What is a Strategic Plan

From [1], the operational parts of a strategic plan are:

1. Taking a wide look around at what's going on outside the organization and how it might affect the organization (an environmental scan), and identifying opportunities and threats
2. Taking a hard look at what's going on inside the organization, including its strengths and weaknesses (perhaps doing a SWOT analysis)
3. Establishing statements of mission, vision and values (some prefer to do that as the first step in planning)
4. Establishing goals to accomplish over the next (usually) three years or so, as a result of what's going on inside and outside the organization
5. Identifying how those goals will be reached (strategies, objectives, responsibilities and timelines)