Apply It!

The design of the strategic planning process is different for organizations in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. No matter how many steps it contains, the strong strategic planning process will guide the organization in developing strategies relevant to its capacities and environments.

Before designing a strategic planning process, it is important to consider previous planning endeavors: What has and hasn’t worked in the past?

The questions listed here can help an organization make the choices that will finalize its overall strategic planning process. Here’s how one organization answered (questions and answers adapted from Allison & Kaye, 2015, pp. 55–56):

• Who will lead the process?
  • Led by a consultant and the executive director and board member who is chair of SP Committee (need to decide how these co-lead roles will play out in real life)
• Membership of Strategic Planning Committee?
  • Three members of the board (president, chair of SP Committee, and one other board member) and five members of the staff (executive director, finance director, development director, and attorney who has been on staff the longest and heads our Family Law Project, as well as a junior attorney because retention issues are very important
• Who makes what decisions (who decides the strategic direction for the organization, and what degree of input is sought from the board and the staff)?
  • Hopefully we can reach consensus (decisions everyone is willing to live with and support) and have broad engagement by board and staff. Board is the final decision maker and approves the plan, but it’s important to have the total support and recommendations of senior staff.
• How extensive a planning process to have?
  • Our workplan needs to ensure that we complete the process within four months.
• Will we involve external stakeholders in addition to internal (board and staff) stakeholders?
  • Important to include external stakeholders, which is something we didn’t do during the last process.
• Do we want to hold some retreats or other large group gatherings, and what might be the appropriate timing of these meetings? (Are there special events, preset meetings, or deadlines that we might want to keep in mind?)
  • Before we start to write the plan, we need to schedule one all-day board/staff retreat, during which time we will make presentations in terms of priorities and get feedback and major decisions. We need to further discuss whether all staff should be invited to the retreat or only management team and program directors.
• Who will be the primary writer of the plan (with guidance from a consultant if necessary)?
  • Executive director with support of consultant
• Are we going to use a consultant and, if yes, how best to use a consultant (what are our expectations regarding the consultant’s role)?
  • We need major guidance as to how to efficiently do this process, and expect the consultant to both facilitate discussions, make recommendations about processes, and help us ask the hard questions.
• How will be keep the board and staff informed about the SP discussions and decisions?
  • At monthly board and staff meetings, SP Committee should make reports.
• Are there other considerations for the SP process that need to be factored in when designing our workplan?
  • We need to complete the process in time to fit in with our annual budget process.

Reference

Alexander, E. R. (2000). Rationality revisited: Planning paradigms in a post-postmodernist perspective. Journal of Planning Education and Research, 19, 242–256.

Allison, M., & Kaye, J. (2015). Strategic planning for nonprofit organizations: A practical guide for dynamic times (3^rd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

Christensen, K. S. (1999). Cities and complexity: Making intergovernmental decisions. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Kaplan, R. S., & Norton, D. P. (1996). The Balanced Scorecard: Translating strategy into action. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.