans. This involves preparing focused questions and obtaining a broad organizational view to avoid data distortion and ensure a successful outcome. 11 Total Points
  • Lesson 5 Video
  • Complete: Lesson 5 Activity
  • Assessment: Exam 5

Lesson 6. Visionary Insights and Value-driven Actions

Avoiding vague or outdated language, mission, vision, and value statements should instead offer concise, dynamic, and relevant portrayals of organizational aspirations. Properly crafted statements distinguish businesses from competitors, embedding inspiration and clear direction. 10 Total Points
  • Lesson 6 Video
  • Assessment: Exam 6

Lesson 7. Accelerate Your Organizational Outcomes

Success in strategic planning comes from leadership buy-in and honest evaluation, ensuring all steps support organizational goals while fostering team empowerment. Effective suggestion programs and clear accountability mechanisms help create a culture where results-oriented management drives improvement and sustainability. 11 Total Points
  • Lesson 7 Video
  • Complete: Lesson 7 Activity
  • Assessment: Exam 7

Lesson 8. Effective Risk Management: The Key to Strategic Success

Prioritizing organizational needs involves a thorough evaluation of quality data to meet immediate and future goals, while ensuring alignment with the mission and values. Leadership must continuously analyze progress and adjust processes based on cause-and-effect assessments to optimize outcomes. 10 Total Points
  • Lesson 8 Video
  • Complete: Lesson 8 Activity
  • Assessment: Exam 8

Lesson 9. Aligning Organizational Goals Through Thoughtful Validation

Managing finances wisely is crucial to successful strategic planning, with lessons from business leaders underscoring the importance of realistic budgeting and resource allocation. Effective strategies incorporate thorough financial assessments to avoid costly setbacks and maximize tactical execution. 10 Total Points
  • Lesson 9 Video
  • Assessment: Exam 9

Lesson 10. Strategic Plan Success: Prioritizing Tactics & Tools

Organizations should evaluate goals based on strengths and weaknesses, adapting tactics and resources to support strategic objectives, ensuring comprehensive priority setting across departments to avoid the pitfalls of isolated decision-making. In cultivating organizational ownership, success stories, like Mike’s nonprofit, highlight the importance of collective action overcoming individual agendas to achieve broader impacts. 10 Total Points
  • Lesson 10 Video
  • Assessment: Exam 10

Lesson 11. The Art of Strategic Planning and Budget Management

To develop a strategic plan, leadership must synthesize historical context with forward-looking objectives, balancing immediate tasks and long-term aspirations over 20 or more years. Strategic analysis helps to define the current state, mission, and tactical steps necessary for achieving set priorities and values that drive the organization. 11 Total Points
  • Lesson 11 Video
  • Complete: Lesson 11 Activity
  • Assessment: Exam 11

Lesson 12. Thriving Industries Through Strategic Planning

Crafting a strategic plan that balances human emotions and professional roles, the organization aims for leadership continuity by addressing immediate threats and refining processes. A team that strategically engages under defined guidelines ensures actionable steps towards efficiency and future opportunities. 11 Total Points
  • Lesson 12 Video
  • Complete: Lesson 12 Activity
  • Assessment: Exam 12

Lesson 13. Strategic Plan Communication: Bridging the Gap for Success

Drawing lessons from the Y2K crisis, the lesson discusses how IT departments shifted from techno-jargon to business-oriented language to gain organizational support. By aligning communication with business goals and speaking in terms relatable across departments, IT garnered buy-in for their initiatives. 10 Total Points
  • Lesson 13 Video
  • Assessment: Exam 13

Lesson 14. Ensuring Your Plan Evolves with Your Organization

Strategic plans should be living documents, with leadership conducting annual reviews to measure progress and make necessary changes. An engaged approach to plan updates helps eliminate outdated practices and promotes core values across the organization. 80 Total Points
  • Lesson 14 Video
  • Lesson discussions: End of Course Poll; Course Comments
  • Assessment: Exam 14
  • Assessment: The Final Exam
215
Total Course Points
 

Learning Outcomes

By successfully completing this course, students will be able to:
  • Define strategic planning and differentiate it from long-term and tactical planning by explaining its reverse-order approach and broad focus.
  • Demonstrate the ability to apply strategic planning by outlining specific processes and timelines to achieve future organizational goals, based on answering key questions.
  • Describe the external factors impacting the organization, including customer expectations and competitor analysis, to inform strategic planning.
  • Define the current state and health of the organization to identify strengths and weaknesses, using an internal assessment method.
  • Define the components of a mission statement and explain how they contribute to the strategic planning process
  • Identify both formal and informal organizational mandates and discuss how they influence the development of a strategic plan#
  • Evaluate the internal and external environmental factors influencing an organization to identify trends and inform the strategic planning process.
  • Identify and categorize an organization's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats using a structured spreadsheet to support strategic planning.
  • Formulate at least five focused questions addressing the five 'Ws' and one 'H' to ensure comprehensive data collection.
  • Identify specific patterns in collected data that suggest potential deficiencies or bottlenecks within a department.
  • Construct a mission statement for a given organization by incorporating specific, actionable language that aligns with its strategic goals.
  • Define and distinguish between mission, vision, and value statements by analyzing their roles in organizational strategic planning.
  • Define the concept of results-based management and explain its impact on strategic planning effectiveness.
  • Demonstrate mastery of lesson content at levels of 70% or higher.
 

Additional Course Information

Online CEU Certificate
  • Document Your Lifelong Learning Achievements
  • Earn an Official Certificate Documenting Course Hours and CEUs
  • Verify Your Certificate with a Unique Serial Number Online
  • View and Share Your Certificate Online or Download/Print as PDF
  • Display Your Certificate on Your Resume and Promote Your Achievements Using Social Media
Document Your CEUs on Your Resume
 
Course Title: Strategic Planning
Course Number: 8900334
Lessons Rating: 4.41 / 5 Stars (415 votes)
Languages: English - United States, Canada and other English speaking countries
Availability: This course is accessible online throughout all states, including California, Texas, Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio, and Georgia. It's also available in top English-speaking countries like the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
Last Updated: March 2024
CEU Value: 0.8 CEUs (Continuing Education Units)
Grading Policy: Earn a final grade of 70% or higher for successful completion.
Course Type: Self-Paced
Assessment Method: Lesson review exams
Instructional Team: Linda Zavadil

Student Testimonials

  • "I think it is beneficial to me as a future entrepreneur." -- Betty B.
  • "This course was much harder than expected. I enjoyed learning and will use the skills learned." -- Lisa S.
  • "Thank you for your time and lessons." -- Kimberly D.

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