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In the movie City Slickers, the character played by Jack Palance asks Billy Crystal’s character, “Do you know the secret to life?” Bewildered, Crystals’ character says, “No. What?” Palance replies, “One thing, just one thing; you stick to that, and nothing else don’t mean s**t.”
“That’s great,” Crystal replies, “but what’s the one thing?”
“That’s what you’ve got to figure out,” Palance says.

In a business, we have a question as well: What is that one thing that is the secret to the life of our business?

At the core of every decision you make in your business, every dollar you spend, every client you accept, every person you hire, is your strategic plan. It’s the single most important tool you have in your business; indeed, developing a strategy and maintaining it are the most important responsibilities for anyone leading or managing a business.

So, what is strategic planning?

Strategic planning focused on strategy-what differentiates your business or your firm from others-and on vision-where you want your business to be. A strategic plan help you focus on allocating your resources where they can have the greatest impact.

Strategic Planning Process
Successful strategic planning is a comprehensive exercise. To be effective, it relies on five step process. Here are 5 strategic planning processes:
1. Develop your strategy and vision.

The first step in developing your vision-that picture in your mind of where you see your business five or ten years from now- is o consider all your strategic choices. Imagine all the things you could possibly do with your business.

2. Define your client and service focus, including the client-service experience.

After determining the priorities that will define your business in the future, you need to further refine your vision by answering these important questions:
- Which clients will we serve and why?
- Which products and services will we offer and why
- How do we deliver those products and services to those clients in a way that makes us unique?

3. Evaluate the gaps and determine how to close them.

A strategy projects a vision of where you want to be, not where you are. You can use SWOT-strength, weakness, opportunities, and threats-analysis as strategic planning.

4. Execute your plan.

When implementing a strategic plan, it’s most important to make incremental progress. The temptation is to take giant steps when baby steps will do. Incremental progress means taking on tasks that move closer to the goal. Effective execution of a plan requires that you plan specific, measurable steps, a timeline, and accountability. As you develop the task to support the goals, make sure you’re clear on the following:
- What outcome do we want?
- What action is required?
- Who is accountable to ensure it gets done?
- What impact do we expect this tactic will have on the business?
- How will we monitor and report on its success or completion?

5. Monitor and measure your result.

To track the progress of a plan, you must have both a means to measure success and a metric. This measure should be results oriented, not process oriented, meaning that there’s a specific outcome expected.

Recycling
Each year, you should review your original plan. Revisit your strategy by reexamining the four critical perspective identified; marketplace, competition, core capabilities, and personal definition of success.

So as you begin the planning cycle each year, be sure to document the elements that will drive future value in your practice and the hurdles you have to overcome. This disciplined approach also allows you to build a history of your business.