Ditch those Resolutions! Make a Strategic Plan Instead!
It’s January 2026! Did you make any resolutions for this year? Did you dust off last year’s resolutions and re-purpose them? Is 2026 the year that you finally address those needs and desires that have been gathering dust on the closet shelf?
The sad reality about resolutions is that they are initiated with a “gung-ho” bang during the month of January, but by February they are back in their designated space on the closet shelf. It’s not your fault. “Resolutions,” says leadership coach Sam Cabellero, ACC, CPTD, “tend to be vague, short-term promises with little structure, making them hard to follow.1”
Make this year different. Forget resolutions. Make a strategic plan instead. A strategic plan is a far more effective and sustainable approach to turning over a new leaf. In fact, strategic planning has been universally acclaimed and leveraged by businesses and nonprofit organizations of all kinds.
Strategic planning is a valuable tool for dental practices as well. Practice management coach and author Tim Norris explains that strategic planning is “a proactive approach to shaping your practice’s growth, financial success, and patient experience. It isn’t about one big change [like most resolutions]—it’s about making a series of meaningful, high impact decisions that shape the future of the practice.2”
What exactly is Strategic Planning?
The Balanced Scorecard Institute has created a great definition of strategic planning:
“Strategic planning is the process of defining an organization’s direction, priorities, and actions to achieve long-term success. It helps leaders set goals, allocate resources efficiently, and measure progress to ensure alignment with their mission and vision.3”
Why Is Strategic Planning Important?
“Without a solid plan,” the Balanced Scorecard Institute explains, “organizations risk the following negative consequences:
- Lack of Direction – Teams may not know what to focus on.
- Inefficient Resource Allocation – Time and money may be spent on low-impact activities.
- Poor Decision-Making – Leaders may react to challenges instead of proactively addressing them.
- Missed Opportunities – Growth potential may go untapped.
A well-executed strategic plan avoids these risks by providing clarity, accountability, and a roadmap for achieving organizational goals.3”
According to McKinsey Research,4 an organization’s health can be determined by three elements:
- how well the organization rallies around a common vision and strategy
- how well the organization executes its strategy
- how well the organization innovates and renews itself over time.
“Organizational health refers to how effectively leaders make decisions, allocate resources, operate day to day, and lead their teams with the goal of delivering high performance, both near term and over time.4” The only way to measure and ensure organizational health is to conduct periodic strategic planning.
How is Strategic Planning conducted?
I have attended many strategic planning sessions in my lifetime. I served on four Councils of the American Dental Association and strategic planning was conducted by every one of them on a periodic basis. I have also attended strategic planning sessions hosted by the New York Dental Association—and most recently–by the Arizona Dental Association. Strategic planning with direction provided by dental practice management consultants helped to advance my dental practice. Looking back at all these sessions, I have noticed a common pattern.
This year—as President-elect of the AADEJ [American Association of Dental Editors and Journalists]–I have been tasked with conducting a strategic planning session. While I have attended many strategic planning sessions, I have never actually tried to host one.
To ensure that I don’t make a complete fool out of myself, I have engaged in a great deal of research on how to execute a strategic planning session. This research has led me to create a PowerPoint outline with 55 slides organized for hosting a strategic planning session. The presentation outlines and explains every step of the process. Each step is designed to elicit brainstorming and discussion.
The presentation will be tweaked by a selected committee early this year and later presented to AADEJ members and interested writers, editors, journalists and publishers during a special zoom strategic planning session. The purpose of the session is to solicit ideas and suggestions for charting a new and exciting future for the AADEJ. The desired outcome is the creation of a practical plan that can be easily implemented by AADEJ leadership.
What are the main elements of a strategic planning session?
- Mission Statement: A mission statement, notes Tumisang Bugwasi, CEO and Founder of Brimco, “is a concise declaration of an organization’s core purpose, values, and reason for existing. It communicates what the organization does, who it serves, and the value it aims to create.5” The mission statement:
-
- Describes the organization’s core purpose and goals.
- Guides strategy, culture, and internal decision‑making.
- Communicates value to stakeholders, team members and customers.
