While the two are closely connected, it’s important to understand how they are different and how your business can use both types of plans to advance its goals.
Many companies mistakenly believe that they have developed a ghana whatsapp number data 5 million strategic plan after meeting with their team and creating a list of short, medium and long-term tasks and projects.
However, strategic planning is a high-level, macro activity that focuses on your business's priority strategic areas and goals for the medium to long term.
A solid strategic plan serves as a roadmap to get from where you are now to where you want to be. However, an operational plan focuses on the micro or daily and weekly actions that can help your staff achieve the organization's goals.
So, strategy is working ON your business, while operations is working IN your business.
Are they the same? No, what's the difference? Do you need both? We hear these types of questions frequently.
A strategic plan outlines your mission, vision, and high-level goals for the next three to five years. It also takes into account how you will measure those goals and the major projects you will undertake to achieve them.
An operational plan (also known as a work plan ) is an outline of what your department will focus on in the near future, usually the next year.
Simply put, your strategic plan shares your vision for the future, while your operational planning lays out how you will get there on a daily or weekly basis.
Both concepts describe your company's plans for the future, but in different contexts.
Below we have mentioned five key differences between them that you can use as guides to ensure you are using these two concepts in the right way.
Difference between strategic and operational planning
Strategic Planning vs. Operational Planning: Top 5 Differences
1. Time period
Your strategic plan outlines long-term goals for the next three to five years. What you will do to achieve those goals in the short term (usually the next fiscal year) is outlined in your operational planning.
2. Focus on objectives
The goal of your strategic plan is to outline the company's long-term vision and how all departments should work together to achieve it.
The focus of your operational planning is not on the company, but on the department. There can be no overlap between departments, but that is the exception rather than the rule.
Large departments may require multiple operational plans.
3. Generation of plans
Your organization's senior leadership team (the executive team or city council, for example) is responsible for creating the strategic plan.
Once created, the strategic plan will be driven by cross-functional teams working together to ensure the strategy is successful.
Each department should have a leader or team of leaders responsible for carrying out its operational planning.
Although each operational plan is designed for a single department, its successful implementation will lead to the success of the entire organization.
For example, your marketing team has a set of activities they use to increase visibility.
These activities should translate into more sales opportunities and ultimately more revenue for the organization (which could be goals of your strategic plan).
