Five Steps for Effective Strategic Planning
When organizational structures and systems work in concert, what seemed “impossible” becomes achievable. When a strengths-based strategic planning methodology is developed and implemented, it brings together all stakeholders’ voices to solve the organization’s most pressing challenges. Effective strategic planning should be participatory, inclusive, respectful, and multi-disciplinary. This results in changed minds, changed hearts, and changed outcomes.
Strategic planning and implementation can include groups as small as ten to as large as thousands of staff and stakeholders. Regardless of your group size, follow these steps to ensure your strategic planning gets extraordinary results:
1. Define.
Align on Core Focus & Roadmap – Identify and confirm your planning team and develop a strategy plan roadmap with applicable timeline, key tasks, deliverables, and roles. Members of the planning team must be forward thinkers, active contributors, represent a wide range of viewpoints, and commit to collaboration.
2. Discover.
Gather Data & View Points – Review documents, design, facilitate, and document strengths, opportunities, aspirations and results.
3. Dream.
Envision the Future – Create, facilitate and document your visioning workshop (vision, mission and core values).
4. Design.
Define Priorities & Goals – Draft and iterate a strategy plan document with the core planning team and build in multiple rounds of listening sessions with your broader community.
5. Deliver.
Empower Action – Finalize the strategy plan and communicate implementation launch details to all key constituents both internal staff and leaders as well as external customers and clients.
Following the steps above will create a culture built upon:
Ownership – All staff and leaders “own” the creation and implementation. Everyone will know the how, the why, and the when—so that every team member is clear on their roles in realizing the desired future.
Focus – The planning team has clarity on final decisions, implementation, monitoring, and course correction.
Alignment – A strategic plan is only effective when everyone engaged—board of directors, leadership, members and staff—contribute their strengths, wisdom, energy, and creativity. Such deep and wide ownership activates a cohesive plan, and generates positive change more quickly.
Clear Communication – Everyone across all departments must fully understand the plan’s scope, value and purpose to achieve high visibility and buy in.
When an entire organization or community is rowing in the same strategic direction, ideation and problem solving is expedited, and important initiatives are fast tracked. Every team member finds comfort in their roles, understanding that they are an integral part of the organization or community’s desired future.
If you need help facilitating your next strategic planning session to make certain that your time (and money!) is well spent, CONTACT ENSPARK TODAY. We’d love to share our proven tools and methods (Appreciative Inquiry, large-system change, graphic facilitation, brainstorming technology, etc.) that take strategic planning to new heights.