If we consider strategic planning as long range planning, work units need to use it as a basis for their own shorter-term operational planning. If the larger department does it s strategic plan once a year, each work unit should be using that plan as the foundation for setting it s own goals and objectives for the upcoming fiscal year. We use the term cascading to refer to the effects that a meaningful strategic plan can have. The departmental plan informs the divisional or work unit plan, which, in turn affects directly the allocation of resources and objectives for individuals. Individual managers need to be held accountable for the integration of their own plans with the overall departmental plan.
Many managers have inadequate experience in integrating strategic plans into everyday work.
It may be a good idea, prior to the strategic planning process, for all participants to get together to plan out how they will make the plan come alive. While we often think of strategic plans in terms of formal release and distribution, the place where real success takes place is the everyday world. If each manager, in any decision-making conversations with staff, refers to the strategic plan as a guidepost for action, then staff begin to realize that it is not a dead document, but one that has practical and real relevance to their everyday worklife. It is part of a system of management, not a stand-alone piece. Use every opportunity to relate whatever is being discussed to the strategic plan.