Plans that become out-of-date do so usually because they are flawed from the start. A common flaw is confusing strategic planning with action planning. Action planning is about detailed tactics and steps (the how) within a range of 18 to 24 months. Strategic planning represents big-picture thinking about vision and strategic focus (the what) that reach beyond the horizon, four to five years.
The best strategic plans anticipate possibilities, create flexibility, and are relevant to the organization's environment.
Boards are engaged when they feel that they are connected and contributing. Involvement in establishing a shared vision and setting direction for the organization is one of the main ways to do that. It creates a sense of ownership and commitment hard to achieve otherwise. In addition, establishing the vision and developing strategic directions gives board members better, in-depth knowledge of the organization, which in turn gives them a fuller appreciation of their roles.
Create a context for planning. Accounting for the facts and forces around you is the only way to ensure that your plan will yield an outcome that is relevant. Your planning will be better when it is informed by more than just your own perceptions. Four sources of information essential to providing the necessary context include:
Because we do not live in a static world, regularly update the context, monitor the plan, and adjust as necessary.
We think of mission as the description of the business you are in. It should capture the fundamental role and purpose of your organization. Vision is what you hope and dream your organization will think like, act like, and be like as it fulfills its mission at a future date.
Visions are revisited every four or five years because they recognize new realities that suggest relevant changes in the way your organization fulfills its mission. Changing a mission is radical (not changing the words but, rather, the meaning). It is dangerous work; proceed with caution.
Performance should be measured by the advancement of your strategies toward your organizational objectives. Measuring yourself against other organizations' performance can be very misleading. Strategies and objectives developed in the context of your organization's history, environment, and the views of your constituencies, are the only ones that are relevant.
Evaluation should be an integral part of planning and implementation from the beginning. Be sure to give careful consideration to determining the measures.
Check one or more:
. . . because keeping administrative expense low is an imperative with our board.
It is not about expense. It is about investment in potential and increased effectiveness.
Too often, philanthropic organizations are locked in the Nonprofit Poverty Syndrome (NPS). Low salaries, inadequate equipment and facilities, and understaffing are hailed as honorable traits in organizations with NPS. How honorable is the resultant inefficiency and shrinking productivity? NPS erodes effectiveness in fulfilling your mission. A trait that should be hailed as honorable is ensuring that investments made in staffing, professional and organizational development, and infrastructure increase effectiveness, because they are tied directly to advancing organizational objectives.
First, cheap consultations are just that - and generally worth the price you pay. Meeting your objectives successfully is far more important than hiring the low bidder. Don't shop by price.
Second, sending out a bunch of RFPs to 'see what's out there' usually does not work. Many firms don't reply to RFPs that just show up in the mail. They assume the RFP went out to a long list. The busy firms are not inclined to put a lot, if anything, into a proposal because their chances are so slim. Firms that spend a lot of time on responding to widely cast RFPs apparently are not very busy.
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