The last two posts I have written them about the companies Strategic Plan, because this is an important tool that helps managers to perform their work. Therefore, the first post I wrote was about the Mission and Vision Statements and the second post I wrote it about the strategic objectives. I invite you to check both posts before you continue with this one.
As I mentioned before the second part on a strategic plan are the strategic objectives. This are the base for the third step which is determining indicators that will measure the work we are performing and the goals we want to obtain. Therefore, for each strategic objective you must determine how are you going to measure it with one or more indicators. For example, if your strategic objective is “increase the number of affiliates regardless of the company size and region” some indicators could be growth rate of affiliates, percentage of SMEs and big companies and percentage of companies in each region. In this way we will be measuring the different elements of the strategic objective that are growth of the number of affiliates, size of companies and region where it stands.
However, measuring is not enough, clear goals must be established for each indicator. Sometimes this might turn into a difficult task, especially if we don’t have historic data that might guide us, but in either case we must do our best to determine the goals. In the last example we might establish 15% as a goal in growth rate every year, 50% for each: SMEs and big companies and if for example we have 4 regions a percentage of 25% for each one.
On my next post I will talk about action plans and the people or areas who are responsible for them. Expect this in a few days!
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