Erica Olsen, M3 Planning’s Chief Operating Officer, leads GASCO IT Division’s Planning Team in the launch of their a 5-year strategic plan. Photo courtesy of M3 Planning.

M3 Planning was hired to raise awareness of the benefits, purpose and passion of strategic planning and how it can make a difference in an organization. In preparation for a new 5-year, strategic plan within their IT Division, GASCO wanted to help the department’s 140 employees to start thinking strategically. The campaign kicked off last week with an introductory strategic planning workshop.

“M3 was so easy to work with,” said Najim Abdulla Al Romalthl , VP of Information Technology with GASCO. “We loved how they facilitated our workshop to engage everyone in the division to get excited about our strategic planning initiative. We will have them back to run our other upcoming strategy moments.”

The multi-cultural exchange between a Reno-based company like M3 Planning and a company based in the United Arab Emirates demonstrates how American jobs can grow here in the United Sates by sharing expertise with other countries.

“M3 hopes to support other international business in their quest to use strategic planning as a means to not only clarify the future, but more importantly to engage employees,” says Erica Olsen, M3 Planning’s Chief Operating Officer. “Organizations, such as GASCO, operate in an environment that is particularly challenging when it comes to motivating and inspiring employees due to the vast variety of cultural norms. We’re excited to be part of this corporate culture shift that is embedded in this effort.”

GASCO IT Division’s Planning Team stands with M3 Planning’s Chief Operating Officer Erica Olsen and M3 Senior Account Executive Elsa Ozuna-Richards during the launch of the 5-year strategic plan. Photo courtesy of M3 Planning.

About GASCO: GASCO pumps $600M of gas out of the ground per day making them one of the world’s largest natural gas processing companies in the world valued at over $20 billion. GASCO’s priority is to maximize production in the most cost effective manner, while maintaining the highest possible standards of industrial safety and protection of the environment. GASCO also focuses on relations with local communities and on the creation of a highly competent workforce, with special efforts to attract and develop UAE Nationals. GASCO is committed to protecting the environment and has strived to reduce any adverse environmental impact of its operations. GASCO has worked to reduce gas flaring, the process of burning-off surplus combustible vapors from a well. As a result of company initiatives, GASCO reduced the volume of gas flared by 73% since 1998 – a significant decrease from flaring 25.5 million standard cubic feet of gas per day (MMSCFD) in 1998 to flaring 6.9 MMSCFD in 2009. www.gasco.ae

About M3 Planning: M3 Planning is a strategic planning firm dedicated to helping businesses and non-profits implement their plan and strategy for long-term success. M3’s keystone service, MyStrategicPlan (mystrategicplan.com), won the 2008 Stevie Award for Best New Product. Its web-based platform makes it easy and affordable to formulate, execute and integrate a strategic plan into the workflow of any organization. M3’s personal service guides clients through the strategic planning process to better align their resources for the biggest impact possible. www.m3planning.com

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Strategic planning ranked highest in a 2011 study of the 25 most popular management tools (Bain & Company, “Management Tools & Trends 2011”). While forward-thinking companies once used strategic planning to develop long-range goals and stable growth, they now need it to effectively short-term plan.

Additionally, companies that never thought of strategic planning—like small businesses and non-profits—are discovering they need to think about it in order to survive. And those who have done strategic planning before are now using those same tools to move beyond “just subsisting” to growing.

Strategic Planning Kit For Dummies, 2nd Edition is suitable for all companies on this spectrum, helping them to build and sustain a competitive edge, set up an ongoing process for market assessment and trend analysis, and develop a vision for future growth.

The revised edition includes:

• New and updated content on planning for both short and the long-term
• Crucial information on how to successfully execute against your strategic goals
• Help preparing for the unexpected using scenario planning and agile strategy
• Strategies for implementing change and integrating strategic plans successfully by involving all staff members
• A new CD/digital component, complete with downloadable spreadsheets, charts, checklists, and video links.

