1. Implementation of a strategic plan is referred to as the most difficult step in the strategic planning process since it involves the achievement of the business objectives defined in the strategic plan. It also requires the business organization to remain alert and flexible to new unfolding industry opportunities. To ease this difficulty and to successfully implement the plan, it must be highly robust to begin with. Simply put, the plan must be realistic as well as firmly grounded to the core economics of the organization’s industries.
2. The pervasive and dramatic impact if environmental change on businesses might result in some managers and executives to claim that long-term planning is a baseless idea. Businesses have historically survived by adopting less formalized planning strategies. Irrespective of fluctuating market conditions and unstable economical considerations, businesses can depend on several certainties where value will be the trademark of productive businesses. On the contrary, several organizations feel suppressed from strategic planning during shortage of financial resources; so by defining future business objectives, the strategic planning process aids in setting newer priorities for funds and workforce. Along with being a living document, the strategic plan may have duration from 3 months to 3 years.
3. Practising ongoing goal alignment and management is highly valuable, which when done accurately, can help business leaders to ensure the organization is in the right direction to fulfil its goals. In addition, a leader must actively participate with their second level managers in coaching and mentoring their direct reports. If top level management fails to employ goal management process for aligning and updating progress of goals, and there is lack of on-going dialogue regarding goal achievement, then the subordinates will not take this process much seriously. A cultural change is required for the effective and consistent application of goal management by everyone up, down and across the organization. Through culture change, leadership will realizes goal alignment and management as a vital part of the Human Resources and corporate strategy.
4. Accurate strategic planning implementation is affected by various reasons like; 1. Plans fail to get communicated to all the personnel involved. 2. Individuals resist organizational changes. 3. Failure to understand underlying organizational culture, 4. Lack of teamwork at different operational levels. 5. Failure to avoid legal and ethical issues, 6, mis-synchronization when large organizations try to sell multiple products and services to multiple customers in multiple geographic locations. All these points must be addressed in order for an organization to gain increased competency levels despite of having a lean strategic plan in place.
5. The strategic plan must be shared with stakeholders of the organizations like investors, clients, and alliance partners. This will allow investors to gain insight into the future developments and plans of the company and prepare them for the upcoming restructuring processes. Communication channels must be opened to ease the restructuring process as well as to ensure the investors are made part of every activity throughout the company’s growth while the new strategies are being implemented.
6. Certainly it does. Top managers implementing through strategic leadership will influence the process of consistent evaluation and enhancement of strategies and their executions. When corporate governance at Board of Directors level fails, top managers can exercise strategic control by ensuring that strategies are implemented properly, and are modified if they happen to fail.
