Strategy and Strategic Planning

https://afiftabsh.com/2014/10/20/ngos-101-strategic-planning/

Why is there an emphasis on strategic planning? Businesses use strategic planning to determine how to better use its physical capital (plants, technology, and equipment), financial capital (assets and cash reserves), and human capital (employees). The ultimate goal is to maximize shareholder wealth; in addition to focusing on employee satisfaction and engagement, their industry position, and social responsibility to the community. (Noe, 2013)

I reviewed Sharlyn Lauby’s, "the HR bartender" and HR pro turned consultant, article Creating Strategy and Being Strategic Aren’t the Same Thing and she discussed the difference between thinking strategically and creating a strategy. I would not have thought of the two as separate concepts, yet her distinction makes sense and is easy to understand. Sharlyn notes that there are a variety of business strategies; such as, marketing strategies, compensation strategies, recruitment strategies, social media strategies, and strategic plans to name a few. (Lauby, 2015)

Business strategies have a large impact on the type of training that an organization decides to pursue and influences the following:

1.      The amount of training devoted to current or future job skills

2.      The extent to which training is customized for the particular needs of an employee or is developed based on the needs of a team, unit, or division

3.      Whether training is restricted to specific groups of employees or open to all employees

4.      Whether training is planned and systematically administered, provided only when problems occur, or developed spontaneously as a reaction to what competitors are doing

5.      The importance placed on training compared to other human resource management (HRM) practices such as selection and compensation (Noe, 2013)

Sharlyn wonders how much time business experts are investing on these concepts and focuses on the elements of strategic thinking in Jeanne Liedtka’s article Linking Strategic Thinking with Strategic Planning:

1.      Systems perspective, is the ability to see the entire picture that may or not be in front of us

2.      Intent-focused, employees are able concentrate on a goal when employers create a focus for them

3.      Intelligent opportunism opens our hears to the conversations happening about the opportunity economy and being open to new ideas that are beneficial for business

4.      Thinking in time, using the successes and failures from the past to influence the future

5.      Hypothesis-driven, developing a hypothesis that can be tested (Lauby, 2015)

I agree with Sharlyn that businesses need to decipher what their strategy or detailed plan is and then use their expertise to think strategically to influence the creativity of that strategy. Only the best businesses and business experts are true masters of knowing when to rely on their gut and when to use proven metrics and analytics to perfect an effective business strategy.

https://oxfamblogs.org/fp2p/links-i-liked-28/

Works Cited

Lauby, S. (2015, July 1). HR bartender. Retrieved from HR bartender: https://www.hrbartender.com/2015/training/creating-strategy-and-being-strategic-arent-the-same-thing/

Noe, R. A. (2013). Employee Training and Development. New York: MCGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

"Strategy" picture: https://curiosidadescuriosas.com/consejos-curiosos/componentes-principales-de-una-estrategia-empresarial