Strategic Planning - Why Bother?

Yep - I said it. Right out loud. Why even bother with strategic planning for your organization?

Heresy? Or truth? Here's a likely scenario: The organization's board and staff leaders invest considerable time and money into a one or two day planning session. Of course, they spend time filling in the squares on a SWOT analysis, and they discuss and discuss and discuss important things.. They argue about whether something should be labeled as a strategy, a goal, or a tactic.

At the end of the second day (heaven forbid it is longer than that) the result is often a laundry list of things the organization should accomplish in the next 5 or 10 years, set out in something that looks like this:

I.   Important Words Here
    A.   Some more words abut the Important Words
         i.   A few more words
             a.   Words
                 ii.   More

A facilitator puts together a lengthy report full of more words that is supposed to show how much value they have added to the process, everyone gets a copy and promptly files it away with an audible sigh and checks that off the Things To Do This Year List and quickly files the plan on a shelf. There on the shelf, the Strategic Planning Document gathers dust.

I suggest that this scenario is what gives most strategic planning a bad name. I've sat through these deadly and drawn out sessions as a board member and have been discouraged as a result. The "plan" described above is not a plan - it is an outline! Key elements are missing in the outline: who is responsible and when the action willget done.

No wonder this type of strategic planning doesn't generate enthusiasm and doesn't result in action and outcomes. And no wonder it sits on a shelf gathering dust.

Instead, I'll offer some key points that I have learned as a facilitator about making strategic planning not only a fun and energizing process, but one that really can move mountain for an organization.

1. Keep it short and sweet, focused on outcomes and results, not just talk. If this isn't the first planning session, one day of well-focused work should be all that is required to review the current plan, evaluate progress and set priorities and goals for the coming year.

2. I am often asked to facilitate a process to establish a 5 or 10 year strategic plan, and I decline. Here's why. There is no urgency to get to work on a plan that plans that far out. Those who write that plan are likely to have moved on before anyone gets motivated to work on it, and the new volunteers and staff have no ownership of the long-range plan. And, at the fast pace everything is moving today, that long range plan could be obsolete in several months.

3. Instead of developing a such long range plan, try writing a 5 or 10 year Vision for the organization. State what you want to have accomplished in 5 or 10 years. Then, review the mission statement to be sure it will address the long term vision. Adjust as need be. As a group, come to consensus on 3-5 key priorities to achieve the long range vision that will provide focus for board and staff for the coming 12 to 18 months.

4. Establish committees or task forces of both board and staff that will focus on the 12- to 18-month priorities. Appoint (or get volunteer) committee chairs. Ask everyone present to sign up for the committee(s) they most want to work on.

5. Break into the committees and draft preliminary action plans for each priority that lists Key Activities, Responsibility and Target Dates for completion. Share preliminary plans with the entire group. Require each committee to flesh out their plan within the next 30 days to be presented to the full board.

6. Keep the plan alive! Don't put it on the shelf! Format the agenda for upcoming board and staff meetings to include a review and progress report on the status of the individual plans to keep everyone focused on the desired outcomes set at the planning meeting.

An easy and workable agenda for the planning meeting might look like this:

1. Opening remarks, plan for the day and outcomes to be achieved.
2.  Discussion and consensus: 5 Year Vision.
3.  Mission review if required.
4.  Review and evaluate progress on the previous year's plan.
5.  Discussion and consensus: priorities needed to achieve 5 Year Vision.
6.  Establishment of committees to address priorities.
7.  Committees draft preliminary plans.
8.  Draft plans shared.
9.  Next steps and adjourn.

Here is a simple format to use for the committee action plans:

Column 1               Column 2               Column 3          Column 4
Key Activities        Responsibility       Target Date       Status (reported a board and staff meetings)

Would this work for your organization?  Try it! 

Share your best and worst strategic planning experiences.

Jean Block, Jean Block Consulting, Inc.
www.jblockinc.com
jean@jblockinc.com