Introduction

Have you ever found yourself so completely focused on the flurry of daily tasks, that you could find no time or ability to plan for the long-term, as it is taking 100% of your effort to keep things together? You become so focused on “fighting fires” that there is no opportunity to take a step back and make improvements to daily operations. The result is absolute chaos and stress.

Business planning have a ‘strategic’ and an ‘operational’ element. In order for your business to succeed you must be able to balance the different roles and utilize strategic and operational plans.

Although we will focus on operational planning during this module, it can never be seen in isolation of the strategic plan of the organisation. The strategic plan is usually developed by the Management committee of an organisation, and focuses on the Vision, mission, values and strategic goals of an organisation. The strategic cycle usually spans over 3 to 5 year cycles.

The operational plan is usually developed by the operational units of a company and focus on objectives and action plans which should be achieved during the operational cycle (usually one year).

The old cliché becomes strikingly evident when operational planning is discussed:  IF YOU FAIL TO PLAN, YOU PLAN TO FAIL.