Small to medium not for profits operate in an ever changing environment, and need effective strategic planning to be successful. Limited resources make this difficult, and often, the ‘strategic plan’ is a wish list rather than a reflection of strategic decisions. Small organizations can be overwhelmed by an inappropriate strategic planning process.
The strategic planning work of MAS has included using a fairly traditional approach to create a process that works for our client organizations. The process engages stakeholders, reviews critical information, and incorporates a series of strategic decisions.
The critical steps are:
- Situation review – what is the current situation, internally and externally?
- Mission and vision revisit – is the mission clear and relevant? Is there a shared, compelling vision?
- Strategic positioning – how is your organization positioned today and how do you want to be positioned?
- Strategy development – what must change
- Action plan – not part of the strategic plan but if you don’t do it you’ve wasted your time on the strategic plan.
There are as many strategic planning methodologies as there are strategic planners, but they should all address the points above. This blog series will explain how the steps above have been adapted for small to medium not for profits.
Want to learn more? Check our next blog, in several days, will look at outline the Planning process or click here to connect with us.
