Last week the article was about the challenges of strategic planning. While it might have been a compelling argument for strategic planning, most nonprofits will find it hard to do. Is there an easy way to do strategic planning?
The most significant hurdle to creating a strategic plan is having the time and skills. It takes time to plan and there always seems to be something urgent that delays the planning process.
The skills need to come from the board members. Most board members lack experience with strategic planning. Some have been responsible for executing parts of a strategic plan. In frequently a few have helped create a strategic plan. Rarely has anyone lead the planning process. As a result, boards place minimal emphasis on strategic planning, so most nonprofit executives lack experience.
The limited demand for strategic planning means most consultants lack experience. They primarily provide help with operational (one to two-year budget development) planning because that is what the majority of their clients want.
The net is that strategic planning is a lot like introducing new technology to the over 60 crowd 20 years ago. They talked about it. Very few did anything. Those who did had trouble. No one was committed learning how. It was rare anyone asked for help.
So what is the solution?
The solution is to create a three to five year plan to evolve the board into being strategic. An easy first step is to create a three-year operating budget. This helps stretch the thinking. It helps the board and staff look at donations and donor recruitment with an eye to the future.
The second step is to start recruiting board members who are strategic thinkers. Running a restaurant in town for the past 15 years, qualifies the person as an operational manager. Starting a restaurant 15 years ago and having 25 in 3 states qualifies one as a strategic thinker. That person is good at visioning, planning, and execution.
Which one do you want on the board? It will be easier to recruit operations manager because he or she has more time to give. In most cases, the executive director is a good operational manager also. Why do you need another one?
The third step is to do a community and client assessment next year. Put the funds in the second year’s budget. That will allow time to find the funding. It will also allow you time to develop the list of questions for use during the assessment.
The fourth step is to begin the strategic planning process in the third year. When the plan is complete, you will have evolved the board and the staff. The funding process will be more forward looking. The budgeting process will be more visionary. There will be sufficient time to gather community support. The culture within the agency will have changed.
That is a workable do it yourself process. With the help of a good consultant, planning will take about three months instead of three years. However, it is cheaper to do it yourself. Do you and the board have the commitment to manage a three evolution? Doing it quickly and paying someone to help makes it easier to sustain the commitment.
Sometimes we work with a failing nonprofit. None of them failed because they have a flawed strategic plan. In fact, none of them has a strategic plan. They fail because they put off planning or they continued to operate from a 12 month plan (annual budget). They were so busy taking care of the immediate that the future never received sufficient attention. So, part of the initial recovery process is to create a strategic plan. We are very good at strategic planning. It is the only way we are able to lead our clients out of crisis. We are so good at strategic planning, we guarantee success.
Avoid their trap. Get your board committed to having a strategic plan. No delays. Avoid postponing until the current budget need is met or the economic crisis passes or … A good strategic plan is necessary for long-term survival.
