1. Step one – Getting ready.
To get ready for a strategic planning, an organization must first assess if it is ready.
While a number of issues must be addressed in assessing readiness, the determination
essentially comes down to whether they are able to devote the necessary attention to the
“big picture”. For example, if a funding crisis looms, the founder is about to depart, or the
environment is turbulent, then it does not make sense to take time out for strategic
planning at that time.
An organization that determines that it is indeed ready to begin strategic planning must
perform five tasks to pave the way for an organized process.
• Identify specific issues or choices that the planning process should address
• Clarify roles (who does what in the process)
• Create planning committees
• Develop an organizational profile
• Identify the information that must be collected to help make sound decisions.
2. Step two – Articulating Mission and Vision
A vision statement is like an introductory paragraph: it lets the reader know where the writer is going and it also shows that the writer knows where he or she is going.
Likewise, a mission statement must communicate the essence of an organization to the reader. An organization’s ability to articulate its mission indicates its focus and purposefulness. A mission statement typically describes an organization in terms of its:
- Purpose – why the organization exists and what it seeks to accomplish
- Business – the main method or activity through which the organization tries to fulfil this purpose.
- Values – the principles or beliefs that guide an organization’s members as they pursue the organization’s purpose.
Whereas the mission statement summarizes the what, how and why of an organization’s work, a vision statement presents an image of what success will look like. At the end of Step two, a draft mission statement and a draft vision statement is developed.
3. Step three – Assessing the situation
Once an organization has committed to why it exists and what it does, it must take a clear-eyed look at its current situation. Remember, that part of strategic planning, thinking, and management is an awareness of resources and an eye to the future environment, so that an organization can successfully respond to changes in the environment. Situation assessment, therefore, means obtaining current information that will highlight the critical issues that the organization faces and that its strategic plan must address. These could include a variety of primary concerns, such as funding issues, new program opportunities, changing regulations or changing needs in the client population, and so on. The point is to choose the most important issues to address. The Planning Committee should agree on more than five to ten critical issues around which to organize the strategic plan. The products of Step three include: a data base of quality information that can be used to make decisions; and a list of critical issues which demand a response from the organization – the most important issues the organization needs to deal with.
4. Step four – developing strategies, goals, and objectives
Once an organization’s mission has been affirmed and its critical issues identified, it is
time to figure out what to do about them: the broad approaches to be taken (strategies),
and the general and specific results to be sought (the goals and objectives). Strategies,
goals and objectives may come from individuals’ inspiration, group discussion, formal decision-making techniques and so on- but the bottom line is that, in the end, the leadership agrees on how to address the critical issues.
This can take considerable time and flexibility: discussions at this stage frequently will
require additional information or a revaluation of conclusions reached during the situation assessment. It is even possible that new insights will emerge which change the thrust of the mission statement. It is important that planners are not afraid to go back to an earlier step in the process and take advantage of available information to create the best possible plan. The product of Step four is an outline of the organization’s strategic directions – the general strategies, long-range goals, and specific objectives of its response to critical issues.
5. Step Five – Completing the Written Plan
The mission has been articulated, the critical issues identified, and the goals and
strategies agreed upon. This step essentially involves putting all that down on paper.
Usually one member of the Planning Committee, the executive director, or even a
planning consultant will draft a final planning document and submit it for review to all
key decision makers (usually the board and senior staff). This is also the time to consult
with senior staff to determine whether the document can be translated into operating
plans (the subsequent detailed action plans for accomplishing the goals proposed by the
strategic plan) and to ensure that the plan answers key questions about priorities and
directions in sufficient detail to serve as a guide. Revisions should be taken to answer any
important questions that are raised at this step. It would certainly be a mistake to bury
conflict at this step just to wrap up the process more quickly, because the conflict, if
serious, will inevitably undermine the potency of the strategic directions chosen by the
planning committee.
Titany answered the question on October 19, 2021 at 08:51