I was asked recently by an Executive Director of another nonprofit organization what I thought was the key to strategic planning in nonprofit organizations?
He was visiting ChildServe to learn about how we have used strategic planning to systematically expand the impact of the mission between 1992 and 2010 from 125 children with special health care needs to more than 2,000.
I pondered a minute and thought about how I could answer his question.This is what I said;
“As the CEO, you have to make Strategic Planning personal…Make the strategic plan yours…commit to it…own it… live it. If you don’t own the strategic plan, it will just sit on the shelf”.
By making it personal you will avoid the biggest complaint about strategic plans…the plan just sits on the shelf…collecting dust.
As the board chair or chief executive, fill-in the missing piece. Own the plan and change the trajectory of of your nonprofit organization and make a difference in your community!
I couldn’t agree more!
Making it personal and connecting the plan to everybody in the organization is huge. A strategic plan isn’t something that sits on a shelf collecting dust. It’s something that reflects the mission and vision of the organization, and something everybody should have in the back of their mind as they do their daily work. Small milestones are completed on the way to achieving larger goals.
It’s sad that so many employees groan when they hear about an upcoming strategic planning session – I see that happen often. If they were personally engaged with what was going on, the experience would be more positive and true progress more common.