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Strategic planning and operational planning are instrumental to the success of any organization. Without strategic planning, organizations may fail to keep up in a fast-paced business environment with competitive pressures and fluctuating demand. Similarly, lack of operational planning can lead to confusion regarding responsibilities within departments and wasted time and resources. It’s important to understand the difference between strategic planning and operational planning to be able to use each to maximum advantage. But before we dive into a match of strategic planning vs operational planning and examine the difference between strategic and operational planning, let’s understand what each term means.
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What Is Strategic Planning?
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What Is Operational Planning?
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Strategic Planning VS Operational Planning
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What Is Strategic Planning?
Strategic planning refers to the process of determining the direction a business will take, establishing organizational goals and ascertaining the strategies necessary to achieve these goals in the long run. Organizations assess their strengths and weaknesses while gathering information on potential business opportunities and threats in the strategic planning process. This helps them make informed decisions on the future course of business, establish timelines for execution of the strategies and identify benchmarks that’ll help them evaluate progress. Strategic planning underlines the mission and vision of an organization and is essential to keep up in a rapidly changing business environment.
What Is Operational Planning?
Operational planning is the process of drawing on an organization’s strategic plan and mapping out specific goals for each department within the organization. Such departmental goals and milestones guide the organization toward the successful execution of the overall strategic plan. In other words, an operational plan outlines the roles and responsibilities of departmental teams for a specified time period, deadlines for assignments and key performance indicators to measure performance. Operational planning is essential for an organization to tailor its strategic plan to each department within it. It helps the organization keep a tab on what’s working for them and what isn’t to make adjustments, if necessary.
Strategic Planning VS Operational Planning
The fundamental difference between strategic planning and operational planning lies in their very meaning. Now that we know what each entails, let’s examine strategic planning vs operational planning and look at the difference between strategic planning and operational planning:
Time Frame
Time frame is a major aspect of difference in an operational plan vs a strategic plan. Strategic planning involves planning for the long term. A strategic plan outlines an organization’s mission along with the business goals to be achieved in the future. Operational planning is planning for the short term. An operational plan focuses on the day-to-day operations of departments and immediate departmental objectives.
Environment
Another difference between strategic and operational planning is the type of environment involved. Strategic planning considers both the external and the internal business environment to develop a roadmap for future growth. Operational planning considers only the internal environment within an organization for effective utilization of resources to achieve strategic goals.
Management
The management involved in an operational plan vs a strategic plan is another important difference between strategic planning and operational planning. Strategic planning is executed by top-level management, while operational planning is performed by middle-level management.
Frequency Of Change
While examining strategic vs operational planning, frequency of change emerges as another major difference between the two. Because strategic planning is for the long term, it’s unlikely to change frequently. On the other hand, operational planning is susceptible to frequent changes according to immediate departmental needs and projects.
Scope
The scope is another significant difference between strategic and operational planning. Strategic planning has a much broader scope than operational planning because it focuses on and carves out a roadmap for the organization as a whole. Operational planning has a narrower scope because it focuses on specific departments or functional units within an organization and programs them to meet organizational objectives.
Budget
Another significant difference that comes up while analyzing strategic vs operational planning is in terms of budget. Strategic planning has the entire organizational budget at its disposal, while operational planning takes place with department-level budgets.
Although sometimes used interchangeably, the terms ‘strategic planning’ and ‘operational planning’ are different, as we’ve seen while examining strategic vs operational planning. Strategic planning comes before operational planning. It establishes the big picture and sets the direction of the business. Operational planning determines and implements the steps necessary to follow the path laid out by the strategic planning.
Rise Fast At Work
Despite a significant difference between strategic and operational planning, both the processes are interconnected and complement one another. With Harappa’s Rise In An Organization program, you’ll be able to decode and master strategic and operational planning as you quickly build the critical skills required to rise in an organization. You’ll become a reliable team player who inspires trust from their team and be able to lead with influence.
Thrive Skills such as Managing Projects will help you combine strong methodology with deep expertise to predictably deliver high-quality results, while Instinctive Adaptability will allow you to efficiently respond to change and move fluidly within an organization based on need and skills. This pathway will also teach you how to face challenges head-on and bounce back stronger. You’ll learn to communicate with empathy, practice mindfulness and realize the best possible results of a strategy and its implementation.
Sign up today for Harappa’s Rise In An Organization pathway to get noticed and rise fast at work.
