Determine what critical steps are involved in successful strategic planning, and identify possible desired planning outcomes for each.
As it relates to the case the steps involved in successful strategic planning are both simple and concise. With the case expectations were outlined as it related to healthcare performance. These outcomes including lowering healthcare costs for them to more manageable for healthcare participants. Improving outcomes which includes staffing and technology improvements. Finally, strategic planning helps to improve organization culture by being more innovative and proactive in adopting technologies that improve internal operations. The Webster Health system, as the case indicates, employs 704 people with over 190 beds. It has met all the condition necessary for Medicaid, Medicare and BlueCross insurance coverage. As it a result, the organization is an important fixture within the community and therefore must continually innovate. The next critical step is to properly assess capabilities to achieve the expectations outlined in step one (Grensing-Pophal, 2011). Here, to properly assess capabilities, the organization most conduct a thorough internal analysis of skills, investment capacity, and return on investment characteristics. Through an internal skills assessment the organization must determine if it is more beneficial to hire additional personnel or to outsource critical functions needed to achieve the objective. For Webster, they would like to lower healthcare costs through technology which would require heavy investing in coding personal, applicable applications, and cyber security methodologies. Next, the organization must fund growth through investment, budgeting, and capital allocation processes. This would require a variety of funding sources which include donations, debt financing, equity financing and more. Here the organization must earn an adequate rate of return to justify the large fixed and variable cost investment. The organization must then monitor outcomes throughout the duration of the project. Finally, the organization must implement the strategic plan, being mindful that alterations will need to be made periodically. This is particularly true as Webster operates in a very complex and convoluted healthcare system (Hamel, 1989).
References
1. Grensing-Pophal, L. (2011). The complete idiots guide to strategic planning. New York, NY: Penguin. 299 pages
2. Hamel, G., & Prahalad, C. K. (1989, May/June). Strategic intent. Harvard Business Review, 63-76.
