The goal of strategic planning is to prepare a roadmap for the organization. You need two things to put together a good roadmap—information and decisions.
Poor data collection is one of the most common challenges in the strategic planning process. Companies often fail to collect data at all, gather enough data, or pull together the right data. Environmental scanning is a process for collecting data and can help companies make sure they are well prepared. There are three types of information that should be collected for strategic planning:
Internal: This is data about the company. Not just financials and marketing information, but also data about the workforce and existing resources.
External: Data about workforce demographics trends can be extremely beneficial. Also, information about government influence in the industry can impact the meeting.
Market: Information regarding economic conditions and business competition is key to making decisions about the...