Software tools and easy to use templates, containing detailed framework and sample texts, will help even the novice farmer along with their advisors create professional looking plans with tables and charts.

For those people that don’t know where to start, the tools are a big help removing one of the farmers traditional excuses for inaction.

Strategic planning for farmers involves creating a framework for making future decisions.

This is critical today because if you need a bank loan for farm expansion, you will need to be able to fully explain your plan in a professional manner – something your banker can take to the board or to their masters in a distant city. How will your farm use the money?

Will you be using the money to immediately increase revenues or is it for an investment that will take time before income results?  What kind of monetary investment will be needed to get the ball rolling?  How long will it be until you can expect to see a profit?

You can look at farm strategic planning as a sort of question and answer guide.

You may need to take a step back and look at your ideas from the view of an outsider, something important when considering succession and planning.

You might understand everything that there is to know about the farm, but others most certainly will not – especially the non-farm family members who are not part of the day to day activities.

One of the elements of farm strategic planning is to be able to explain and inform others. When planning for succession takes place, maybe one of the options under consideration is to interest investors in some part of the operation.

A well thought out farm strategic plan may result in them wanting to become involved.  If you have good ideas or something unique to offer, people will often jump at the opportunity to invest.

But, even if you don’t need or want outside investors, farm strategic planning is essential.  It allows you to put your goals on paper (or on your computer) where you can refer to them easily and stay focused on your objectives.

Sometimes farmers realize too late that they have forgotten about a special market opportunity or failed to stay competitive where they were a market leader.  They may have lost sight of their goals and their farm is suffering as a result.

Farm strategic planning are available online as well as in your local extension office.  In many cases, the basic guides and other resources are free.

There is software available to help you assess your ideas and evaluate marketing strategies that you intend to use.  Unless you are running a non-profit organization, farm strategic planning business should include ideas for growing the business to make passing down the farm financially painless for you.

How do you plan to reach your customers?  How much will it cost?  How effective has that type of advertising been for other owners?

Lots of questions are involved in farm strategic planning, but you already have all of the answers.  You just might not know it yet.

Wayne Messick

Recommended Reading

• Family Farm Succession Planning
• Who in The World Requires a Farm Succession Planning Consultant?
• Farm Success Nowadays Needs High-class Management Competencies
• Who Are The Important Members Of Your Farm Strategic Planning Team, and Where Will They Come From?
• Farm Succession and Strategic Planning Group

Technorati Tags: business strategic planning, farm strategic planning, Strategic Planning for Business, strategic succession planning

The online dictionary Wikipedia defines strategic planning as “an organization’s process of defining its direction and making decisions on allocating its resources, including its capital and people. It is often times viewed as a process for determining where an organization is going over the next 3 to 5 years or more”. Strategic planning enables an organization to answer the following questions:

While this article is not about farm succession, it is about business succession meaning that it is very likely to be relevant to any sort of organizational succession planning you are interested in.

- Who are we?
- What can we do?
- What are our strengths and weaknesses?
- Which critical issues must we respond to?
- What should our priorities be?
- Where should we allocate our resources?
- How do we want to grow?
- Where do we want to be in the future?

Most large organizations have a significant process of strategic planning where overall directions are given to the organization.

They need to do this since there are large amounts of resources at stake and many people and departments involved to manage these resources.

However, few small organizations do strategic planning even though relative to their size, they too have large amounts of resources at stake and people involved to manage these resources.

The reason for this absence of a strategic plan is usually due to the fact that top management of the organization is very tactically oriented and involved with the day-to-day operations. Just getting through the near term is the only thing on their collective mind.

The problem with this is that within the organization, there is no overall plan that gives people direction as they make decisions which means that different parts of the organization can be going in different directions at the same time.

In small volumes, this is not such a problem, but as the company grows, it can become very chaotic, frustrating and problematic and can lead to failure due to the conflicting priorities that will exist.

A strategic planning process does not have to be long, time consuming and drawn out, but it should involve the key personnel of the organization.

With guidance from a facilitator familiar with the process, implementing a planning process can be fairly quick and simple and can be done without being a major intrusion to the operation. Benefits that can be realized include:

- Clearly defined business strategies and supporting objectives for growth
- Identification of business strengths and weaknesses
- Quantified resource requirements and financial projections
- Integrated operational plans for each area of the business
- Clearly defined business performance measures
- A focus on achieving and building advantages

Strategic plans are very different from operational plans. Operational plans are tactical and are concerned with “today”.

