Planning.
Strategic planning is a management tool, period. As with any management tool, it is used for one purpose only: to help an organization do a better job - to focus its energy, to ensure that members of the organization are working toward the same goals, to assess and adjust the organization's direction in response to a changing environment. In short, strategic planning is a disciplined effort to make fundamental decisions and actions that shape and guide what an organization is, what it does, and why it does it, with a focus on the future. (Adapted from Strategic Planning in Public and Nonprofit Organizations. Bryson, John. 1995. Jossey Bass, San Francisco, CA).
My method of strategic planning is pretty straightforward and I’ve used it with enough organizations to know that it works! This is not to say that this is the only method. I have used other planning methods such as Appreciative Inquiry and Open Space Technology and would recommend them in some situations. However, in April of 2007, I was commissioned by the Provincial Advisor to Children First in BC to write a Strategic Planning Guide, and I chose to write the guide using the traditional method. The goal of producing the guide was to assist community initiatives that may not have experience in planning and to potentially establishing a common format for strategic planning for early childhood development initiatives in communities around BC. The concepts expressed in the Guide can be of use to any organization requiring information about how to conduct strategic planning. A copy of the Guide is available at http://www.bcchildrenfirst.ca/Strategic%20Planning.htm
SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Threats, Opportunities)
An important step in strategic planning is making an assessment of your current environment; both internal and external. It is from this base of knowledge that you identify your strategic goals. One efficient way of making this assessment is to conduct a SWOT exercise, where you identify your organization’s Strengths and Weaknesses (internal environment) and Opportunities and Threats (external environment). This provides key assumptions and a solid base of information with which to formulate your strategic goals and objectives.
Often a SWOT is conducted with the members of the strategic planning team. However, much richer information can be obtained by gathering information in a SWOT format from a variety of stakeholders as well as the planning group – for example, Boards of Directors, clients, funders and staff. Bringing all these people together is the ideal, but experience tells me that this is not always feasible.
An alternative to attempting to bring all stakeholders together in one room is to conduct an online SWOT. I have used this method successfully on a number of occasions and now feel confident that this service can benefit most organizations in their preparation for developing strategic plans.
How it works:
The SWOT survey is made available to you in both online and printed versions. A link to the online survey is distributed to your different groups of stakeholders by email.
The print version is most often used to gather feedback from individuals who may not have access to the internet, such as a group of parents who are involved in your programs. The results of the printed survey are collated with the online survey results and you are provided with a report that shows the feedback and provides a brief analysis of the main issues you should be considering as you move forward with your strategic plan.
Pricing:
The cost of this service will vary, depending on the level of support you require, how much of the work you or your staff can take on (e.g. entering data from printed surveys). In all cases the cost of this service will be a fraction of typical consulting fees for strategic planning.
The Benefits:
• You are able to quickly and confidentially gather information from a wide variety of stakeholders.
• You are able to compare similarities and differences between ideas expressed by different groups of stakeholders.
• You have the benefit of some analysis of your data by a consultant who is experienced and skilled in strategic planning.
Contact me for more information.