Dwight Eisenhower once said, “I have always found that plans are useless but planning is indispensable.” It was a great way to say that effective strategies are adaptable by nature, and that rigid lists of instructions won’t last long.

That said, a well-conceived and written strategic plan could be a helpful guide for the rollout of programs, policies, and processes—if it achieves some basic things. Note that most of these characteristics have less to do with a plans’ particular format and more to do with its practicality and clarity. To these ends, good strategic plans share the following characteristics, according to planning specialists.

Accountability—responsibility is assigned to specific people or groups for successful completion of initiatives.

Balance—the written plans provide guidance not only for financial decision-making, but also for operational and human resources issues.

Flexibility—a mechanism for regularly changing and updating the plan is built into the planning process.

Manageability—in-process monitoring and measures are identified to ensure processes are working as intended, critical performance issues are being addressed, required resources have been allocated, and methods of status reporting are in place and working.

Prioritization—priorities and sequences are established whenever there are multiple interdependent action plans.

Realism—the question of what the organization can actually do versus what it would like to do is addressed rationally, even though the tone is optimistic.

Specificity— expected results and milestones are clearly defined, along with the specific actions for implementation and the deliverables for each step.

Sustainability—a time period sufficiently long to close performance gaps is covered in the plan.