3.5  Develop a Strategic Plan

When a community has multiple prevention programs and activities but does not understand how the efforts are related or coordinated, the community is deficient in its readiness to implement prevention programming because it lacks a coherent vision or plan. You can improve this readiness factor by initiating a process to develop a strategic plan, which outlines not only the community’s vision for prevention, but also the strategies that makes the vision a reality.

What is a strategic plan? In general, planning involves identifying objectives and choosing the most appropriate means to achieve the objectives before taking further action. In contrast, strategic planning is a process by which principals in an organization envision the organization’s future and develop the appropriate procedures, policies, and operations to help achieve the organization’s future. A strategic plan provides both the direction for the organization and the energy to initiate the movement. Therefore, a strategic plan helps an organization to fulfill its future, not simply plan for the future (Goodstein, Nolan, and Pfeiffer 1993).

Steps in developing a strategic plan. Although there are multiple models, the planning process should minimally involve the following four steps, which are described in the following subsections. First, identify who will develop the strategic plan by creating a strategic planning team and task forces to work on specific elements of the plan. Second, facilitate developing a common base of knowledge among planning team members. Third, assign responsibility to the planning team members and task forces. Finally, develop the written plan.