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Do you have a strategic plan - or, perhaps more importantly, do you need one? It's no secret that if you ask 10 different people to define strategy you'll get at least 10 different answers.

So, it's natural to give strategic planning a "nice to have" priority - especially if you have been in a business for a long time, have expertise in your area of focus, and are juggling countless tasks. It's very easy to brush it off as taking away time from what's really important.

But if you are reading this you likely have at least a suspicion that it is not only "nice to have" but that it is important, maybe even critical to your success. Can you imagine any serious investor or advisor suggesting that you don't need one? No, of course not. So, do you have one? If you do, is it making the difference you want it to? If you don't have one, why not?

Strategic Plans are Important in Ways Beyond What Many Leaders Assume

To illustrate, let's briefly examine what a good strategic plan is and what it should be doing for you and your organization. A good strategic plan at its most basic level should answer key questions including, "Where do we want to be in the future, how are we going to get there, who will be involved, what will they do, and when will this happen? What's more important than the questions it answers is what a good strategic plan does for you. You'll know you have a good strategic plan if:

These are all things that any business leader wants for his or her business. But the real power of a good strategic plan is in the results it creates. And this means there is more to a good strategic plan than insightful analysis and thoughtful allocation of resources. While these are necessary, they are not sufficient to take your business to the next level. How you use your strategic plan is just as important as what it says. The old adage, "Knowledge is Power" is only half-right. The fact is, knowledge is potential power. It only becomes powerful when it is skillfully brought to life through action. The facts and analysis speak to the mind. To be successful, the heart must also be engaged-that's what moves your organization from compliance to commitment. That's what we mean by saying it must be skillfully brought to life.

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Karl Grass is an executive coach and consultant with experience that includes fifteen years of leading businesses to success in diverse and challenging environments. Known for consistently increasing shareholder value by developing winning strategic plans, building strong teams, and leading large scale change, he now helps leaders and organizations reach new levels of success with breakthrough thinking and behaviors. More about him can be found at www.karlgrass.com