Why Strategic Plan Succeed
In my previous post, I listed six reasons why strategic plans fail. Strategic plans will succeed if they incorporate three main phases:
- The first phase is “intuitive thinking ” and it has more of an emotional attachment to it. This first phase answers the bigger questions such as, “Why are we in business? Who are our customers? What matters most to us? Where do we see our farm in the future?” These are the big picture, intuitive and often emotionally loaded questions. At the beginning of a strategic plan, everybody involved needs to have time to thoughtfully think and ponder on these questions.
- The second phase is the long-range planning. Instead of being intuitive, it becomes very analytical. It is about understanding such things as where your farm fits in the marketplace, what your strengths and weaknesses are. So it is very analytical and much more comparative.
- The third phase is operational planning. This is when you get very practical and specific. Based on your intuition and analysis, you now cover the specific issues that you uncovered. During this phase it is a matter of understanding what, when and how you can get things done. For the things you plan on doing, you create the specific plan to get them done.
My thanks to Ron Price of Price Associates for his great analysis on this subject.
Paul Neiffer is a certified public accountant and business advisor specializing in income taxation, accounting services, and succession planning for farmers and agribusiness processors. Paul is a principal with CliftonLarsonAllen in Walla Walla, Washington, as well as a regular speaker at national conferences and contributor at agweb.com. Raised on a farm in central Washington, he has been immersed in the ag industry his entire life, including the last 30 years professionally. Paul and his wife purchase an 180 acre ranch in 2016 and enjoy keeping it full of animals.
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