Frequently Asked Question in a Strategic Planning
What is strategic planning?
A process where an organization’s develops a document that guides them organization, for a specified period of time, towards achieving the organization’s mission. The Strategic plan:
- Defines the vision, mission, values and goals.
- Gives information on the issues to be addressed.
- Agrees on strategy.
- Define how the results will be monitored.
- Ask a series of questions.
- Test assumptions.
- Gather current data.
- Anticipate future environment.
- Make decisions/choices re: What is most important for success?
Who has the responsibility of writing the strategic plan?
Typically the board ensures that a strategic plan is developed for the organization. They might not be part of the drafting. A drafting team is put together in the organization. Usually led by the CEO or a very senior staff. All staff should be involved in developing the strategic plan.
How long does it take to develop a strategic plan?
About 3 months or a little more. There is no need to rush through process. It should be carefully planned and executed.
How many years should a strategic plan cover?
Three to five years.
As a nascent organization, do we need to develop a strategic plan?
Yes
How does and organization achieve its strategic goals?
This requires:
- Vision for the future.
- Strategy to get there.
- Organizational capacity to implement.
Why is strategic planning important?
Strategic planning gives you the opportunity to:
- Reconnect with vision and mission of the organization.
- Increase ownership of organization.
- Meet changing needs.
- Define success together.
- Ensure that you are all going in the same direction.
- Gives the NGO a good idea of its strength and weaknesses, and how to build on opportunities.
- Creates responsibility and accountability for both short-term and long term objectives.
- Helps the NGO to focus on what is important, and to avoid distractions.
- Helps to organization to fund raise.
What are the important components of a strategic plan?
- Environmental analysis.
- Situational or contextual analysis.
- Who you are as an organization (Vision, Mission, Values).
- Strategic Priorities.
- Objectives in support of each Strategic Priority.
- SWOT analysis.
- Theory of change.
- Funding.
- Monitoring and evaluation plan.
What are some of the action steps in a typical planning process?
- Gather relevant information: SWOT analysis/data gathering/community input.
- Review and/or update mission and vision.
- Determine best strategies to reach your mission (strategic priorities, objectives).
- Develop budget/resource plan & evaluation measures.
- Implement the plan.
- Evaluate your work and incorporate what you learned into the next plan.
How does planning usually take place?
- Board committee formed to steer process.
- Consultant can help facilitate.
- Can take 3 months or more.
- Usually includes a board retreat to make key decisions.
- Annual cycle of planning, budgeting, implementing, evaluating.
How can we make our plan a living document?
- Identify a steward or steward committee for the plan.
- Develop benchmarks or milestones to track your progress.
- Monitor your goals regularly.
- Organize board committees around strategic goals.
- Organize your meetings around strategic goals.
- Tie CEO expectations to strategic plan.
- Revisit the plan annually.
- Align all projects to the strategic goals.
Why is everybody making such a big deal out of evaluation?
Evaluation helps you:
- Know if you are effective.
- Make improvements to your programs.
- Make good decisions about allocating resources.
- Hold each other accountable.
- Market your programs.
- Attract funders who want to invest in proven strategies.
What kinds of evaluation questions should we be asking ourselves?
- What’s working?
- What’s not working?
- What did we learn?
- What changed as a result of our efforts?
- What different approaches should we consider?
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