Strategic plans are concerned with “tomorrow” and are effective in coordinating the tactical activities so that the future growth of the organization is effective and under control.

Without some aspect of a strategic plan that is known to all, activities of the organization will be disjointed and counterproductive, even though everyone is doing what they think is best.

Frustration will exist within the ranks and growth will be difficult which can lead to the overall failure of the organization.

With a well conceived and communicated strategic plan, an owner or management team will likely get what they want in terms of organizational performance, but without one, they will most likely not and everyone in the organization will suffer to some extent.

Recommended Reading

• Family Farm Succession Planning
• Who in The World Requires a Farm Succession Planning Consultant?
• Farm Success Nowadays Needs High-class Management Competencies
• Who Are The Important Members Of Your Farm Strategic Planning Team, and Where Will They Come From?
• Farm Succession and Strategic Planning Group

Technorati Tags: farm strategic planning, strategic competitive analysis, Strategic Planning for Business

All our lives we’ve all be taught, first by our parents, then by our parents, teachers, spouses, friends, co-workers, politicians, the media, and others, that it’s more important to be liked and to fit in than it is to be who we truly are.

In addition, many of us assume that who we are is not good enough and therefore we’re constantly trying to fix ourselves, or to act like others who we think are better than us.

However, as the famous 19th century author and poet Oscar Wilde so brilliantly stated, “Be yourself, everyone else is already taken.”

This insightful article, written for us by a true expert will help you answer the question for yourself.

What Doe It Really Means to Be Authentic?

How often do you not say or do something because you’re worried about how it’ll be perceived? For most of us, myself included, this happens more often then we’d like to admit.

We live in a culture that is starving for authenticity. We want our leaders, our co-workers, our family members, our friends, and everyone else we interact with to tell us the truth and to be themselves.

Click here to read the entire article: How to Enhance Relationships, Increase Fulfillment & Empower Yourself by Being Authentic

Recommended Reading

• Family Farm Succession Planning
• afimilk® – Modern Dairy Farm Management Seminar
• Workplace Conflict Resolution Important Tips
• Student Organic Farm, University of Minnesota
• Farm Succession and Strategic Planning Group

Technorati Tags: business relationship, communications, empowerment, relationships at work, strategic communications, Strategic Planning for Business

Companies and non-profit organizations need strategic plans at specific junctures in their existence: when they are new, when they are in crisis, and when they are ready to jump to the next level.

The process of creating an organization’s strategic plan can and should have its own goals. It’s important to plan the planning process. Among other benefits, the planning process itself can build community, stimulate creativity, enroll new stakeholders, strengthen bonds between stakeholders and the organization, and heighten an organization’s visibility.

While the elements of a strategic planning process are simple, an organization’s specific process will reflect its culture and resources. The amount of time needed to complete a strategic plan depends on the availability and commitment of key players. Typically, a planning process takes six to nine months. Leading a strategic plan takes a lot of time, and it is primarily the CEO or Executive Director’s responsibility.

Elements of the Plan

1. Define the Current Situation. Using a SWOT analysis, identify the organization’s Strengths and Weaknesses, and the Opportunities and Threats the group is facing.

Generally, the SWOT analysis is done by the internal team of staff and volunteers, Board members and key stakeholders (e.g. funding sources, sponsors, key partners). A group exercise can be very effective as a way to involve a broad group of people, surface all issues, and then prioritize them.

2. Identify the environment in which the organization operates. A useful framework is the PEST analysis: what are the Political, Economic, Social, and Technological conditions and trends affecting the organization now and in the future? It is not enough to name a broad trend. The strength of the analysis lies in ascertaining the impact such a trend could or will have on the organization, its operations, operating environment, and future options.

This step generally involves significant research, including in-person interviews and internet searches, as well as an assessment of the funding and competitive landscape. Interns can be quite useful as researchers as long as staff process and then present the findings to the Board and planning group.

3. Affirm or alter the organization’s mission based on the prior findings.  Missions are essentially timeless and define the reason the organization exists, or its purpose.

