---
title: "When Is Best Time to Create A Strategic Plan? Hint: Now"
description: Most large and successful organizations spend some dedicated time each year to strategic planning with their Executive Management Teams. Strategic plans are normally five years out, but can go out as far as ten or fifteen years in some organizations. Planning sessions can be quite formal with the development of vision, mission, SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats), strategies, business objectives, and more. The salient point, however, is that management sets aside quality time to envision and plan their future. What they will look like five years down the road, what their revenues will be, their profits? They revisit their mission, their impact and contribution to the community, the development of their valuable human capital, how business will be conducted, supplier partners, etc. Unless senior management sets aside some quality time and gets together to focus on what their future will look like, in five years the business will probably look much like it does today with the same challenges and issues. New dealerships may be acquired to add to the overall revenue or size of the group, but without a well-developed strategic plan, the same inefficiencies, the same levels of profit, the same control issues, the same problems will be dealt with in the future, but on a larger scale. Suggested Next Steps – Leading from the Front with a Strategic Plan If you plan to grow your organization and grow efficiently, being even more effective and more profitable five years from now than you are today, it will happen, but you will need a strategic plan. Your management team was hired because they are the bright, talented, hardworking executives, but they will continue to nibble at the edges of organizational improvement unless you provide the fundamental ingredient….. leadership and vision. Your leadership is absolutely vital to creating the vision, refining that vision with your team, setting strategies and objectives, and getting everyone rowing in the same direction. You probably have the size, revenues, scale and leverage to grow your organization very effectively over the next few years. Will you? Will you grow the organization efficiently, and more profitably than it is today? The tools are there….you have the building blocks, the musicians if you will, the question is whether you will lead the orchestra or be content to sit in the audience and watch the performance.
image: https://content.strategicsource.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/dreamstime_xs_35294386-1.jpg
---

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# When Is Best Time to Create A Strategic Plan? Hint: Now

[Chad Cox](https://content.strategicsource.com/blog/author/chad-cox)

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Most large and successful organizations spend some dedicated time each year to strategic planning with their Executive Management Teams. Strategic plans are normally five years out, but can go out as far as ten or fifteen years in some organizations. Planning sessions can be quite formal with the development of vision, mission, SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats), strategies, business objectives, and more.

The salient point, however, is that management sets aside quality time to envision and plan their future. What they will look like five years down the road, what their revenues will be, their profits? They revisit their mission, their impact and contribution to the community, the development of their valuable human capital, how business will be conducted, supplier partners, etc.

Unless senior management sets aside some quality time and gets together to focus on what their future will look like, in five years the business will probably look much like it does today with the same challenges and issues.

New dealerships may be acquired to add to the overall revenue or size of the group, but without a well-developed strategic plan, the same inefficiencies, the same levels of profit, the same control issues, the same problems will be dealt with in the future, but on a larger scale.

## **Suggested Next Steps – Leading from the Front with a Strategic Plan**

If you plan to grow your organization and grow efficiently, being even more effective and more profitable five years from now than you are today, it will happen, but you will need a strategic plan.

Your management team was hired because they are the bright, talented, hardworking executives, but they will continue to nibble at the edges of organizational improvement unless you provide the fundamental ingredient….. leadership and vision.

Your leadership is absolutely vital to creating the vision, refining that vision with your team, setting strategies and objectives, and getting everyone rowing in the same direction. You probably have the size, revenues, scale and leverage to grow your organization very effectively over the next few years.

Will you? Will you grow the organization efficiently, and more profitably than it is today? The tools are there….you have the building blocks, the musicians if you will, the question is whether you will lead the orchestra or be content to sit in the audience and watch the performance.

 

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