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BASIC PRINCIPLES FOR DESIGNING A STRATEGIC PLANNING PROCESS

To be good, any strategic planning process must be tailored to the particular organization andcircumstances; it will look different every time. Below is an approach to designing an

appropriate strategic planning process.

1. Decide on the Goals

There are many reasons for doing strategic planning and it can be done at many levels. Goalsmight include

! "etting, revising, or clarifying the mission and overall direction of the organization;

! #ommunicating and building active consensus around an e$isting mission and overall

direction %among board, staff, members, etc.&;

! 'valuating e$isting programs ( activities and deciding whether to continue or modify them;

! #reating a set of concrete goals for the coming one to five years, consistent with the

mission, and within the ability of the organization to achieve, which may involve

deciding among conflicting ideas about possible goals)tasks,

generating new ideas about what to do,

evaluating e$isting programs and deciding whether to continue or modify them;

! *nalyzing a ma+or change in the environment in which you are working %could be new

challenges, or new opportunities, or both& and deciding what, if any, programmatic changesto make in response;

! ealing with a crisis in the organization %this is the worst time to undertake strategic

planning, though it is perhaps the most common time as well&.

2. Identif the A!diences

There are multiple audiences for any strategic plan, and the products of the strategic planningprocess should be linked to these audiences %see below&. *udiences might include

! "taff

! Board

! -embership %general, lessees&

! eople who might use your services %potential lessees, and, depending on your goals,

commercial tenants, gardening groups, farmers, etc.&! artners and potential partners %nonprofit and)or for/profit developers, social service

providers, financial institutions, government agencies, etc.&

! 0unders and potential funders %individuals and institutions&

! #ommunity decision/makers %government, business, neighborhood activists&

! olitical allies and potential allies %a subset of community decision/makers, advocacy

organizations both local and larger, etc.&

Tasha armon ! 2333 "' Tenino #ourt, ortland 45 23677 ! 89:/3/6::: ! tashamail

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". Identif the P#od!cts to $e Deli%e#ed

These will be linked to your goals and audience. =n most cases, there will be more than oneproduct. roducts generated in the strategic planning process might include

! * short, nicely laid out strategic plan summary for a program or the whole organization, to

be distributed to stakeholders %staff, board members, potential board members, members,

funders and potential funders, community decision/makers, etc.& (See PCLT Draft)

! * longer document, laying out the same outcome goals and information as the summary, butwith more detail on implementation, for use by staff, board, committees, etc.

! *n annual work plan, linked to the strategic plan outcomes, used to manage work and track

and report progress.

! 4utcome/based +ob descriptions for staff %and sometimes for the board and boardcommittees& linked to the annual work plan and)or the strategic plan.

! * fundraising plan, linked to the strategic plan outcomes

&. Identif the Sta'eholde#s and thei# Needs and A$ilities to Cont#i$!te

"takeholders are a subset of >*udience? %above&. They are the people whose input you want

when you are creating the plan because you want them invested in its success. ow many of

stakeholders there will be and what their roles will be will vary enormously based on yourgoals. "ome strategic planning processes are very internal to the organization and involve

little if any input beyond staff and board. 4thers are @uite e$pansive, involving many

interviews or focus groups with a wide variety of people outside the organization, andsometimes even including some outsiders on the planning team.

Aays to =dentify "takeholders

! eople who have to implement the plan are stakeholders.

! eople who you want to actively support the plan are stakeholders.

! eople whose thinking you highly value, or who have information or data you need, may or

may not be stakeholders. ou may need something from them to do the planning well, but

you may not need them to do anything to make the plan succeed, and they may not have a

vested interest in you. ecide whether to treat them as stakeholders or +ust as sources ofinformation based largely on whether you are trying to get them vested in you.

! "ome common stakeholders include staff, board members, potential board members,

members, funders and potential funders, and community decision/makers.

Cuestions to ask about the needs of, and for, stakeholders include

! oes this group)person need to be a part of the whole process, or +ust provide input at a key

point or several key pointsD

! o they need input on all of the plan, or +ust a portion most effecting themD

! o they need to be a visible part of the process in order to feel acknowledgedD

! o you need them to be a visible part of the process to add legitimacyD

Tasha armon ! 2333 "' Tenino #ourt, ortland 45 23677 ! 89:/3/6::: ! tashamail

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)hen and )h to *se a Cons!ltant fo# St#ate+ic Plannin+

Ahat to Ise #onsultants To o

1. ou can hire someone to play very specific and limited roles, i.e.

! 0acilitate a board or staff retreat

! #onsult with the e$ecutive director or board chair on how the process should be designed

! o the layout of the e$ternally/oriented lan "ummary

6. ou can hire someone to work with the organization throughout the full strategic planning

process, essentially as a pro+ect manager. =n this case they would help you

! esign the process

! #arry out the work %organize the meetings, create all the materials needed to do theprocess with input from the e$ecutive director, board chair or a team of leaders, etc.&

! Arite the final products

:. retty much anything in between.

=t can be useful to create a long/term relationship with a consultant who can play various roles

in your strategic planning over a number of years. Their learning curve will be shorter andfaster each time and you will have a good sense of what they can provide and how well you

work together.

"ome Times and 5easons to ire a #onsultant

! Ahen your staff and board are already stretched thin doing the work of the organization and

donJt have time to organize and run another process.

! Ahen all of the players are strongly vested in particular outcomes and you need a more

neutral voice to facilitate and manage the process.

! Ahen the specific skills or knowledge you want for your strategic planning process donJt

e$ist inside your organization.

! Ahen an outside perspective would be useful.

#apacity Building

* good consultant will do the tasks you have assigned them in ways that will help build the

capacity of your organization to continue that work.

! "taff and board should be learning how to do planning by participating in the process,

! ou should be left with tools and structures that make it easier to do planning and toimplement plans as you move forward

0or this to happen, your consultant must have this goal in mind, and your organization must

invest sufficient staff and board time in the process.

Tasha armon ! 2333 "' Tenino #ourt, ortland 45 23677 ! 89:/3/6::: ! tashamail