Five Important, Energizing Steps to Planning for 2025
Recently, we had the gratifying experience of holding a closing conversation with a strategic planning client who had completed the creation of their strategic plan.
During their engagement with The Ross Collective, they weren’t just working on strategic planning - they moved offices, dealt with personnel changes, and continued their organization's offerings. At the same time, with our support and facilitation, they found time to come together to build their vision, mission, strategies, and goals.
Now the work of strategic planning was complete. Yet the work coming out of the strategic plan had just started. Part of our process includes discussing implementation, where we talk together about systems to put in place to make the strategic plan a living document.
As we spent some time reflecting on the areas of focus for the organization, it was exciting to hear the energy and clarity expressed in the conversation. Staff and board members know what they are going to work on in the coming months and years -- and what is less of a priority. We spoke about how they would continue to check in about progress on the plan - and how they might hold their goals flexibly, making changes as new circumstances emerged.
When done right, planning conversations - whether you are building a five-year plan or a one-year plan -- support energy, alignment, and focus. And by the way, this post and the planning template is a revised version of a template we’ve shared previously. The structure of the conversation we share below can work at the end of each year.
ID: blue background, one yellow person climbing a ladder to a diving board, another yellow person about to jump into light blue water labeled “2025”.
In that spirit, below is a strategic planning process to reflect on 2024 and plan for 2025.
We have included a planning template so you can lead this process with your team - you can download a PDF version here.
This process is an abbreviated version of the strategic planning processes that The Ross Collective leads for nonprofit organizations. Depending on the time that you have for such a meeting, this can be a robust discussion, or your group can hit the highlights. Regardless, taking even a short amount of time to reflect is important to put the group in the right mindset to reflect then look forward.
A couple of things to keep in mind:
When to do this: We realize that most teams are finishing up 2024 and preparing to end the year. For most organizational teams, this is a great activity for early 2025.
Goals for the rights groups: In the spirit of participatory planning, teams should plan goals that they can execute. Boards should create Board Goals while staff teams should create Staff Goals; board and staff can come together to build goals for the whole organization, Organizational Goals.
Step 1: Get the right people at the table
As we have written before, planning must include a focus on equity.
Equity means that the people who are closest to the problem are weighing in on the solutions and systems are shifted so that those who have been outside of power move towards holding power.
Another way to say this is “Nothing about us, without us”, a rallying cry for activism among people with disabilities.
To consider as you “set the table”:
Who needs to participate in planning so that the people have the lived experience of the challenges that your organization addresses are weighing in on the solutions?
Step 2: Take stock of 2024
It is so important to deepen staff and your board’s ability to function as a team that learns from successes and challenges. This conversation helps to create a shared understanding of what worked and what did not work.
How? Take some time to reflect on the past year.
Here are questions to explore with the planning group:
What have been some key events over the past year? (Each person should share.)
What were the dynamics of the year - what was it like for us?
What did we learn from successes? What did we learn from our struggles?
What else should we keep in mind as we think about the year ahead?
How should our experience of the year and our reflections affect our actions in 2025?
Before you go to Step 3, take some time for celebration and affirmation. You may want to make a gratitude list to seal in good feelings about all that was accomplished. These items could also be revisited on a monthly or quarterly basis in the new year to ensure that they are maintained moving forward.
Step 3: Decide where to focus
Determine three to five meaningful areas to focus on in the year ahead.
Some sample areas of focus and goals created by our clients this year:
Staff Recruitment and Retention: Over the next 12 months, we will develop recommendations organization-wide to improve work-life balance.
Board Recruitment: Over the next 12 months, we will recruit three new board members to join our board who share the lived experience of the community we serve.
Visibility: In the next 12 months, all staff will complete a press training that includes agency talking points.
Step 4: Create an Action Plan
Once you have created your goals, you want to make them actionable.
Here are some questions to work through with the group:
In December 2025, what would success look like? (Example: By the end of the year, three new board members who have similar lived experience to our clients will join our board.)
What are benchmarks to accomplish each quarter?
Who are the “team leaders” who will keep track of progress?
Step 5: Set a time to revisit and adjust this plan
Before you leave the planning meeting, set a time on the calendar to check in. This might be a week or a month away.
Given the challenging times we’re in, you might not feel like holding a planning meeting. However, know that this is valuable time used to bring up the things that were the most important to you and your organization in 2024. You can use that to build on while you and your organization create goals for 2025. Again and again, we hear from our clients: even though it is sometimes hard to start, it feels good when you have done it!