This post looks at five key lessons learned from working on strategic planning with many small to medium sized not for profits. 1. Do the upfront work on the external environment and your organization. This will ground the strategic plan. Without it, the plan is based the opinion of the people around the table, which […]
This post discusses how to develop a workable action plan to implement strategic goals. Strictly speaking this is not strategic planning but it’s vital to ensure the time spent on the strategic plan isn’t wasted – the odds that it will be implemented without an action plan are small. The first thing you need is […]
The last post described a process for brainstorming responses to the strategic analysis done during the situation review, the mission and vision revisit and the strategic positioning discussions. This post describes how to take that work and create strategies and goals. A strategy statement is a statement of strategic intent. For example, your program strategy […]
At this point in the strategic planning process you have looked at the internal and external situation, identified key trends that will impact your organization and your clients, confirmed your mission and vision and developed a consensus about how you want to be positioned in the future. The next step is to ask yourself – […]
By this point in the strategic planning process you’ve gathered information, examined the external and internal situation and confirmed your mission and vision. Now, it’s time to look at some broad strategy questions. Generally, it is a good idea to look at funding first, using the tool below to guide the discussion. This can […]
Most organizations have a mission statement, but many Board members and senior staff can’t articulate it well. Most paraphrase with some degree of accuracy. The mission statement is critical – it should explain why you exist, and more importantly, it should be a touchstone for Board decision making. The mission revisit (which usually follows the […]
Before looking to the future, it is vital to determine your organization’s current situation (internally and externally) and identify key trends that will impact you and your clients. External Situation You need to ask questions about your environment and how it is changing: • What trends do you see in your clients and your community? […]
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 […]
Strategic planning, like vacation planning, could be creative and fun. But, then, it could be serious and downright difficult. For those of us who have experiences of planning a vacation together with our family members or friends may note that it could be exciting and eye-popping. And, at times, it could be difficult to manage […]
Small to medium not for profits are operating in a changing environment and need to do effective strategic planning to be successful. But they have limited resources to dedicate to a strategic planning process. Too often, the ‘strategic plan’ is a wish list rather than a reflection of a series of strategic decisions. And too […]