The goal is to have a mission that all agree on and all know what it means. The mission is a guide for program planning and consistency, identity and brand cohesiveness, fundraising, marketing, board development, hiring, and publicity.

A useful mission development process is to get everyone’s read and interpretation of the mission as it now stands, and what it means to them:
A.  Discuss what words mean to people

B.  Values

C. Areas of similarity, difference

• difference – place more conversation is needed

D.  Where motivated people to work there

• emotions
• values
• meaning
• impact

E. What would the world be like if we didn’t exist? What’s our reason, our purpose? To what group do we make a difference?A small committee needs to then take all the input and synthesize it into a rough draft of a mission statement. The Board and key staff then will discuss the draft, do its wordsmithing in order to put its stamp on the statement, and coalesce around the mission.

4. Create a vision of the future impact of the organization.

Visions usually look 3 to 5 years into the future and express the specific results an organization wants to have by the end of that period. It is a statement of desired impact and the difference an organization will make in its field on its constituency. A successful vision is one that motivates people, fulfills the mission, promises impact, communicates the meaning for intended constituency, and provides concrete guidance for designing and aligning programming. Visions are:

• Time-bound
• Measurable
• Achievable

This is a wonderful place to involve a broad group of stakeholders, internal and external. After a brief orientation and explanation of some of the key findings from the SWOT and PEST analysis, people can be split into smaller groups to answer a few questions aimed at surfacing people’s hopes and dreams for the organization’s role and impact. These questions have proven helpful in identifying vision:

• In [x period of time], we will be known for:
• In [x period of time], we will be capable of:
• In [x period of time], we will have the following impact:

Staff and a few Board members can take the answers to these questions and other information to craft a draft vision statement. The vision statement should account for the areas of programming, funding, visibility, infrastructure, and governance. The Board and key staff will discuss, edit, and adopt a final vision statement.5. Craft specific strategies for achieving the vision.

At this point, staff take over the planning process. With a clear mission and vision, staff can develop the specific strategies and methods for fulfilling the mission and achieving the vision.  After staff have developed a series of strategies, they will present those to the Board for its discussion, understanding, buy-in and hopefully approval. In a healthy planning process, staff should want and expect the Board to make recommendations and suggest changes in strategy. It is this interactive and iterative process that ensures the best possible plan, a plan that takes account of details and the broad picture. In addition, engaged Board members will be more effective fundraisers and “evangelists” for the organization.

6. Develop objectives and strategic outcomes that are measurable and time-specific.

In this stage, staff outline specific measurable targets and benchmarks to be achieved over the 3 to 5 year period of the plan. These targets serve as the basis for developing the annual plan in each of the 3 to 5 years. These targets and intermediate goals will be approved by the Board of Directors when it adopts the entire Strategic Plan, usually at its annual meeting. In subsequent years, staff and Board will have the opportunity to tweak and approve these plans during the annual budget and plan process.

7. Report on progress to date and evaluate success in achieving the plan. With measurable goals and objectives, it is possible to measure progress toward these goals. It is also possible to determine whether a strategy is successful, and to change course or shift program emphasis if the data show lack of progress or success.

This phase is increasingly important to funding sources and oversight agencies. Organizations must have a system for measuring and reporting on their effectiveness to donors and oversight agencies, or they risk losing funding from people who want to know their dollars are actually making a tangible difference and positive impact.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Julia_Erickson

Recommended Reading

• Family Farm Succession Planning
• Who in The World Requires a Farm Succession Planning Consultant?
• Farm Success Nowadays Needs High-class Management Competencies
• Who Are The Important Members Of Your Farm Strategic Planning Team, and Where Will They Come From?
• Farm Succession and Strategic Planning Group

Technorati Tags: farm strategic planning, Julie Erickson, strategic competitive analysis, Strategic Planning for Business

Strategic planning is an organization’s process of defining its strategy, or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy, including its capital and people.

In general usage, a financial plan can be a budget, a plan for spending and saving future income.

Recommended Reading

• Family Farm Succession Planning
• Farm Success These Days Takes Top-quality Management Capabilities
• Farm Success Nowadays Demands Exceptional Management Abilities
• Does Anyone Really Need A Consultant to Get The Farm Succession Planning Rolling, Or Not?
• Farm Succession and Strategic Planning Group

Technorati Tags: Strategic Planning for Business