Strategic PlanningFor Chicago Milwaukee Business Managers

November 1, 2012

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What does Strategic Planning Involve?

• Deliberate reexamination of how to articulate the organization’s mission

• Collecting data about:– your organization’s strengths and weaknesses– the external environment– management’s values and facts about future opportunities and

threats

• Getting creative and concrete about the strategies that will help your organization better succeed

• Systematically reviewing all vital aspects of the business

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The Planning Phase

Leadership must:• Establish a policy for how the planning team will

make decisions• Clearly define and document decision making

authority and responsibility• Communicate!

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The Discovery Phase

Why is Data Collection Important?• Determines how to leverage your

organization's strengths• Takes advantage of opportunities• Creates a process to overcome challenges

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Structuring your Planning TeamQualities/Experience/Expertise Required

• Business/Management • Personal engagement/ownership • Commitment to the mission • Passion for growing the business• Organizational professionals• Key staff members:• Financial/Accounting• Marketing/Communications • Development

• Entrepreneurial spirit

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Structuring Your Planning Team:

Independent SchoolTeam should include: • Board Chair• Commitee Chairs• Other key board members or stakeholders• Head of School and educational leadership• Key staff members (Finance, Development, Admissions,

Marketing and Communications)• Facilitator• External sources such as external auditors and/or

independent management evaluators

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Strategic Planning Phases

Appoint a team lead to manage each phase of the process:

1. Planning

2. Data Collection/Discovery/Analysis

3. Adopting a Strategic Planning Template

4. Reporting (Findings, Recommendations and SWOT)

5. Documentation Review

6. Ongoing Assessment and Evaluation

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Sample Strategic Plan RolesPlanning TeamPlanning Team

Data CollectionTeam

Strategies should be: •Specific•Measurable•Achievable•Realistic•Time bound

Review TeamReview Team

Accountable for:- Ensuring strategies are complete and consistently documented

Accountable for:- Ensuring strategies are complete and consistently documented

Plan OwnersPlan Owners

Accountable for:- Findings- Recommendations- SWOT Analysis

Accountable for:- Findings- Recommendations- SWOT Analysis

Accountable for:- Completing a thorough analysis of how initiatives can be achieved- Ensuring that action plans are realistic- Including clear measures of success for each tracked activity - Ongoing assessment

Accountable for:- Completing a thorough analysis of how initiatives can be achieved- Ensuring that action plans are realistic- Including clear measures of success for each tracked activity - Ongoing assessment

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Reporting TeamReporting Team

Key Process Steps

1. Clarify the Problem or Opportunity

2. Outline the Process for Developing and Selecting Strategies

3. Establish Criteria for Success• The scope of each initiative or action step within the strategy

must be “SMART,” (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-bound)

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Key Process Steps (Cont’d)

4. Brainstorm, Prioritize and Select the Viable Strategies• Determine which strategies can be implemented within the

next 6-18 months

5. Articulate Clear, Measurable Action Plans and Accountability

6. Define Ways to Measure Progress and Success• Identify metrics for measurement of progress against

goals• Implement monitors and controls for each step taken to

complete the task

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What Can Go Wrong?

• Creating a vision and thinking about how to reach that vision without doing the data collection

• Leadership does not involve staff in the planning or decision making process, i.e., staff members are given implementation responsibility but not ownership opportunity

• Utilizing an inconsistent process to analyze and document action steps toward strategy achievement

• The plan’s time horizon is too long• Communicating only through e-mail

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Lack of Policies and Defined Roles and Responsibilities

May Result In:• Limited expectations• Lack of initiative and/or energy by the team• Lack of clarity around the mission and

misunderstanding of goals

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Make the Most of the Strategic Planning Process

Successful Plan Development Processes:

• Do not rely only on the Board and the Chief Executive to provide all information with which to make decisions

• Have a partnership between Board, the professional leadership team, the staff and external resources

• Select a leader who:

1) communicates clearly defined expectations 2) provides the planning team with training before execution3) appoints a facilitator to encourage dissent, debate, and questions

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Successful Strategic Plans (Cont’d)

• Are developed by owners who set their own goals and are accountable for accomplishing those goals

• Reflect a long-range mission but focus most intently on the next 12-18 months

• Are assessed and revised on a semi-annual basis to consider new information, priority changes and assessment of resources and skills to complete the necessary tasks.

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OutcomesWhat to expect from a Successful Strategic Planning Process

A plan developed with strategic and proactive teamwork results in:

• A plan that articulates your organization's unique value added

• A roadmap for what is to be done, when it is to be done, how it is to be done, and who is going to do what

• Actions that drive innovation and resilience to market conditions

• Greater leverage for the organization in achieving success

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