What does a strategic plan ensure?

• A. Individual department silos
• B. Staff and stakeholders working towards a common goal
• C. IT system integration
• D. Risk avoidance at all costs

Answer: (B)

A strategic plan centers on alignment across the organization. It creates a shared direction by defining goals, priorities, and milestones and by outlining how resources, decisions, and actions will be coordinated. When people and units understand how their work fits into a common objective, communication improves, accountability increases, and progress can be measured against a single set of targets. This alignment is what makes the option describing staff and stakeholders working toward a common goal the best fit. The other ideas miss the essence: keeping departments isolated undermines coordination; focusing on IT system integration is about a tool or project rather than the overall direction; and trying to avoid all risk is neither practical nor how planning typically operates, since planning involves evaluating and managing risk to pursue opportunities.