Erica Olsen, Author of Strategic Planning Kit for Dummies, 2nd Edition

About the Author:

Erica Olsen, the Chief Operating Officer and co-founder of M3 Planning, Inc., wrote this book from her experience helping fortune 500 companies, businesses and non-profits create and execute their strategy. M3 Planning has helped more than a million people at various stages in the strategic planning process with market research, consulting services, books, and their online system, MyStrategicPlan. Her websites include m3planning.com and mystrategicplan.com.

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March 17, 2011 – Reno, Nev. – The Boy Scouts of America and Reno-based M3 Planning have collaborated to develop a progress-tracking software to compare how councils nation-wide are performing against 17 national benchmarks.
Journey To Excellence, the web-based program launched this month, should help identify strengths and weakness in the 297 councils and help the organization remain a cornerstone in character development for young men and women as they grow up in a radically, rapidly changing environment.

Nevada Area Council Boy Scouts march in the 2010 Nevada Day Parade. Photo by Vanessa Lindeberg of M3 Planning

“Our commitment to serving the needs of our youth is steadfast, yet to be effective during these fast changing times, we must become more strategic and agile.” states Gary Butler, Assistant Chief Scout Executive for Council Operations. “Incorporating ways to respond to change is mandatory for those that wish to remain relevant to the market, and the strategy expertise and technological innovation offered by M3 Planning is an integral part of addressing this reality.”

M3 Planning also volunteers time to assist the Nevada Area Council with creating and executing its strategic plan. The Nevada Area Council is the only council to be recognized with the National Quality Council Award for the past 21 years consecutively. The award measures ten focus areas including the delivery of a quality program, trained leadership, a growing membership base and an annual balanced operations budget.

“When the Nevada Area Council instills a professional business approach, which includes a strategic plan and community support, you can be assured that Scouting will continue to grow, and that our youth and neighborhoods will be the beneficiary of those time-tested values for generations to come,” said Marty Baldwin, Scout Executive of the Nevada Area Council.

With consultation and the customized development of strategic management technologies, M3 Planning has provided a toolset for hundreds of councils across the country to align with the national priorities of the Scouts. The tools track metrics that reflect the organization’s priorities within the programming, service, governance, leadership and membership strategic areas. M3 Planning also tailored its flagship product, MyStrategicPlan, to give councils independent ways to establish, manage and report its strategic activity that collectively fits with the national intent.

As the Scouting organization moves forward, the tools developed by M3 Planning have been designed to scale to new levels of achievement and remain flexible to any key shifts that might be strategically warranted. This, according to Howard Olsen, CEO of M3 Planning, will enable a strategic approach to last over time and respond to the marketplace.
“We are in business to make a difference for organizations and make their visions a reality. Change is opportunity, and knowing that our work is helping the Boy Scouts of America more effectively reach out to youth goes beyond our professional interests.” Olsen said. “This is the kind of work that molds the future not only for their organization, but also for the communities in which these young men and young women are raised.”

Nevada Area Council Boy Scouts march in the 2010 Nevada Day Parade

Quick Facts

• The Nevada Area Council is the second largest geographically-sized council in the continental USA. It covers all of Northern Nevada from Tonopah to the Oregon-California border and from Truckee and Lake Tahoe east to the Nevada-Utah border. (The largest is the entire state of Montana)

• Communities in the Nevada Area Council’s span are served by more than 3,500 adult volunteer leaders, an active Executive Board of 50 community leaders, a council staff of nine professionals and six support staff.

• In 2010, the Nevada Area Council presented 160 Eagle Scout Awards, the highest youth rank attainable in the Boy Scouts of America.

• Nevada Area Council past-President Lori Tuntland is the chairperson of the Strategic Long Range Plan development committee and is supported by eight Council Vice-Presidents of the Board and the full Executive Board as a whole.

