Strategic planning: where to involve your board. Part 1.
There are many ways to develop your nonprofit’s strategic plan. Your plan might be:
- largely developed by your staff and presented to the board as a recommendation.
- recommended to the board by a strategic planning committee of board and staff (and maybe some outsiders) that meet over an extended period.
- created in one sitting by the board and senior staff.
I’m sure you can add other processes you’ve experienced.
While it’s hard to say there is any right way to do strategic planning, here are a few elements of the process that I believe are essential to its success:
• Personal investment
You’ve heard the common lament about plans that sit on the shelf. A big reason for that is the lack of personal investment in the plan. You’ll need to ensure your plan is supported by the leadership team that has to champion it and the people who have to carry it out.
• Data Collection
It’s nearly impossible to be strategic in the absence of data. For example, what is the actual scale of the community need you are trying to address? What is the impact that you are having now in comparison to that need? How are changes in demographics influencing your impact? What do stakeholders think about your organization, your people and your issues? Who else is doing effective work in this area? What is working and what isn’t?
• Predictions
An essential element of strategic thinking is making predictions about the future and then planning for those realities. What might your world look like 10 months, two years, ten years from now? What assumptions do you take for granted that if they were no long true you would see a dramatic impact on your ability to achieve your mission?
• Stakeholder support
Beyond your lunchroom or board room, your plan’s success also depends on getting your constituents, your funders and donors, and your partners to support the direction you are heading.
• Competence
Think of this as the ability to do the job well. Your strategic planning needs to result in good decisions.
• A planning process that adds value
Because of all the time devoted to planning, the process works best when your data gathering, community contacts and deliberation create new knowledge, strengthen relationships and build alignment, even before you get to the completion of the plan.
Board engagement in the planning process, then, should help to advance these essential elements.
In my next post, I’ll explore places and ways you can involve your board in your strategic planning.
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Other resources on strategic planning:
Strategic planning tips gleaned from the inventor of the granola bar
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