What are the four Basic elements of strategic management?

The vision or mission statement of your business or organization helps to define your purpose and your goals. Mission Statements that are too broad or too limiting will limit the company's ability to set effective goals and grow, so include specific objectives in your mission statement to prevent this.

Using the objectives outlined in your mission statement, the next step is to identify the goals of your business. Both long- and short-term goals should be developed with the intention of meeting these objectives. As goals are met, your objectives will change to match up with new goals.

Analyzing a task or set of goals will help you and your organization to determine the best way to delegate duties and responsibilities to individuals. This is the foundation of your strategic management plan. Identify individual steps and mini-goals and objectives within the larger goals and objectives, and assign these accordingly, making sure that everyone is aware of the part he plays in the plan. Set deadlines for the mini-goals, as well as a deadline for each goal and objective, to keep employees on track.

Once the process of meeting goals and objective begins, track the results through deadlines met (or not met). Are your goals and objectives realistic? Is your plan working? Post-project evaluation is also helpful when planning and strategizing for future projects.