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The BSA knows that today’s marketplace demands innovation and agility. With consultation and the customized development of strategic management technologies, M3 Planning has provided a toolset for hundreds of councils across the country to align with the national priorities of the Scouts. It has achieved this in two ways; first by tailoring its flagship product, MyStrategicPlan, to give councils independent ways to establish, manage and report its strategic activity that collectively fits with the national intent, and secondly, the creation and deployment of a performance management dashboard that, using a balanced scorecard approach, gives performance comparisons to how the organizations 297 councils are performing according to national benchmarks.

Joe Fanchin, 23, who was a Tenderoot Scout in Carlsbad, CA Troop 748 back home, who is a member of US Archery training team show scouts about Olympic style archery at the 2010 National Scout Jamboree in Fort A.P. Hill, V.A. Tuesday July 27, 2010. Photo by Tom Copeland Jr

“Our commitment to serving the needs of our youth is steadfast, yet to be effective during these fast changing times, we must become more strategic and agile.” states Gary Butler, Assistant Chief Scout Executive for Council Operations. “Incorporating ways to respond to change is mandatory for those that wish to remain relevant to the market, and the strategy expertise and technological innovation offered by M3 Planning is an integral part of addressing this reality.”

M3 Planning takes a balanced approach to strategy, embracing the fact that the bottom line for organizational health is not wholly communicated by profit statements. This approach is in sync with the service the Boy Scouts of America provide to millions of youth across the country. M3 Planning’s tools track metrics that reflect the organization’s priorities within the programming, service, governance, leadership and membership strategic areas. The concept of continuous improvement within these strategic objectives is the keen focus of the BSA and M3 Planning is honored to fulfill a role in this commitment.

Over 70,000 Boys Scouts enjoy the final arena show of last year's 2010 National Scout Jamboree in Fort A.P. Hill, V.A. To continue to reach large numbers of youth in America, the Boy Scouts of America know they must promote adaptation and continual improvement among councils. Saturday July 31, 2010. Photo by Tom Copeland Jr

M3 Planning has provided a toolset for hundreds of councils across the country to align with the national priorities of the Scouts.

As the Scouting organization moves forward, the tools developed by M3 Planning have been designed to scale to new levels of achievement and remain flexible to any key shifts that might be strategically warranted. This, according to Olsen, will enable a strategic approach to last over time and respond to the marketplace.

For more information on strategy planning or technology solutions for plan management, M3 Planning can be reached at 775.747.7407 or can be found at mystrategicplan.com or m3planning.com.

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As consulting professionals in this area, M3 Planning has long been committed to the simplification of strategic planning best practices. To support this aim, the company has developed an interactive management dashboard, or The Dash, to enhance their flagship online strategic planning platform, MyStrategicPlan (MSP).

What is new about The Dash, is that it offers real time transparency into the progress and metrics associated with organization-wide strategic tasks, goals and objectives. Within 2-3 clicks of the mouse, users can navigate through the entirely of any strategic plan, including views spanning departmental functions and tiers levels. As a tool of MSP, The Dash is a robust tool for strategic plan managers, leaders and other key stakeholders to gain quick insight on a strategic plan of any size.

A common challenge in strategic execution is determining how information within a plan will be monitored, progressively managed and shared where needed. The Seminole Tribe of Florida Tribal Historic Preservation Office (THPO) uses The Dash to stay on target and keep staff accountable to the organization’s goals. For the THPO, this tool helps keep tribal members connected to the THPO strategic plan and offers transparency they wish to provide to the public.

“The THPO loves it!” THPO Administrative Assistant Bridgett Wheeler said. “We invite people to get up to speed with our Tribal Historic Preservation Office’s strategic plan by visiting our strategy dashboard. It’s quick to see how we intend to accomplish our goals, along with updates and measurements of our progress.”

