Strategic Planning

The primary aims of any strategic planning process are, first, to develop a consensus with respect to the strategic priorities facing an organization over the three to five years ahead and, secondly, to underpin that consensus with an agreed and achievable plan that articulates the organizational and financial implications of addressing those priorities.

The paperwork - a document recording the steps to be taken with appropriate milestones and budgets - is important. But it is secondary to the basic objective of securing an informed consensus about strategic priorities and how to achieve them.

Our recommendation is that the planning process should consist of not less than three scheduled, high-level sessions comprising board and management. The first of these should focus on mission and program; the second on the organizational and financial implications of provisional decisions reached on mission and program; and the third on providing an opportunity for the board to discuss, and to ratify or amend as appropriate, a completed draft strategic plan based on the conclusions reached in the first two sessions.

This process only works if considerable supporting work is undertaken between the three sessions by an ad hoc planning group comprising board, staff and, as appropriate, consultants, and if the timetable takes this need for ancillary work outside the three high-level sessions into account. The process usually requires three to five months from inception to final board ratification of the written planning document.

It is necessary to ensure that the planning process is informed by a realistic assessment of the external environment in which an organization operates and by the views of stakeholders beyond board and staff as to the strategic issues facing the organization. This includes funders, community leaders, and the audiences and constituencies that the organization aspires to serve.

A schematic timetable for a long-range planning process is outlined below.

Week 1
Commissioning briefing

Weeks 2-4
Establishment of ad hoc planning group.
Agreement on research tasks.
Preparatory work includes:
• Solicitation of views of external constituents.
• Solicitation of views of board and staff.
• Environmental scan and research.
• Development of organizational history.
• Identification and agreement of key issues.

Week 5
First strategic planning session: mission and program.
Ancillary support work identified and conducted.

Week 8
Second strategic planning session: organizational, financial and facilities issues.
Ancillary support work identified and conducted.
Draft Strategic Plan prepared.

Week 12
Third strategic planning session: ratification of long-range plan.
On-going Monitoring of progress against plan