Katlyn Straub, Consultant
Strategic planning may have a reputation for being just another “to-do” – some even go as far as arguing against the merits of a strategic plan – but it’s time to flip that misconception on its head and get excited about your organization’s future!
“If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” – Benjamin Franklin
Let’s assume that failure isn’t what your organization is seeking, but rather success and reinvigoration. Last month you read about why planning is important and that yes, it DOES matter.
But how do you actually do it? What does planning look like? Who needs to be involved? How long should it take? When should it be applied? What’s the process?
First, let’s review the basic outcomes of strategic planning:
Vision: Change to be made for preferred future
Mission: What you do/for whom
Goals: What you will achieve in 3-5 years
The vision, mission, and goals are developed throughout the strategic planning process. You may already have some or all of these, but when was the last time you reviewed and revised (or simply reconfirmed) them? How have current factors (hello pandemic) impacted them?
Is the vision and mission clear and on target in today's operating environment and the direction in which the organization is growing? Does it raise any specific questions or concerns? If so, what should we do about them? How, if at all, should anything be changed?
These are just some of the questions that can be asked and evaluated as part of the strategic planning process. That process can be driven in the following phases:
(Source: Adapted from Allison/Kaye: “Strategic Planning for Nonprofit Organizations”, The Support Center for Nonprofit Management, 1997)
What happens in each of these phases? Let’s dive in.
Phase 1:
Getting ready is all about confirming board readiness and commitment. Does each board member agree on the need to engage in strategic planning? If not, finding consensus is key to moving forward. As part of that consensus-building, it is important to understand that the greatest value strategic planning provides is ultimately in the journey, not the destination. It is a process—one of discovery, clarification, and even relationship-building. What is learned along the way is what generates the ability of boards and staff to govern and manage with greater intentionality and impact.
Phase 2:
After everyone is on board, it’s time to assess the environment. What external factors exist that may impact your organization in the next 5-10 years (political, economic, technological, social, competitive, philanthropic, etc.)? What are emerging market trends? What about inside the organization? How does the internal infrastructure look or how is it changing (personnel, fundraising, physical building, management, governance, programs and services, etc.)? Gathering this information can be done by interviewing or surveying a broad group of stakeholders (including board, staff, volunteers, donors, etc.) as well as conducting basic research. This assessment serves to ultimately inform your mission and vision. It may even serve as a litmus test for your current mission and vision.
Phase 3:
Then it’s time to set your mission and vision. If these already exist, reviewing and either reconfirming or revising is the task at hand – remember, these are the pillars on which your organization stands.
NOTE: Often the words "mission" and "vision" are used interchangeably, but they are distinct in an important way:
Mission describes "general purpose"
Vision describes "future direction"
The vision statement describes what you want your organization to look like in ideal terms in the future - the results we will be achieving and characteristics your organization will need to possess in order to achieve those results. The strategic vision statement provides direction and inspiration for goal setting. The mission statement is a broad description of what you do, with/for whom you do it, your distinctive competence, and WHY you do it (your ultimate end).
Phase 4:
Next up in the process: agreement on priorities. This step is two-fold: identification and discussion of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT analysis) and then identification and prioritization of critical issues. Since you have already performed an environmental assessment, SWOT identification becomes relatively easy and obvious as external, internal, and market forces have already been identified.
A SWOT analysis studies the individual factors influencing ability to fulfill mission. An internal strength or weakness is something over which the organization has direct control (location, staff, hours, policies, procedures, etc.). If the board can do something about it, it is an internal strength or weakness. If it is not something over which the board has control – if the board can't do something about it – it’s an external opportunity or threat (population shifts, the economy, people's value system, competition, employment levels, work force, etc.). A SWOT analysis leads to the identification of critical issues—those issues that, if not addressed, will result in profound consequences.
Critical issues are fundamental policy or program concerns that define the most important situations and choices an organization faces now and in the future. Critical issues can reflect long-standing problems in the organization, the community served or recent events that have a significant impact on the organization itself and/or the community served. Critical issues can also reflect major shifts in thinking that challenge business as usual.
The selection of critical issues is important because it determines the range of decisions the board will consider as it plans for the future. Once your critical issues have been prioritized, you can develop your strategic goals. Goal statements are consistent with the mission and are broad statements of what will be achieved in the next three to five years. Ultimately, these goals attempt to address the critical issues that have been articulated. The goals are the solutions to the problem the issue presents. Goals focus on outcomes or results and are qualitative in nature.
Phase 5:
At this point the pieces of your strategic plan have been identified and simply need to be put together. Now, it’s time to write your strategic plan. Keep it simple. It is intentionally high-level. Remember, a strategic plan is generally intended for 3-5 years and guides decision-making at both the governance and management level of operations.
After the strategic plan has been written and refined, it’s time to send to staff for implementation!
Stay tuned for the implementation process…and happy Thanksgiving!
This Month’s Non-Profit Whisperer
From serving as a non-profit executive director, to planning large scale events in D.C., and also working in both alumni relations and development capacities for her alma mater, Katlyn Straub's career track evidences a diverse repertoire of skills.