While providing a real-time view of strategic progress, The Dash is also deployable across internal or external websites. In this way, it serves as a communication medium that can reach a variety of internal and external stakeholders. For public serving or publically owned organizations, this fulfills transparency mandates and is a straightforward approach to communicating intent.
“As our clients strive to create living and breathing plans, we decided to enhance standard strategic plan reports to dynamically show the strategic journey in progress,” explains Erica Olsen, Chief Operations Officer at M3 Planning. “The Dash fulfills this need and offers the connection between what is viewed to an organization’s key performance indicator scorecard.”

The Dash is an addition to MyStrategicPlan, a leading online system for strategic plan development. Created for businesses of all sizes, this strategy management system has over 3,000 customers around the world, including Boy Scouts of America, University of Phoenix, Ronald McDonald House Charities, and Microsoft Communications Sector. To view a sample of how The Dash works on MyStrategicPlan, please visit http://mystrategicplan.com/the-dash. For additional details about MyStrategicPlan and The Dash, call 775-747-7407.

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Over 1,100 entries in 54 categories were received and although many finalists were from the United States, the international competition was strong with other finalists hailing from Singapore, the United Kingdom, Australia, China, South Korea, Japan, Canada and the United States.

Both the Best New Product and Website of the Year were developed and managed by women employed by M3 Planning.  The website was developed and designed by Michael-Anne Hougland and Kim Perkins, with assistance from Cara Montoya and Shannon Forster.  The 2009 upgrade of MyStrategicPlan was a collaboration of work between Nancy Olsen, Vanessa Lindeberg, Erica Olsen and Hougland.

For Best New Product, the M3 Planning’s 2009 version of MyStrategicPlan was chosen for providing increased user functionality with guidance videos and tutorials.   Over 800 companies, non-profit organizations and municipalities use the web-based strategic planning software to help them guide their strategic development and execution.  Initially launched in 2003, this year’s version improvements included a professional line of automatic strategic reports, performance management reviews and a “drag-and-drop” functionality that keeps strategic actions properly categorized.

As consultants to develop Alaska’s North Slope Borough School District strategic plan, M3 Planning quickly realized that communicating and executing a unified plan would hold unique challenges.  The district’s geographic isolation, along with fragmented travel options between villages, warranted the development of a web site that would be instrumental in increasing information flows and to teachers, students and the community-at-large.  As a finalist for Website of the Year, NSBSD.ORG now unites the 11 schools and 8 villages, greatly improving the pace of educational and Inupiat cultural exchanges throughout the expansive district.

“In this economic environment, we are so pleased that our service remains relevant for our clients.  We have a great team here at M3 Planning, many of whom just happen to be women who are incredible at balancing work and family.” credits Nancy Olsen, VP of Business Development.   “It’s nice to have this recognition at a national level.”

About M3 Planning:

M3Planning is a company dedicated to help organizations become more directed and aware of its factors for success.  Services are delivered from their award-winning web-based strategic planning software (Best New Product, 2008 Stevie Awards) and through strategic planning consultation that leaves organization more aligned with their resources to make the biggest impact possible.

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According to (need source), since the onset of the current global economic crisis, businesses are on average spending more of their time executing their strategies than before the economic downturn began. According to M3 Planning Founder, Erica Olsen, the Strategy Huddle™ is meant to make that time count. “With so many companies more concerned with becoming effective at executing their corporate strategies, our team decided to create an avenue for leaders and experts to solve problems together in order to reach conclusions faster.”

As the second of the monthly huddles nears, Olsen says that this next month’s meeting will build on the success of the first. “We were all surprised with the enthusiasm and depth of questions at our last huddle. We ended up connecting with strategy leaders from all over the country, from both public and private organizations, and from businesses small to large in size.”

Says Olsen, the last huddle addressed a variety of questions asked by participants, covering how to ensure that organization leadership commits to buying into and engaging corporate strategy, to overcoming the obstacles presented by executing strategy in a constantly changing environment.

