Where Projects and Strategic Planning Intersect

Where Projects and Strategic Planning Intersect

Project management and strategic planning are more alike than they may seem.

At their core, they are both about planning, but their scopes are quite different. With strategic planning, we are planning at a broader level, considering our priorities and strategies for the longer term across an organization or division. With project management, we are planning more narrowly for how best to execute an initiative or collaboration or create deliverables.

Our strategic planning may lead us toward considering the projects and initiatives necessary to achieve our broader goals, which may be documented in our plan as specific and measurable objectives. Projects and initiatives may also be the focus of the implementation phase of our strategic planning process. We might even say that strategic planning helps us plan for the projects we want to undertake, while project management helps us plan for those individual projects.

Ideally, our projects should align with our strategy, whether that happens as part of our strategic planning or implementation process or through a project approval process. Creating consistent project processes or workflows can support strategic alignment across projects.


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Q&A: Preparing for Project Planning

Q&A: Preparing for Project Planning

Q&A: Nonprofit Project Management

Q&A: Nonprofit Project Management