Characteristics of Strategic Planning

Characteristics of Strategic Planning

Vision

A strategic vision describes the route a sport intends to take in developing and strengthening its business. It lays out the sports strategic course in preparing for the future.

Well conceived visions are distinctive and specific to a particular sport and avoid generic, feel good statements like “we will become a leader and the first choice of participants” which could apply to any sport. For the strategic vision to function as a managerial tool it must (1) illuminate the sports directional path and (2) provide managers with a reference point for making strategic decisions when preparing the sport for the future. A good vision needs to be beyond a sports immediate reach so as to help unleash unified actions that move the sport down a path of realising that vision.

Characteristics of an effectively worded vision statement

Graphic / Paints a picture of the kind of sport the board and management is trying to create and the position in the sporting landscape it wishes to occupy
Directional / Is forward looking and describes the strategic course that the board and management have charted and the kinds of products/markets/participants/technology changes that will help the sport prepare for the future.
Focused / Is specific enough to provide board and management with guidance in making decisions and allocating resources.
Flexible / Is not a ‘once and for all statement’ – the directional course that the board and management has charted may have to be adjusted as circumstances change.
Feasible / Is within the realm of what the sport can reasonably expect to achieve in due time.
Desirable / Indicates why the direction makes good sense and is in the long-term interests of stakeholders.
Easy to communicate / Is explained in 5-12 minutes and can be reduced to a simple, memorable slogan (‘every student in Australia to experience our sport’)

Mission

The distinction between a vision and a mission statement is fairly clear-cut: a strategic vision portrays a sports future scope ‘where we are going’ where as a sports mission typically describes its present scope and purpose ‘who we are, what we do, and why we are here’.

Values

The sports values are the beliefs, traits, and behavioural norms that the sports staff and volunteers are expected to display in conducting the sports business and pursuing its strategic vision and strategy.

Key Result Areas (KRA)

For reporting purposes it is important to clearly identify the areas the sport aims to measure its results under and the various categories relevant to each area. The work of a sporting organisation may cover a broad scope of categories.

The key result areas (KRAs) will describe how the sport hopes to achieve its long-term objectives and strategic priorities.

KRA Drivers

‘Key Drivers’ are the elements that link the KRA and the strategies that enable success by defining ‘what’ is needed to achieve the KRA. This begins to give guidance to drafting your strategies for example; to increase membership in a sport one of the drivers may be to ensure there is awareness about the sport. From this statement, a strategy can be drafted to address this driver and achieve the stated ‘Key Objective’.

Key Objectives

The long-term objectives can be defined as the results the organisation hopes to achieve when attempting to pursue its vision and mission within the plan’s period. It is essential for a sporting organisation to state its long-term objectives as they will indicate the direction of the organisation and assist with future evaluation. Stating the long-term objectives can also enable a sporting organisation to reveal its strategic priorities.

•  To provide a reason why the long-term objective is important to the sport, a rationale may provide some useful background.

All objectives should have the following attributes:

Specific / Write objectives simply and describe exactly what will be accomplished when each objective is achieved achieved.
Measurable / The objective needs to be measurable so it can be determined when it has been achieved. If it cannot be measured it might not be manageable.
Achievable / Expect to achieve the objective and do not set objectives too high or make them unrealistic.
Related to the vision / The objectives must relate to the vision of your organisation.
Time bound / Each objective must have an achieve-by date. A deadline is a great motivator for achieving objectives.

Strategic priorities

Strategic priorities should be focused on the future goals of the sport, for example if a long-term objective is ‘To increase the number of junior participants in the sport’, then the strategic priority to help achieve this may be ‘To develop and implement a modified game that assists junior development officers involve primary school age children in the sport’.

When writing strategies an organisation should describe what it aims to accomplish by using ‘doing’ verbs to start the strategy such as: foster, develop, provide, prepare, produce, organise, perform, nurture, support, explore, promote, advance, build, introduce, deliver, adopt, sustain and build.

Key performance indicators (KPI)

Key performance indicators (KPIs) should enable the organisation to identify the criteria against which it can measure its performance against each strategic priority, which match up to the organisations long-term objectives and KRAs. KPIs will determine the extent to which the strategies have been achieved. KPIs are measures that provide some feedback on performance. They should be related to the strategies and could include quality, quantity and time components.

Examples of key performance indicators may include:

• increased levels of funding and services between the sport and key stakeholders

• 5 per cent increase in registered members

• 90 per cent member satisfaction with upgraded web-based communication systems.

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