According to Olsen, another reason that M3 Planning decided to host the huddle is that too many businesses miss the excitement of strategy and execution, getting bogged down in their day to day problems that could be solved in such a forum. “We organized this online environment in order to bring together leaders and experts who can build on their collective experience in order to save each other time in executing strategy within their organizations.”

Olsen says that the hour-long huddles consist of questions posed by participants, which are then answered by resident strategy experts in real-time. In order to submit a question and register for a spot within the huddle, participants need to register online before spaces are filled.

About the Strategy Huddle™

Huddle up for the Strategy & Execution Training generated by participants, for participants. Once a month, the M3 Team answers real-world questions, handles high-level strategy issues, and shares best practices on strategy, execution, planning and using MyStrategicPlan. This dynamic 60-minute session is an opportunity for business leaders to learn and share new ideas. Participants who sign up can submit their questions ahead of time or ask them live.

About M3 Planning

M3 Planning is a strategic planning firm that works with growth-oriented organizations to develop and execute their strategic plans. In addition to their online strategic planning system, the company is also a resource for other strategic planning tools, books, articles, workshops and facilitations.

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Reno, NV (PRWEB) November 6, 2009 — Middle Eastern business leaders have tapped global strategic planning experts from Nevada-based M3 Planning to lead a summit on strategic corporate planning, aimed at strengthening the long-term economic strength of some of the largest organizations in their region. From November 16 to 17 of this year executives from throughout the region will gather at the Sheraton Bahrain Hotel in Manama, Bahrain for training to better equip their organizations to evaluate current opportunities and align organizational objectives toward corporate vision and missions.

Strategy Expert and Author Erica Olsen

According to a recent report by the International Monetary Fund, the current global financial crisis has contributed to a slowdown in oil revenues in the Middle East throughout the current year. Though the region has tapped into profits from previous years in order to weather the economic downturn, regional leaders have decided to take action by holding this unique summit with strategic planning specialists from M3 Planning.

Although this region was buffered from some of the crisis, these organizations are concerned with sustainable strategies to carry forth well after the economic crisis is over.

Summit presenter Erica Olsen says that organizations in the Middle East have developed a sense of urgency around planning. “Although this region was buffered from some of the crisis, these organizations are concerned with sustainable strategies to carry forth well after the economic crisis is over.”

Participants for training include executives from some of the largest companies of the region, such as Al Muhaidib Group, Saudi Cable Company, United Gulf Bank, Najran Cement Company, Aluminium Bahrain, Ministry of Housing and Bank Sohar.

Topics covered in this summit include: re-shaping organizations’ strategic plans to be on par with their proposed direction, designing and developing a strategic plan towards realization of corporate vision and mission, thriving in times of constraint through alternative growth strategies and aligning business plans toward complementing strategic plans.

Olsen, having recently also lead a summit for executives in Dubai as well, says that M3 Planning is proud to be selected to lead this summit. “Our team is excited to assist business leaders in Bahrain, and we share the excitement and interest in the region’s long-term success.”

About Erica Olsen
Through M3 Planning’s online client base and on-site strategic planning facilitation work, Erica Olsen has developed and reviewed hundreds of strategic plans for organizations across the country. She has also authored several strategic planning books including Strategic Planning for Dummies and was named Entrepreneur of the Year by The Business Report of Northern Nevada in 2007.

About M3 Planning
M3 Planning is a strategic planning firm that works with growth-oriented organizations to develop and execute their strategic plans. In addition to their online strategic planning system, MyStrategicPlan.com, the company is also a resource for other strategic planning tools, books, articles, workshops and facilitations

About Marcus Evans Events
Marcus Evans specializes in the research and development of strategic events for senior business executives. From their international network of 63 offices, Marcus Evans produces over 1000 days of events each year on strategic issues in corporate finance, telecommunications, technology, health, transportation, capital markets, human resources and business improvement.