The Mission Statement Guide created by Nonprofit Hub points out that “a mission statement can never be static…It must shift as the organization develops and as times change…The level of competition for resources and market share is increasing. Organizations without clearly defined goals and objectives risk losing out on valuable customers, volunteers, and employees.6”
- Vision Statement: A vision statement is a concise declaration that outlines the desired long-term impact and change the organization aims to achieve. It serves as an inspirational guide, articulating what the future will look like if the organization successfully fulfills its mission.7 While a mission statement describes the present, a vision statement describes the desired future, aspirations and long-term goals of the organization. The Vision Statement paints a picture of the successful application of the Mission Statement.
- Strategic Plan: The strategic plan is derived from a process in which an organization’s leaders delineate steps that are necessary to realize the vision for the future. Strategic planning focusses on long-term outcomes. It differs from traditional business planning, which focuses on short-term goals. The end product of strategic planning is a written strategic plan–a concise document that can be easily shared, understood and followed. Strategic planning should be undertaken periodically to consider the effect of changing trends in business and industry, as well as new legal and regulatory developments.8
The strategic planning process begins with a thorough “SWOT analysis,” an acronym that stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. “A SWOT analysis,” says Will Kenton, Vice-President of Content for Investopedia, “is a realistic, fact-based, data-driven review of an organization.9” It identifies competitive position, assesses internal and external issues, and evaluates current and future potential.
The strategic plan document is created from the SWOT analysis using the “GOST” system. The “GOST” acronym stands for Goals, Objectives, Strategies and Tactics. Goals and Objectives can be categorized as “what” to focus on, while strategies and tactics form the specifics of “how” to achieve the stated goals and objectives.10
- Evaluation. The last step in the strategic planning process is to evaluate the effectiveness of the plan. This step is called the “retrospective” a.k.a. “post-mortem;” and consists of analyzing what went well, what didn’t go well and what can be improved. “Creating an action plan during a post-mortem meeting,” says sales and marketing expert Arielle Yen, “is a crucial step in ensuring that lessons learned from past projects or events are effectively translated into tangible improvements.10” Tangible improvements that are measurable always have the best chance of succeeding—and that is why a documented plan created with basic principles of strategic planning leaves the articulation of nebulous resolutions in the dust (on the shelf in the closet).
It is to recognize that strategic plans—even when they are effective–can never be set in stone. An old Yiddish proverb warns that “man plans and God laughs.” “Everyone has a plan,” agrees boxer Mike Tyson, “till they get punched in the mouth.11” It may be necessary to alter or abandon strategies and tactics along the path of implementation. All battles involve pivot and parry, but perseverance is the key to winning. Never let the mission die or the vision grow dim.
1Caballero, Sam ACC CPTD; “Create a New Year’s Strategy vs. Resolutions;” Dec. 30, 2024;.
2Norris, Tim S MBA, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, CHBC; Why Is Strategic Planning So Important for Dental Practice Owners? March 18, 2025; https://www.thedentalcfo.com/blog/why-is-strategic-planning-so-important
3”Strategic Planning Basics: A Roadmap to Success;” Balanced Scorecard Institute; https://balancedscorecard.org/strategic-planning-basics/.
4Camp, Alex; Gast, Arne; Goldstein, Drew; Weddle, Brooke; “Organizational health is (still) the key to long-term performance;” Feb. 2024; https://www.conferencegroupllc.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/organizational-health-is-still-the-key-to-long-term-performance-McKinsey.pdf
5Bugwasi, Tumisang; “Practical Guide to Mission Statements; ”https://www.brimco.io/terms/mission-statement/
6”A Step-by-Step Exercise for Creating a Mission Statement;” Nonprofit Hub; https://nonprofithub.org/missionstatementguide/
7from ChatGPT Search
8Hanna, Katie Terrell; Bigelow, Stephen J.; Pratt, Mary K.; “Strategic Planning;” Mar. 19, 2025; https://www.techtarget.com/searchcio/definition/strategic-planning
9Kento Will; “SWOT: What Is It, How It Works, and How to Perform an Analysis;” https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/swot.asp; August 27, 2025; Reviewed by Ciera Murry and Fact checked by Ariel Courage.
10Yen, Arielle; “The Five Steps of the Strategic Planning Process;” July 2, 2025; https://www.mural.co/blog/strategic-planning-process
11Wright, Nicholas; “A Neuroscientist’s Advice on New Year’s Resolutions;” Time Magazine; December 28, 2025; https://time.com/7342704/new-year-resolutions/
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