Fitting credit operational decisions with overall strategy

A strategic plan should guide actions and decisions, providing a sense of purpose, energy and direction. It should also offer a means of communicating, motivating and co-ordinating efforts throughout an organisation, helping to focus on areas for improvement or development. A strategic plan provides an opportunity to change an organisation’s nature: its purpose, its activities and even its organisational culture, including values and the ways things are done. It can embrace a set of guiding principles as well as a practical framework for achieving its aims. It also offers a means by which performance can be measured and assessed. So how can strategic plans be made to guide and direct operational decisions?