Planning Samples, Guidelines, Best Practices and Suggestions

What are different types of planners?

• Strategic Planning: Strategic plans are all about why things need to happen. It’s big picture, long-term thinking. It starts at the highest level with defining a mission and casting a vision. Strategic planning provides a summary of the whole company at high stage. It is the basis and dictates long-term decisions for the company. For the next two years to the next 10 years, the strategic plan will be covered. Vision, mission and principles are core components of a strategic plan.
• Tactical Planning: Tactical plans are about what is going to happen. At a tactical level, there are many focused, specific, and short-term plans, where the actual work is being done, that support the high-level strategic plans. Tactical planning supports strategic planning. The company plans to use strategies in order to accomplish what is described in the strategic plan. The scope is always less than a year, and the strategic plan is divided into actionable pieces. Tactical planning differs from operational planning, as a result of the tactical plans, whereby the tactical planning’s ask precise questions about what needs to take place to achieve a strategy objective.
• Operational Planning: Operational plans are about how things need to happen. Guidelines of how to accomplish the mission are set. This type of planning typically describes the day-to-day running of the company. Single-use plans or ongoing plans are also defined as operational planning’s. Single use plans are developed for one-time events and activities (such as a single marketing campaign). Present strategies include problem-solving policies, detailed regulatory rules and step-by-step processes for the achievement of goals.
• Contingency Planning: Contingency plans are made when something unexpected happens or when something needs to be changed. Business experts sometimes refer to these plans as a special type of planning. In situations that need adjustment, contingency planning may be beneficial. Although managers ought to anticipate adjustments if one of the main planning forms is involved, in times where change cannot be foreseen, contingency planning is necessary. With more complicated sector, contingency planning becomes more necessary to engage and understand.