What is your strategy for building your business or nonprofit?
Are you performing to the best of your ability? If not, what’s your strategy to make the corrections and avoid these setbacks?
As leaders, we understand how to measure performance and meet goals and objectives in ourselves. We are used to calculating how to make changes and course corrections in our own lives. We do this routinely through creating a plan and executing it.
But do you know how to apply the principles of strategic planning to your organization and business? And where do you start?
Perhaps your organization or business has an outdated strategic plan, new board members, and possibly new leadership. It’s incredibly difficult for organizations to stay continuously focused on the mission, vision, values, and strategies with measurable outcomes without a plan that includes the buy-in from the leadership, staff, board, community, and customers.
In the absence of strategy, everything becomes optional.
– Ray Langlois
In the absence of strategy, the vacuum may be filled with chaos and confusion in your organization. Human resources may feel under-utilized and unfulfilled and may leave for more fulfilling work. Buy in by your board, community or customers may dissolve or at best erode over time.
This is a common problem that creeps up on organizations and businesses if they haven’t taken time to develop or execute a strategic plan.
What is holding you back from strategic planning?
Really, it does not have to be a one-off event. If you are deeply embedded in continuous improvement, you will find that cycling through strategic planning and outcome measurement is incredibly beneficial. Incorporating time into a retreat, team-building exercise, or adding it to monthly or quarterly meetings can be an easy way to accomplish planning and build a habit of staying focused on the plan itself.
Plenty of resources have been written about the strategic planning process and the one that I prefer is one I have adapted from Jim Collins, author of “Good To Great” and his later addition “Good To Great and the Social Sectors.”
Strategy should be the linchpin to all actions taken by an organization. Ask yourself the following questions:
- Does your organization have a continuous focus on its mission, vision, and values?
- How are you going to attract and retain investors? (talent, time, resources, such as funding)
- How will you continue to build capacity? (processes, human resources, revenue streams, decision-making, leadership, support)
- How will you demonstrate impact? (results, indicators, progress goals and objectives, profits)
- How will you work to strengthen the brand? (reputation, trust, recognition, values)
Develop your strategy and find your peace as a leader. Gains made in strategic planning will pay dividends downstream.
Connect with us if you have any questions. www.everyonethrives.com