11 Secrets of Nonprofit Excellence by Kathleen Stauffer

Author:Kathleen Stauffer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Business Expert Press
Published: 2023-05-03T00:00:00+00:00

The Four Secrets of Strategic Planning Excellence

1. KEEP IT SHORT. Mission and Vision statements should be brief, and too often they are not. No matter what, insist that the facilitator lead your team in crafting concise, clear statements that everyone in the organization can memorize. Your mission statement is your compass, your North Star—and everyone else’s, too. It’s a universal joke among nonprofits that mission statements are written, put on a shelf, and forgotten. Dry, wordy, Mission, and Vision statements won’t inspire people to make them happen.

This is one reason teams so often resist strategic planning. Genuinely busy people want to get their work done, invest their efforts in making a difference. Too many team members have been involved in plans that came to nothing. People get their hopes up, as we all did with R. Bud Whipple. Don’t disappoint them.

2. BE INCLUSIVE. Buy-in is critical because no team will buy into a plan that they’ve had no hand in writing, and we’ve already demonstrated that teams are smarter than individuals—the more diverse, the better. Include as many people as practical. Keeping in mind Scharmer’s advice, the inner condition of leadership must be such that leaders facilitate an environment for thinking big thoughts, an environment conducive to creativity, and a safe space for everyone to speak up and share. Leadership, and especially the board of directors, needs to provide the proper conditions for strategic planning work sessions to bear fruit.

3. BE DYNAMIC. Teams often find strategic planning boring precisely because it so often is done in boring fashion. Boring strategic planning work sessions lead to mediocre strategic plans. Involve the whole team, the community, participants and their families, agency leaders, and the agency’s board of directors. Whenever and wherever possible, introduce elements of fun to strategic planning. Use colorful markers. Allow people to paste things here and there and brainstorm and draw pictures and move about the room. Involve music, fun, food, and exercises that help people to get to know one another. Ensure an environment that aids in building trust so team members will feel comfortable taking brainstorming risks with one another.

4. BE FLEXIBLE. Plan for a crisis. Build “what ifs” into your process. This encourages team members to think creatively, and it trains a team to anticipate obstacles and think nimbly. “What if people with IDD stop wanting to live in group homes?” is a good example of a what-if. Where once it was unthinkable that people with IDD would want to live in their own apartments (or could do so safely!), this is the new normal for most young people with IDD graduating from high school or college. Like other young adults, independence and leaving the nest is an increasingly common expectation; yet it once was thought unattainable! What-ifs need to contain an element of something people might never expect will happen. As we all know, the unexpected happens all the time—and that’s often a good thing in the long run. In the meantime, chaos and panic

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