As Humpty-Dumpty said "When I use a word, it means exactly what I mean it to mean, no more and no less."

Every strategic planning process uses terms a bit differently. For Total Quality Planning™ we have streamlined and unified the many planning concepts. (This grew from an observation that a significant amount of time was being wasted arguing over the difference between related terms. The subtle differences might add value for a Fortune 500 company but for those of us not quite there yet, it proved wasteful and worse, confusing. It's as if you asked what color something was - expecting red or orange and the facilitator started talking about pink, rose, blush and tangerine, kumquat, nectarine.

These definitions align with the Progress Pyramid™, the structure that unifies the disparate elements of strategic planning.

Action Plan

Action Plan: An organization of personal commitments that serve as a vehicle for causing a strategic goal to become a reality. It is comprised of:

• A Strategic Goal statement – a pithy one-liner that captures the spirit of the required change in status quo.
• A Champion and Co-Champions –folks who are accountable for shepherding the goal to completion.
• A list of Key Result Measures – the complete, specific set of outcomes that define completion.
• A set of 90 day Milestones – specific actions to be finished in the next days and weeks that create results.

Champion

Champion: A named individual, the planning team’s best mix of passion and competence, for shepherding a Strategic Goal over the next 12-18 months. They decide how the goal gets done while remaining accountable for what gets done through delivery of the team-set key result measures and operating through plans that are written, understood, reviewed, and approved. An individual is the champion of one and only one goal. They and their Co-champions are the forward wedge to personally guarantee that their goal is moving forward and will be completed as rapidly and completely as possible. They plow the road garnering support and resources. They know the current state of progress on their goal at all times. They build and maintain corporate awareness and support. They represent the consensus and commitment of the entire planning team.

Co-champion(s)

Co-champion(s): One or more named individuals who would be the Champion of a strategic goal if the planning team didn’t have someone with a stronger match of passion and competence.

Market

Market: A collection of prospects with common needs that can be met by products your product group can develop, your sales team can deliver and your customer services group can support. Markets can be defined by job title, application, industry, geography, etc.

Product

Product: The manifestation of the value you create for your customer. The "thing" they pay you for. Sometimes it is a physical thing like cable, screws, or disks and sometimes it is an intangible things such as advice.

Mission

Mission: Your chosen approach over the next 3-5 years to fulfill your vision. It is an affirmation of:

• Who we want to be
• What we want to do
• Who we want to do it for, and
• Why we do it.

Vision

Vision: The embodiment of your organization’s internal gyroscope consisting of its core purpose and values and long-term big hairy audacious goal.

End User

End User: The individual(s) who ultimately use your product(s). If your product does not meet the needs of the ultimate user there will be no motivation on the part of your customer to buy them. (For example, end users of Dove soap ask Safeway, your potential customer, to carry the product.)

Customer

Customer: Someone who buys from you more than once over the recent past – typically over the last 1-2 years. The customer can be recognized as the one with the open wallet. (There may be many end users of your service that your products must attract and service but if you don’t also meet the needs of the customer you will never make a sale!)

Sale