Levels of planning

Let’s break down the levels of planning based on four important factors: time, level, broadness, and use. This will help explain how each type of planning differs in its focus and purpose.

1. Strategic Planning

• Time: Long-term (typically 3 to 5 years, or even longer).
  • Example: Planning what career you want or where a company wants to be in 5 years.
• Level: Top-level management (the highest decision-makers, like CEOs or school principals).
  • Example: A principal planning the future vision for the school.
• Broadness: Very broad (big-picture thinking that involves major goals and directions).
  • Example: Deciding on what career path to pursue in life or what industry a company wants to dominate.
• Use: Sets the overall direction (provides a roadmap for where you want to go).
  • Example: You decide you want to become a doctor, or a company decides to expand into new markets.

2. Tactical Planning

• Time: Mid-term (usually from 6 months to 2 years).
  • Example: Planning what courses to take over the next few years to get into college.
• Level: Middle-level management (managers, department heads, or team leaders).
  • Example: A head of the science department planning next year's curriculum.
• Broadness: More specific than strategic planning (but still not super detailed).
  • Example: Choosing which classes you’ll need to take to fulfill your dream of becoming a doctor, or a company figuring out how to market a new product.
• Use: Breaks down the strategic plan into specific steps (how to achieve the big goal).
  • Example: Deciding which advanced classes you need to take, or a business working on marketing campaigns to support the expansion plan.

3. Operational Planning

• Time: Short-term (day-to-day, weekly, monthly, or up to a year).
  • Example: Making a weekly study schedule or planning your daily routine.
• Level: Lower-level management (supervisors or team members working on the ground).
  • Example: A teacher creating a daily lesson plan.
• Broadness: Very specific and detailed (focuses on day-to-day actions and tasks).
  • Example: Planning how much time you’ll spend on each subject tonight, or a company planning production shifts.
• Use: Executes the tactical plan (focuses on making sure things get done on time and correctly).
  • Example: Studying two hours of math every day for a week to prepare for a test, or a company making sure enough products are produced each day to meet the sales goals.

Summary of Planning Levels Based on Time, Level, Broadness, and Use:

Each type of planning is important and builds on the other: Strategic sets the big goals, Tactical figures out how to achieve them, and Operational makes sure the daily tasks get done to keep things moving in the right direction.