Personal Experience with Strategic Planning
Denise M. Chaney
Creighton University
Strategic Planning and Management
ILD 803
Dr. Fink
May 4, 2013

Personal Experience with Strategic Planning
Strategic planning is the essence of the work of an organization. According to Bryson (2011), strategic planning identifies where the organization wants to be at some point in the future; without a strategic framework senior management will not know where they are going.
Thompson, Peteraf, Gamble, & Strickland III, (2012), state “crafting and executing strategy” should be a top priority for those holding senior management positions. It seems that such a powerful entity such as strategic planning, should be well known throughout the organization. However, the opposite seems to be true. I’ve been in the field of nursing for more than 38 years and had never heard the term “strategic planning”.
Is there a lack of knowledge pertaining to strategic planning? If so, whose fault is it, the organization or mine? According to Wells (1998), the best way to “reduce someone else’s capacity or humanity, severely restrict or take away their right to think” (kindle Fire, Location 142). Therefore, restricting access to “strategic planning”, employee rights have been taken away. Wells (1998), also points out “that the only limit” to an organization’s possibilities is “the mind of it’s people and what they are able to conceive (Kindle Fire, Location 46). In part, this reasoning could account for my lack of knowledge. However, reflecting back over the past 38 years leads me to the realization that I am equally guilty of my lack of knowledge pertaining to “strategic planning”. I began nursing at the age of 17, at that time I was certainly more of a follower than a leader. By 1986, I obtained an Associate’s Degree in Nursing, specialized in critical care. I began leaning how lead by being