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This is the fourth part of a series of posts on the mistakes organizations make in strategic planning. In previous posts, I have explored a number of mistakes that organizations make. These include plans that:
Not Allocating Enough time Some organizations make their process and plan too complicated. While others go in the other direction by under estimating what is needed for a strong planning process. They do not allow enough time and do not allocate enough resources to support the process. This can lead to a rushed process that results in a superficial analysis. This often ends up with business as usual – even if there is a grand vision – because there was not sufficient thought put into the implications of the plan. Not really wanting to change Rushing the process can also be a symptom of the most fundamental reason a planning process will fail – not really wanting to change. If influential stakeholders do not really want to make the changes that some are advocating for in the organization. Or if they are not willing to make hard choices, the plan will likely fail. Are the stakeholders are truly bought in to the new vision? Or alternatively – people want change and yet are not willing to do the things that would get them there. The desire is not enough. It is like saying, “we want to be innovative, we just don’t want to do anything new.” There may be lip service to change but underneath the commitment is not there. Resistance Often times people bemoan ‘resistance,’ demonizing the people they label as resisters. There is often talk of how to overcome resistance. A better approach is to investigate what is motivating the resistance. Approach those who are working against or just not working towards the envisioned changes and talk with them. Learn about what is going on with them – what are their fears and hopes? There often are good reasons for their resistance and addressing their concerns can strengthen the plan. There may be more common ground than you realize. So what will increase your likelihood for success?
Want to talk about how you might apply this at your organization? Book a coaching session. This is the third part of a series of posts on the mistakes nonprofit organizations make in strategic planning. The first reviewed how plans lacking buy in from key stakeholders usually end up gathering dust on the shelf as well as how to avoid that outcome. The second explored how some planning processes do not ground themselves in real data, relying instead on anecdotes. I also discussed how visioning can sometimes go too far, creating plans that lack connection to the organization’s actual capacity. In this third post, I will discuss two additional mistakes that get in the way of an organization having a successful planning process. Overly Complicated Getting overly complicated can show up a few different ways. Sometimes it’s the process itself. Organizations trip themselves us when they try to tackle too many strategic issues through one planning process. The process gets bogged down. People forget why they started the process in the first place. At the end of an overly complicated process, people are often so tired that they have little energy to implement the wonderful plan they have just created. Keep your focus on 2-3 major strategic issues and keep the process moving for success. The plan itself can also be overly complicated. A strategic plan that ends up too long and too detailed often tries to nail down all the actions steps in advance. The big ideas get lost in the pages and pages of graphs and Gantt charts. Keep the strategic plan itself simple – a few pages with 3-5 big goals that will orient the work of the organization. The details should go in an implementation plan, focusing on the first year’s work plan. Failure to operationalize Failing to operationalize the plan is one of the most frequently mentioned challenges by consultants working with organizations on strategic planning. When your strategic plan is not connected to your regular management practices, you set yourself up for failure. Staff and volunteer work plans need to be driven by the large strategic goals with details on what action steps will move the organization closer to those goals. I worked at one organization at which a lot of effort was expended to connect volunteer groups actions to the strategic plan. Yet the strategic plan had no impact on staff work plans. This practice missed a key element to increase the likelihood of the plan’s success. Budgeting is a second key area for operationalizing the plan. Remembering that a budget is nothing more than a plan in numbers, when the budget does not support the strategic goals then progress is unlikely. Are new initiatives being adequately supported with investment? Monitoring progressBe sure to create a process for monitoring progress and making tweaks to the plan as needed. Staff and volunteers should be reviewing it regularly, acknowledging and celebrating where progress has been made and adjusting as appropriate. Keep it simpleSo keep it simple – both in your planning process and in writing the plan itself. Think about how you will operationalize the plan and integrate it into the your regular management practices at the beginning of the process.
Want to talk about how you might apply this at your organization? Book a coaching session. The primary mistake that nonprofit organizations make in strategic planning is failing to fully engage their constituents to get buy in to the plan. “Getting buy in” too often takes on the meaning of, “I have told you what I want and what we will be doing” and then I assume because I have ‘communicated’ that to you, you are by definition ‘bought in.’ I write more extensively about this mistake in this blog post. Other mistakes include a plan that is based on anecdotes rather than data as well as a plan that is not truly grounded in reality. Anecdotes rather than data How are you integrating reliable data into your process? When you are doing your scan of the external environment, are you just relying on the observations of those in the room at the planning retreat, or are you doing some searching for research on current trends in your field? Think about asking 1-2 people working on your strategic plan to gather reports and research, summarize it and share it with the larger group. What data do you already have available about your organization? And how are you using it to inform your thinking? What data is missing? How can you gather it? Your up front data gathering with constituents that could include interviews, focus groups and/or surveys will also give you a wider and more grounded view. Be aware of not letting your thinking be swayed by the most recent member/constituent conversation you have had. Pie in Sky Planning Organizations usually look for ways to stretch themselves and set ambitious goals during a strategic planning process. But when it is going too far? When your strategic planning group gets caught up in grand visions, the plan can have little connection to reality. Have you considered what it will take to get from here to your vision? Does the plan just add new things? Have you made decisions about what you are going to stop? When your goals are so lofty or such a departure from what you are currently doing, the plan is likely to end up just talk.
