Course Description
Without a map, it’s hard to reach a destination. Similarly, without a plan to achieve goals, it’s difficult to reach them. Strategic thinking involves considering all the possible outcomes and determining which outcome is ideal for the organization based on market conditions, competition and your organization’s mission, vision and values. Your strategic plan is what follows strategic thinking and specifically lays out, in detail, the steps your organization will take to achieve its goals.
Ship captains understand that without a well-defined navigational course, it’s difficult to get to their desired destinations. Like a ship captain, successful business leaders know the importance of strategic thinking and planning in guiding a company to reach its goals. In this course, you’ll learn the difference between strategic thinking and strategic planning. By the time you’ve finished, you’ll have skills in hand to facilitate strategic thinking exercises for your organization and the steps needed for developing a strategic plan. You’ll understand all how to outline action steps, and how to implement the plan once it’s in place.
Learning objectives
- Learn the difference between strategic thinking and strategic planning
- Understand the process to facilitate strategic thinking exercises in your organization
- Discover the elements involved in strategic thinking to stimulate the creative process
- Define the process and steps involved with strategic planning
- Learn the difference between objectives and goals in your strategic plan and the role they play in your key performance indicators
- Understand the principles of macro and micro-markets and how these fit into your strategic plan
- Discover ethics and corporate responsibility and why these are important to integrate into your strategic plan
- Review the implementation of your strategy by considering marketing principles
What You'll Learn
- Distinguish strategic thinking from strategic planning
- Facilitate strategic thinking exercises within your organization to stimulate the creative process
- Define the process and steps involved in strategic planning
- Differentiate goals from objectives and connect them to key performance indicators
- Analyze macro-markets and micro-markets and fit them into your strategic plan
- Implement and control your strategy by applying marketing principles and integrating ethics and corporate social responsibility
Key Takeaways
- Strategic thinking involves considering all possible outcomes and determining the ideal one for the organization based on market conditions, competition, and the organization's mission, vision, and values.
- A strategic plan follows strategic thinking and lays out in detail the steps an organization will take to achieve its goals.
- Goals and objectives play distinct roles in a strategic plan and feed into an organization's key performance indicators.
- Ethics and corporate social responsibility are important to integrate into a strategic plan.
- Implementing a strategy involves outlining action steps and applying marketing principles once the plan is in place.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between strategic thinking and strategic planning covered in this course?
The course teaches that strategic thinking involves considering all possible outcomes and determining the ideal one for the organization based on market conditions, competition, and the organization's mission, vision, and values, while the strategic plan that follows lays out in detail the steps the organization will take to achieve its goals.
What skills will I gain from this course?
By the end of the course you will have skills to facilitate strategic thinking exercises for your organization, the steps needed to develop a strategic plan, how to outline action steps, and how to implement the plan once it is in place.
What topics does the course cover?
The course covers defining strategic thinking and strategic planning, the importance and process of strategic planning, macro-market and micro-market analysis, goals and objectives, ethics and corporate social responsibility, and strategy implementation and control including organization, operations, and resources.
Does the course address ethics and corporate responsibility?
Yes. The course covers ethics and corporate social responsibility and explains why these are important to integrate into your strategic plan.
