Page 24 - October 2021 Track N Times

QUALITY & CONTINUOUS

IMPROVEMENT

What is Strategic Planning?

By: Joshua Flatla, Sr. Manager, Quality & Continuous Improvement

Have you ever built a home, planned a family vacation, or made a major purchase? The answer is likely an
astounding, yes. How do you feel as you plan to make serious life changes like these? Certainly, you and your fam-
ily are excited for the future and confident in your decisions, but maybe a little apprehensive and nervous. The
better we understand the change, we can then lessen any risks and fears we may face during these new ventures
while achieving our goals as quickly as possible. Predominately in business, good leadership reduces the time we
spend during these periods of change, but how does leadership help a company accomplish our goals effectively?
The answer is a process called Strategic Planning. Simply, we can accomplish this like we accomplish any goal; one
step at a time, while following a series of key steps as shown below. Basically, Strategic Planning is a term that de-
scribes a more complex process of planning for a goal or many goals.
At Loram, you may see our Vision and Mission
statements posted around our offices, on our
website, or talked about by Loram leadership
in regards of where and whom we want to be
as a company. This isn’t much different than
your dream of owning a home, or a much
harder challenge of building a home. In our
personal lives we may have several missions,
but in this example your mission could be to
“earn a good wage and save your income” as a
purposeful approach to achieve your dream of
owning a new home. Our company Vision
Statement is, “Loram will be respected globally
as the leader in the railway infrastructure markets we serve.” I often ask employees, “Is this true?” and most will
correctly say, “I don’t believe we’re there, yet.” Regardless, it’s okay that we have yet to achieve our vision, but
it’s most important that we’re taking the appropriate steps through focused planning to get to our next target
condition. At Loram, our Mission Statement is, “Our people deliver advanced equipment, innovative solutions,
and unrivaled customer service in a safe and reliable manner to maintain and improve railway infrastructure.” If
we maintain this purpose, one day will achieve our Vision, but not without proper planning. Regardless, agreeing
and documenting our goals, albeit to build a home or advance a business, is how we set an objective. Objectives
are written statements that communicate what will be accomplished and when that goal shall be completed.
Planning for a new home takes many steps to achieve, es-

pecially if you’re building a home. What is this experience
like for someone new to the home buying or building ex-
perience? Surely, without a plan, the vision could seem out
of reach and extremely daunting. For a business, strategic
planning helps a team develop a plan through a series of
steps like a game plan for any aspect of the business. Also,
it helps every member of the team know exactly how they

Volume 2 : Issue 9 Page 22