1. Communication Strategy – the development of a communication strategy is essential for the
 effective development and implementation of a strategic plan.  In the communications
 strategy, you should determine who will be involved in the planning process, how they will
 be involved and what is being communicated to whom on the staff.

2. Strategic Planning Task Force – the development of a core team of organizational leaders is
 mandatory in the effective creation of a strategic plan.  Each task force member should
 represent a key business area or department of the organization to ensure the plan has
 organization wide input and buy-in. The task force meets regularly with clearly defined
 deliverables to be presented at each meeting.

3. Vision Statement – an organization’s vision statement is simply their roadmap for the future.
 The direction of the organization should be broad to include all areas of impact but narrow
 enough to clearly define a path.

4. Mission Statement – an organization’s mission is a definition of whom and what they are.
 Often mission statements include core goals and values of the organization.

5. Values – values are the organization’s fundamental beliefs in how they operate. Values can
 provide a guideline for management and staff for acceptable organizational behavior.
 Often values relate to the organization’s organizational culture.

6. Goals – goals are broad based strategies needed to achieve your organization’s mission.

7. Objectives – objectives are specific, measurable, action oriented, realistic and time bound
 strategies that achieve the organization’s goals and vision.

8. Tasks – tasks are specific actionable events that are assigned to individuals/departments
 to achieve. They, too, should be specific, measurable and time bound.

9. Implementation Strategy – once the plan has been outlined, a tactical strategy is built
 that prioritizes initiatives and aligns resources. The implementation strategy pulls all the
 plan pieces together to ensure collectively there are no missing pieces and that the plan
 is feasible. As a part of the implementation strategy, accountability measures are put in
 place to ensure implementation takes place.

10. Monitoring of Strategic Plan – during implementation of a strategic plan, it is critical to
 monitor the success and challenges of planning assumptions and initiatives. When
 evaluating the successes of a plan, you must look objectively at the measurement criteria
 defined in our goals and objectives. It may be necessary to retool the plan and its
 assumptions if elements of the plan are off track.