Strategic planning involves a variety of intrapersonal and interpersonal skills, and each phase of the process may require different approaches in order to be successful. This Application Assignment asks you to consider what the most critical skills and tools are for strategy formulation.

Prepare for this Application Assignment as follows:

• Review the Learning Resources, especially the "Strategy Formulation" and "Human Motivation and Organizational Performance" media segments, as needed. Note the recommendations that you think are most valuable. Consider the following questions as you do this:

• What steps are involved in the formulation of strategy?

• How would you ensure that stakeholder input is considered appropriately?

• What are some of the major pitfalls that might be encountered during this phase of the process? How would you address them? What factors might promote success?

• For this week's Discussion, you were asked to think about what you would do to facilitate the strategic thinking and collaboration required for strategy formulation. Evaluate the ideas that you and your group members discussed. Also analyze the experience you had as part of your Discussion group: What challenges did you encounter in working together? What factors were important for your collaboration?

• Look at the "Tool Selector Chart" and browse through the tools in the Memory Jogger 2. Which of the tools included in this book do you think would be most helpful to facilitate strategy formulation?

• Finally, select one or more intrapersonal abilities; one or more interpersonal skills; and one or more tools that you think are particularly beneficial for strategy formulation. Consider how you would incorporate stakeholder input and effectively navigate the steps of strategy formulation.