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Reno, NV (PRWEB) October 21, 2009 — Strategic planning and implementation are universally accepted as cornerstones to competing in business, but they are not universally understood. With the pressures brought by a national recession and a dramatically high failure rate for strategic initiatives, there has never been a better time to seek advice from experts, and now there has never a better time to get it. Beginning Oct. 28, and continuing monthly, the strategy experts at MyStrategicPlan.com will be presenting a free, live, one-hour online strategy and execution training session called Strategy Huddle, where the subject matter is chosen by the audience. Targeted towards anyone who deals with business strategy, this rare opportunity for expert advice on real-world problems is expected to fill up fast.

As the scores of business graduates, entrepreneurs and managers who attempt daily to tackle strategic implementation know, guiding any organization through planning and execution is rife with pitfalls and roadblocks that continually put experience, patience and creativity to the test. As indicated in a recent study completed by Forbes Insights and FD in conjunction with the Association for Strategic Planning and the Council of Public Relations Firms, one third of all corporate strategies fail, and most of them do so as a result of foreseeable problems. With so many failed initiatives plaguing businesses, strategic planning expert Erica Olsen decided something needed to be done to bring answers and experience to those who need it now.

While change agents and managers strive to implement strategic objectives, Olsen says that many run into frustrations and obstacles that they don’t have to. “The whole reason for our Strategy Huddles is to share our experience and the variety of our perspectives, as well as to give business people the closest thing to getting one-on-one training to deal with their individual issues.” Olsen describes M3 Planning’s Strategy Huddle as a combination of lecture, think-tank and coaching session.

According to Olsen, many managers and business owners don’t engage in strategic planning enough, or don’t have the help they need to see it through to implementation. “Commonly this is either because they face lack of buy-in, or they run into communication problems, or they just don’t see the pitfalls because they haven’t encountered them before.” In order to remedy this, Olsen suggests engagement with others who have greater experience in guiding organizations through the process of drafting, deciding on and executing strategy in many different environments. “By participating in our Strategy Huddle,” says Olsen, “managers will be able to get that experience from their own desks.”

What makes M3 Planning’s Strategy Huddle so unique, says Olsen, is the combination of expert advice from a variety of disciplines, and the intimacy of nearly one-on-one contact via the internet. “We’re bringing together professors, consultants and the developers who have worked on MyStrategicPlan, the premier web-based strategic planning application, and we’re making them available to anyone at any level.” According to Olsen, the diversity of perspectives, combined with a wealth of experience as well as the real-time connectivity provided by the internet will allow her team to help more people than ever before. “We’ll be pulling from such a vast pool of knowledge to tackle real world questions, address high-level strategy, as well as share strategic planning best practices that span multiple industries.”

In order to participate in the free training sessions, users can sign up for free at MyStrategicPlan.com . Attendees will be able to submit their questions ahead of time as well. Though the sessions take part over the internet, Olsen stresses that attendance is limited in order to make sure that all participants’ questions are addressed.

About MyStrategicPlan
MyStrategicPlan is an easy-to-use software application that enables any organization, regardless of size and budget, to build a comprehensive plan, effectively and easily track goals, create professional reports for every stakeholder and monitor implementation all year long.

About M3 Planning
M3 Planning is a strategic planning firm that works with growth-oriented organizations to develop and execute their strategic plans. In addition to their online strategic planning system, the company is also a resource for other strategic planning tools, books, articles, workshops and facilitations.

About Erica Olsen
Through M3 Planning’s online client base and onsite strategic planning facilitation work, Erica Olsen has developed and reviewed hundreds of strategic plans for organizations across the country. She has also authored several strategic planning books including “Strategic Planning for Dummies” and was named Entrepreneur of the Year by The Business Report of Northern Nevada in 2007.

