Planning isn’t
all it’s cracked up to be.
That doesn’t
mean don’t plan.
But let’s be
clear - a strategic plan itself will not guarantee success. When I think of the 'nomadic leader' living in a context that regularly presents new landscapes of challenge and opportunity, it's not his/her "travel plan" that will equip them for the next step. It's their ability to know what is needed to establish and adjust their plans.
It’s far too
easy to go through the motions of strategic planning and neglect critical INPUTS needed to actually achieve IMPACT. Think of it this way: just because you eat,
good health is not guaranteed. Choose
your foods wisely.
‘Garbage in-garbage
out’ as they say!
What are you “feeding” your plan?
Of the 6 INPUTS described
here, only one relates to the written plan itself. The rest determine it’s quality and potential
success. I am indebted to Nell Edgington of Social
Velocity for this blog. I am basically
revising her blog post on this topic (http://www.socialvelocity.net/2011/04/the-problem-with-strategic-planning/)
. I have added my own thoughts plus a
key ‘coaching question’ you can ask yourself about your planning processes.
What I am
writing here relates to my context of the non-profit organization. However it’s not really a leap to see how
this also applies to the business context.
Here is the ‘menu’
of inputs that make for a healthy, impactful and dynamic, strategic plan...
# 1 Discern the environment
Discern, or Discernment are not
common words in our daily vocabulary, but are very descriptive.
The global (read: Wikipedia) understanding of the term is: “a term used to describe the activity of
determining the value and quality of a certain subject or event. Typically, it
is used to describe the activity of going past the mere perception of
something, to making detailed judgments about that thing. As a virtue, a
discerning individual is considered to possess wisdom, and be
of good judgement;
especially so with regard to subject matter often overlooked by others.”
- Pray, think, look around. Get out and SEE who you want to impact, where they live etc.
- A good plan starts from an in-depth understanding of the outside community in which the non-profit operates. Whereas a bad plan is created in a vacuum among only board and/or staff who sit in a retreat and determine the future. By the way, just because someone is articulate about an issue is no guarantee they really understand it or are convicted to act! WHO HAS HAD THEIR BOOTS ON THE GROUND LATELY?
The coaching question to ask yourself/your team:
“How do we know this is the right idea”?
#2 Value Proposition
- A good plan forces the organization to articulate its value proposition, i.e. how the organization will uniquely use its resources and those it generates to create significant social value. You must clearly lay out how you plan to address the social issue your mission defines.
- Articulate values as behaviour statements. Behaviour shows what you value, so rather than mushy, feel-good, mother and apple-pie “we value...” statements, describe values by how they will be demonstrated, i.e. “We will...”
- A poor plan fails to articulate value propositions and assumes that everyone outside the organization loves what you want to do and understands its value just as much as everyone inside the organization.
The coaching question to ask yourself/your team:
“How will this entity be of
service”?
#3 Truth
First
- A good plan puts everything on the table and allows no sacred cows or pet interests. It’s all about the mission, not your place in it.
- A poor planning process only deals with the easy or non-controversial issues and leaves the difficult questions aside.
The coaching question to ask yourself/your team:
“What have we not yet said?"
#4 Disciplined
Alignment
- A good plan makes sure that the strategy for programs is aligned with the organization’s operational and financial model so that the resulting strategic plan includes programs, financing and operations in an integrated way.
- A poor plan focuses only on programs and assumes that the money will somehow follow.
The coaching question to ask yourself/your team:
“How have we connected all the dots?"
#5 A
Written Plan
- A proper strategy includes a tactical plan so that the broad goals are broken down into individual steps to get there. This allows the organization to monitor and revise the plan on an on-going basis. It drives the day-to-day activity of the organization.
- A poor strategic plan has no tactical plan or monitoring system attached to it. The most foolish and wasteful thing you can do is make a plan and not ‘check-in’ on your progress and adjust to any changing circumstances/opportunities on a regular basis.
The coaching question to ask yourself/your team:
“What and where are our goals and action steps”?
#6 Inspirational
- A good plan is inspiring and compelling to staff and potential funders. It sets forth a bold vision for the future and a specific road map for getting there. It’s the vision-story AND the plan in tandem which inspires confidence and investment.
- A poor plan is boring, maintains the status quo, and will elicit only nominal external support.
The coaching question to ask yourself/your team:
“When people hear this plan, how will it lift their
spirit and feed their commitment?”
It’s not
enough to go through the “strategy” motions. A real strategic plan is bold,
compelling, tactical, well-financed, integrated and inspiring. It gets everyone
(staff, board, funders, volunteers, clients) moving forward in a common direction
from which real change happens.
Press on;
Harv
...and if you need some help 'getting there', contact me at Visiontracks:
info@visiontracks.ca and also see my work on my website at: www.visiontracks.ca
