Is your Strategic Plan Past Its Expiry Date?

Most of us are familiar with expiry dates, ranging from our driver’s license, medications, and food products that have a “Best Before” expiration date. Strategic plans also have an expiry or “Best Before” date. Most are developed for a 3–5 year period. Time-limited plans help to focus on what needs to be done within a specific window of time to make progress, yet not so far into the future that the proposed actions are fictitious. What are the dangers of an expired strategic plan?

Lost Potency

Just as some drugs lose potency over time and become less effective at treating the intended condition, so too can strategic plans that are past their expiry date tend to lose their effectiveness. It is vital to review what has been accomplished towards the plan, update the plan to revitalize the potency of the plan.

No Longer Appropriate

Experts tell us that taking expired medications is not safe. Just as medical conditions may change over time, making certain medicines inappropriate for you, the current situation in which your community and organization exist are likely to have changed, making some of your goals no longer relevant. It is essential to update the external future trends likely to impact your organization and the internal current state to determine how to close the gaps between where you want to be and currently are.

No Longer Fresh

Food labels indicate “Best if used by Date” which means that the flavor or the quality of the product is adversely affected after this date. In a similar way, a strategic plan needs to be updated yearly to maintain its freshness, vitality, and focus as a roadmap towards your desired future.

Waiting Until Breakdown

Some organizations drift and wait until a breakdown to update their strategic plan. They are like vehicle owners who ignore regular maintenance, only servicing their vehicle when it is malfunctioning. By not regularly reviewing and updating its strategic plan, an organization risks strategic breakdown on the way to its goals and desired future.

When reviewing and refreshing your strategic plan, it is vital to:

• ·Assess progress towards the plan – accomplishments, challenges, and lessons learned
• Identify future environment trends likely to impact your organization so that you can proactively take advantage of   opportunities and minimize threats
• Review and refresh your organization’s mission, vision, and values
• Update your key performance indicators targets/goals for the coming planning cycle and year
• Update your strategies/objectives to close the gaps between where you want to be and are today
• Keep your plan agile, responsive so that you can quickly address issues and opportunities that emerge

When does your strategic plan need to be updated? To discuss refreshing your plan, email at marcelene@ravenstrategic.com or call at 226-503-8583.