Despite what we’ve been taught to believe, a strategic plan's success has nothing to do with the amount you pay to an outside consultant or the size of your organization. We’ve witnessed small scrappy nonprofits obtain massive impact with their strategic plan, and we’ve seen large, well-resourced organizations pay $150K+ for a strategic plan that even leaders in the organization don’t remember a year or two after it was introduced.
According to Harvard Business Review, between 60% - 90% of strategic plans never really launch. If these statistics overwhelm you, take heart. At their core, successful strategic plans have these five traits in common:
Collective vision. Strategic plans are successful when the vision is informed and shared by everyone in the organization, not just leadership. Strategic plans that include meaningful input from those closest to the work (often referred to as lived expertise or lived experience) are the most successful because they are informed by a deeper understanding of the issue and realistic solutions. Including lived expertise in the strategic planning process also identifies unintended consequences the strategies may have on the organization, front-line staff, resources, and the community you are working within. Including lived expertise within your strategic plan builds leadership and trust.
Aligned resources. Successful strategic plans match goals to resources. They are realistic about what they can accomplish given their time, staffing, and monetary resources. Through setting realistic objectives and prioritizing initiatives, organizations set themselves up to succeed. When organizations deliver on their promises, they garner the trust and support of funders, donors, staff, volunteers, and the community they serve.
Change management. Change management is as much about the science of technical processes and tools, such as phased implementation and project management software, as it is about the art of leadership and doing the work. This includes leadership development, coaching, and creating the safety, confidence, and motivation to work differently. A successful strategic plan will include and integrate both the science and art of change management.
An implementation plan. A successful strategic plan identifies who is responsible for what and by when, and builds a road map that links individual deliverables to the organization’s resources and the work of other team members. It also builds in and incorporates learning, training, coordination, cooperation, accountability, and communications to ensure everyone is working towards the same goals and knows how their contribution is meaningful and essential to the organization’s success.
A values decision-making rubric*. A strategic plan is a road map and guide rather than a concrete or rigid set of steps or directions. Within your strategic plan, opportunities will emerge, changes will happen, and roadblocks will occur. If a strategic plan fails to adapt to emerging conditions, this often has less to do with the strategic plan itself than it does with a lack of clear, transparent, and values-aligned decision-making. Creating and operationalizing a values decision-making rubric within your strategic plan, and training everyone involved on how to use the rubric will help streamline decision-making, focus on the most critical initiatives, uphold your organization’s values and mission, eliminate unintended consequences, protect valuable resources, and aid with change management.
At Just Possibilities, we are passionate about guiding organizations in putting their values into action at every level of their work, from strategic plans to internal policies, service delivery, community engagement, and day-to-day decision-making. We work with organizations dedicated to the social good in their values and equity-based strategic planning, organizational assessments and recommendations, values decision-making rubrics*, and leadership and change management efforts.
If you are thinking about refining your organization’s current strategic plan, beginning a new one, or building one for the first time, please reach out. Just Possibilities offers a one-hour, no-cost call that listens to your strategic planning challenges and provides tips and probing questions for getting started. You can learn more or schedule a free consultation call by visiting www.justpossibilities.com
Just Possibilities is passionate and committed to providing values-based strategic planning services to organizations with limited budgets. We strive to ensure our services are accessible, fair, and equitable to both our nonprofit partners and us. As such, we are happy to negotiate the pricing and scope of service offerings to best fit your budget and needs.
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