My take on a question in Quora:

What is the best form of strategic Planning for my company?

To me, the best form of strategic planning is realism and pragmatism.

The output of the strategic planning exercise is the business plan, which is a road map, to show how to go to where you want to go from where you are.

At its core, is the systematic game plan, which highlights all the strategic and tactical initiatives of completing the journey.

It needs all these key elements to be considered and put in place:

1. Executive Summary;

2. Unique Selling Proposition/Unfair Advantage;

3. Organisational Background (including vision and mission statements);

4. Market Analysis;

5. Competition Analysis;

6. Vulnerability Audit;

7. Marketing Plan/Product Launch;

8. Manpower Plan;

9. Financial Analysis (with a detailed 12-month statement);

10. Sensitivity Analysis;

11. Contingency Plan;

12. Game Plan (with a detailed 1-year plan, including all the strategic and tactical initiatives in tandem with predefined corporate objectives);

Your game plan encapsulates all your long-range goals and objectives which are systematically translated into specific, prioritised and executable tasks which you need to accomplish daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annually.

For implementation and execution, it contains the following critical elements:

- specific objectives for each predefined task;

- metrics to measure your progress;

- accountability, as some tasks may need to be shared;

- resources you need to get the work done respectively;

[I call them the 7 Ms': Money; Men; Methods; Machines; Materials; Metrics; and Management or Marketing]

- timetable for completion of each predefined task;

Moreover, your game plan also provides a clear snapshot all potential obstacles and/or roadblocks that may pop up, and also a slew of possible strategies to deal with them. They serve as your contingency plan.

Before I sign off, I like to point out that the fire test for your business plan will come from your consistent follow-up and massive follow-through of whatever you have set out to do, as laid out in your game plan.

Furthermore, the business - and game - plan is not etched in stone.

You have to stay laser-focused on your strategic goals and objectives, but remain steadfastly flexible in your tactical execution.