Ground your thinking in research and data, create stretch goals that are also realistic to achieve. These leading practices will help ensure that your plan will be put into action rather than just sitting on the shelf. Thinking of engaging in a strategic planning process with your organization and want to learn more? Get in touch with me for a complementary coaching session. One of the most common mistakes is to start too small. Thinking you want to keep the process under control, senior management and the board often starts with themselves. These two groups have a pivotal role in strategic planning but its better if you shift their biggest involvement to later in the process. The traditional processTraditionally, the entire process is held by a small leadership group. A few key players may be interviewed. A survey could be used to gather information from a wider set of stakeholders. The small leadership group has a retreat and comes up with a draft plan. They then ask for input from their stakeholders. This feels efficient and manageable. Yet the stakeholders who are asked for input after the major work has been done are likely to feel like this is a proforma request. Even if the document says “draft”, it usually feels like there is not a lot of room for change. As a result, the feedback you receive is often superficial. You may even disengage your stakeholders rather than get the ‘buy-in’ you are seeking. Flip the script Instead flip the script and start big. Identify your key stakeholders and gather as many representatives together as possible. Bring them together for a 1-2 day summit. You may not believe it, but you can have over 100 people in the room and still have a productive conversation. With the support of dialogue technology, you can have even larger meetings – up to 1000 people participating – and have a productive conversation. Everyone does not have to be in the room as there are ways to engage people online as well. Some tips include:
Inviting anarchy? Sounds like anarchy? With a good meeting design, it is highly energizing for both the stakeholders and the leadership. Bringing people into the process early helps them feel heard. They feel like they have a real chance to influence the end result. You are engaging them before the major goals of the plan are selected. Time to prioritize The small leadership group now makes meaning of the information generated in the larger session. They shape it into a strategic plan, aiming for a few major organizational goals. By flipping the script and starting large, you have the benefit of many people’s thinking, you help them feel heard and your small leadership group still shapes the final product.
Thinking of engaging in a strategic planning process with your organization and want to learn more? Get in touch with me for a complementary coaching session. Some have argued that strategic planning is dead. They argue that the world moves too fast and changes too quickly to make planning meaningful. In today’s “VUCA” – volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous – a world characterized by disruption - you just cannot plan for the future. They point out that the practice of long-term planning rose to the forefront during the 50s and 60s when the rate of change was slower. Reactivity Certainly the rate of change may seem dizzying today. Or perhaps it is the rate and volume of information coming at us that makes it seem like everything is moving too fast (but that is another topic altogether). Yet I would contend that without planning–especially longer term strategic planning or strategic thinking—you leave your organization prone to either business as usual or staying caught in a cycle of reactivity. Predicting the Future? Strategic planning does not enable you to predict the future. I think there is a hidden assumption that in order to do strategic planning effectively you have to somehow know the future. This trips people up. Even futurists cannot accurately predict the future though they spend their professional lives watching trends and making educated guesses. What is strategic planning? I like Allison and Kaye’s definition: “A systematic process through which an organization agrees on and builds key stakeholder commitment to priorities that are essential to its mission and responsive to the organizational environment.” Taking Stock Engaging in the process does enable your organization to step back, consider where you are, where you have been and set some intentions about where you want to head next. Eighty five percent of organizations say that they engage in some sort of strategic planning on a regular basis. It enables you to think about some possible futures and then make decisions about which you would like to see materialize. It does not, obviously, guarantee that you will make it all happen. Setting Intentions & Staying Flexible With flexibility built into both the plan and the process, investing the time in strategic planning sets up your organization for success. By taking stock of both external trends and internal capacities, then setting targets for how you will proactively work towards your mission, you take charge of your future. At the same time, remembering that a plan is just that – a plan – and you will need to adjust it as circumstances change. Using the process as an opportunity to define criteria for how you will make decisions about future strategic opportunities and challenges, you will be better prepared when unexpected things pop up.
Thinking of engaging in a strategic planning process with your organization and want to learn more? Get in touch with me for a complementary coaching session. |
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April 2024
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Grace Social Sector Consulting, LLC, owns the copyright in and to all content in, including transcripts and audio of the Mission: Impact podcast and all content on this website, with all rights reserved, including right of publicity.
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