How do I find resources to implement my strategic plan?

A question that many strategic planners ask is: "How do I find resources to implement my strategic plan?"

In other words, once the planning is done, how do I convince my organization's leaders to give the implementation team the resources, including money, time, and staff, that we need to make it a reality?

As a strategic planning professional, here are three tactics that you can use to guarantee that the implementation team has the resources it needs to execute your strategic plan:

1. Involve your leaders from the beginning, and keep them updated. Have an open discussion with your leaders at the onset of the strategic planning process, and clarify with them the scope of the planning and the available resources that they will be able to commit to implement the plan. Keep them updated on the planning as is progresses.
2. Invite budget officers to be part of your strategic planning team. That way, you'll have access to some financial experts who can provide a reality check to the strategic planning group along the way.
3. Offer to pilot smaller-scale projects. If you don't have a full budget available to implement part of your strategy, devise a scaled-down pilot project that you can carefully monitor to show potential. Present the success of this pilot project as you ask for more money to scale up your efforts.

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