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Reno, NV (PRWEB) October 2, 2009 – With little end of the US recession in sight, business owners across all industries are finding less time for  performance management and strategic management and instead focusing on short term survival, calling into question the relevance of strategic planning in an anemic economy. According to management experts, this illogical behavior will not only cause businesses to miss out on opportunities, it undermines the very livelihood they are attempting to maintain through such short term tactics.

During the earlier days of the current US economic crisis, economists and financial pundits debated about whether the country was indeed heading towards a recession, and how long that any such slump would last. Some predicted that the country would not, in fact, suffer such a succession of negative quarters, and that businesses and individuals needed not worry about surviving months or even years of economic hardship. Others on the other end of the spectrum called for businesses to tighten belts, make hard decisions and prepare for the worst.

Now that the country has spent more than a year enduring layoffs, government bailouts and the havoc that has been wrecked upon the credit market, many forecasters predict an even longer financial winter is upon us. In light of this, many businesses are forgoing long-term thinking and planning, and instead focusing just on today. Is survival the new goal for business, or does strategic planning still hold the same importance that it did before famine set itself upon the US markets?

I’m Too Busy

When consumers are not spending and money is tight, competition is increased, while at the same time additional staff is a luxury many businesses can’t afford. This effect, which causes many managers to spread themselves and their staff thin, endangers their long-term goals, says management expert Erica Olsen, of M3 Planning, consultants and developers of the strategic planning and implementation application, MyStrategicPlan.com. “A lot of managers are complaining that they don’t have time to plan,” says Olsen, “but the reality is that you can’t afford not to take the time to plan.”

According to Olsen, strategic planning is even more of a necessity during a time of economic famine than during times of feasting. “Inefficiencies can go unnoticed when demand is high, but when your industry is fighting over fewer customers who are spending less, all of your imperfections become more threatening to your business.” Olsen goes on to explain that through thorough environmental scanning- an essential part of the strategic planning process, threats and opportunities can not only be identified but also capitalized on.

We Might Not Be Around In Six Months

Just making it this far through the recession doesn’t guarantee success, as many businesses are continuing to file for bankruptcy or quit operations completely. With so many stories of failure, Olsen says that many business owners she has counseled have admitted feeling like giving up. “When faced with a manger who says they don’t want to plan because they don’t think the company will make it, I respond saying that’s not the thinking that got you where you are. ” Olsen says that while these feelings are natural, they aren’t necessarily productive. By attacking the problem and making plans to dig out of the hole, managers can regain their positive outlook and chip away at the stress and depression that navigating a company through a recession can bring. “Strategic planning, and even more specifically recession planning is exactly what someone in this situation needs because they finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.”

There is No Telling When this May End

Protesting the idea of strategic planning, other managers will claim that the uncertainty of the recession negates strategic planning. In response to this, Olsen cites the benefits of strategic planning and recession planning and their application to uncertain times. “Turbulent times are exactly the reason to plan,” says Olsen, “because strategic planning allows faster decision making, better management of resources, and a flexible framework that can adjust far faster than your completion can draft a course of action.” Right now, according to Olsen, both strategic planning and more specifically recession planning are of the essence. For assistance in strategic or recession planning, Olsen advises organization to consider M3 Planning’s web application and resource center at www.mystrategicplan.com.

About MyStrategicPlan

MyStrategicPlan is an easy-to-use software application that enables any organization, regardless of size and budget, to build a comprehensive plan, effectively and easily track goals, create professional reports for every stakeholder and monitor implementation all year long.

About M3 Planning

M3 Planning is a strategic planning firm that works with growth-oriented organizations to develop and execute their strategic plans. In addition to their online strategic planning system, the company is also a resource for other strategic planning tools, books, articles, workshops and facilitations.

About Erica Olsen

Through M3 Planning’s online client base and onsite strategic planning facilitation work, Erica Olsen has developed and reviewed hundreds of strategic plans for organizations across the country. She has also authored several strategic planning books including Strategic Planning for Dummies and was named Entrepreneur of the Year by The Business Report of Northern Nevada in 2007.

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