Preliminary Thoughts:

Your Strategic Planning Process should encapsulate the most robust, time-efficient planning techniques to provide a focused, vision driven strategic plan, with value added components that embed the strategic plan into the Governance and operational framework of the organisation. 

It should include powerful success measures, clear time-frames, a risk filter,  an ethics filter, strategic reporting frameworks and strategic thinking processes.

A powerful strategic plan has no need to be complex. It is simply the top 3 or 4 key things the Board agrees has to occur in the next 3 years, so that no matter what the future throws at us, we will be in good shape. We are prepared, we are proactive, and everyone within the organisation is working to create that future outlined in the strategic plan and the vision/mission.

So, here we go…

4 Key Components

There are four key components of any successful strategic plan:

1.  Well Informed – the strategy process is continuously updated through a deliberate search for new, alternative and early information (weak signals of change).

2. Well Considered – the strategy has considered a myriad of potential options and outcomes likely to emanate from those outcomes, including risks, ethical implications, and unexpected events.

3. Well Constructed – the strategy is written in such a way that ensures clear directions are set, operational prerogatives are defined, responsibility areas assigned and flexibility is catered for.

4. Well Implemented – the strategy is implemented to the best of the organisation’s ability, barriers to implementation are removed and the organisational actively seeks to learn from its results to improve further next time around.

Recommended Process

The following is the process we have found most effective for a Strategic Plan facilitation session:

•  Collection and analysis of key documents by facilitator (constitution, annual report, financials, last two Board minutes, strategic documents as agreed).

•  Agree who should be on the planning team. We recommend that the Board/senior staff be invited, plus key stakeholders who understand the environment in which you work e.g. key staff, key members, your major funding body etc. A team of between 15 to 20 people works very well.

•  Develop and circulate strategy survey to selected individuals including the planning team and key staff, collect survey returns and summarise relevant issues in readiness for planning team facilitation day.

•  The strategic  plan document should be written by your facilitator and available within 3 days of the strategic plan facilitation. This document should also include recommendations for implementation at Board and staff levels.

Here are the components to ensure you include in your strategic planning process. This does not need to be a loooong, drawn out process, it can be short, sharp, succinct and strategic.

1. Developing or reaffirming the Vision/Mission of your organisation.

2. Using your Vision/Mission statement as a strategic filter to develop and assess new and existing programs.

3. Developing measures of success for your organisation.

4. A Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Risks (SWOR) environmental filter analysis.

5. Analysis of survey returns and SWOR results.

6. The impact of identified risks on your risk management plan.

7. Developing the alternative key strategies for your organisation. Based on the vision and the SWOR, what are the top 3 or 4 key things we need to get right in the next 3 years?

8. Agreeing key strategies that will position your organisation for the future, no matter what happens.

9. Developing Action Plans to achieve the identified Strategies. There are usually 3 or 4 key actions that need to be undertaken to achieve the agreed strategy.

10. Impact analysis between the SWOR, Vision and Strategies. Is there anything missing of a strategic nature?

11. Establish the Strategic Action plans for all agreed strategies.  There are likely to be between three and four Action Plans per strategy.

12. Strategies for ensuring that the strategic plan is carried out at the various levels, including reviewing the strategic plan regularly, and strategic thinking processes.

13. Strategies for embedding the strategic plan into performance measures and job descriptions at all levels of the organisation.

14. Developing a Gantt chart to review timelines.

15. Say goodbye to the planning group.

16. A smaller group (CEO, Chair and facilitator) should continue to meet for around 3 hours to finalise the strategic plan, finish the operational action plans and ensure that timelines are reasonable. Strategic plan reporting formats that integrate with the Board agenda should be considered. Each Action Plan must include the project scope, the resources necessary for implementation, a start date, finish date, project manager, success measures, ethical considerations and risk identification.

Online considerations

This process is very effective when conducted ON-LINE, and usually will take about 3 hours of focused discussion and analysis with the full planning group. There is then a further 3 hours required as per step 16 above.

Ensure you have a really good facilitator who can ask the key questions . This can be a staff member, a Board member, a colleague, just make sure they are really good at facilitating, chairing, summarising and managing the flow of conversations. Their key role is to keep everyone focused and not let tangential conversations get in the way.

We have found the Zoom video platform provides the greatest flexibility and interactivity, although some other platforms may also be suitable for your needs.

The Zoom platform allows shared screens for multiple participants, impressive interactivity and stability, screen sharing, file downloading and the ability to be viewed on computers, tablets or phones.

Develop templates for the key components outlined above, have your facilitator, or a dedicated scribe, type the responses into these templates, share your screen as you are doing this, then at step 8 above, send the completed templates to all participants by email, or as a downloadable file from zoom. This forms the basis for the discussion and agreement of Section 8-16 of the process above.