Strategic Planning
Mike Allison is one of the leaders who defined strategic planning for the nonprofit sector, and he continues to expand and develop his thinking and practice in the area. - Jan Masaoka, Blue Avocado
The premise of the book Jude Kaye and I wrote is that strategic planning is a process designed to make decisions and build commitment – the process can be short or long, expensive or not, and involve hundreds of people or just a few. It all depends on the situation. The key is that and the leaders of an organization are able to step back and consider the challenges and questions they face in order to chart a course to travel over the next few years.
The first chapter of our book provides more detail about our approach and the choices that need to be made about the design of the planning process.
My approach to strategic planning has evolved over the last several years to put more emphasis on business planning. What this means is that the discussion of strategy is balanced with the discussion of execution on that strategy. Execution is a function of the business model of an organization (where revenue comes from and how the organizations spends money to accomplish its mission – program structure, administration and fund development) as well as the ongoing processes for planning and management. In practice this means that we need to look at each “business line” of the organization, assess its fit with the strategy and its revenue to expense ratio.
I choose my clients because the work of each organization is deeply meaningful to me. I do strategic planning because I think it helps my clients do a better job. And I love what I do because I get to work with smart, fun people who are changing the world and because I enjoy the puzzle-solving aspect of strategic planning and organization development.
My clients choose me because they are looking for a partner who can to “enter their story,” help them look down the road and figure out what they want to see happen in the next couple of chapters.
On one level I see this work quite simply: “where do we want to go and how are we going to get there?” Usually part of the answer to these questions is not that complicated. A lot can be learned from an organization’s history and experience, from other organizations, best practices, and the like. On another level the work is endlessly new and often complex because each situation is unique. I often work with an organization through more than one planning cycle over many years. Each time, while the essence of the mission may be unchanged, the specific challenges and areas of uncertainty are different.
Partly I see myself as a wilderness guide taking people safely through the journey of strategic planning, adapting the “trip” to the needs and resources of the group. At the same time I see myself as a partner in problem solving. A “facilitator of positive change.”
Recently I received what I consider to be a high compliment. A staff member at a concluding retreat summed up his experience this way: “this has been great, it hasn’t been like other strategic planning I’ve been part of, this has actually been helpful!” For me, that’s the bottom line.
