The powerful, sweet benefits of strategic planning
Our family went cherry picking this weekend.
We drove to the u-pick area about an hour from our home, jumped out of the car into the dusty orchard, walked for a while to find some trees with fruit on them, and started climbing ladders to pull down the dark red fruit.
It was exciting to pick cherries…for the first few minutes.
Then the novelty wore off. The expression “low-hanging fruit” came to mind. As something we weren’t seeing. We considered how high we were willing to climb a ladder for a few cherries.
We kept going, further back into the orchard. More cherries appeared. We learned that this season had started late. Our favorite cherry from last year, Rainier, wasn’t as sweet this year yet. But another cherry variety, Coral, was at the peak of ripeness.
When all was said and done, we left the orchard with 17 pounds of cherries!
What kept us going, through an hour of cherry picking, was knowing we’d go home with a lot of cherries, and then could make jam to enjoy throughout the year as well as some baked cherry treats.
In other words, what kept us going through the challenging moments was understanding the benefits of our actions.
I thought about our cherry-picking experience as I reflected on my recent webinar presentation for several hundred nonprofit leaders on First Steps to Strategic Planning, Now. (If you are a new subscriber who joined after attending the webinar, welcome!)
Given our current moment of transition, with an increasing number of individuals vaccinated and the impact of COVID-19 abating in many areas, are nonprofit leaders now more open to strategic planning?
I was curious to find out whether participants had a strategic plan. And if not, what was holding them back?
Specifically, webinar participants weighed in on two questions:
Is your organization working off of a strategic plan?
If you are not working off of a strategic plan now, why not?
Before you continue reading, take a minute to reflect on your responses to the questions above.
Do nonprofit leaders have a strategic plan?
Here’s what we learned from the 200+ people who participated in our online poll:
Roughly one-third of respondents said that they were working off of an organizational strategic plan.
From my experience, this is a higher percentage than nonprofit organizations generally: Many larger ($1-2 million budget size and greater) organizations are working off of strategic plans, but a high percentage of medium-sized and smaller organizations are not. Note that, while not scientific, this is not a random sample – attendees were a self-selected group who shared an interest in attending a webinar on strategic planning!
The other two-thirds said that they are not working off of a strategic plan:
27% said they had a strategic plan but it does not apply to current work.
21% responded that, “We’ve never had a strategic plan.”
17% responded, “It expired.”
Why don’t organizations have a strategic plan?
28% responded that “There are other priorities.”
24% responded that, “We don’t know what to do.”
16% said, “We don’t have the time.”
11% responded that, “We don’t have the money.”
What does this all mean?
First, the responses give some detail about how the pandemic put previous plans on hold: Many organizations may have had strategic plans, but found that they were no longer relevant. And for organizations whose strategic plans expired in 2019 or 2020, they may have chosen to hold off on planning until a moment of greater stability.
Second, for those who are not working off of a strategic plan, explanations had to do with capacity: Time, money, or knowledge. Capacity is a perennial issue for nonprofits.
Your response to these questions may be similar. You may not have a current strategic plan. The reason may not be lack of interest, but rather a capacity challenge.
One way to expand capacity is to focus on benefits. When we understand why a process will benefit our organization, our team, and ourselves, we’re willing to invest the time, money, and energy to do it.
The benefits of strategic planning include clarity, alignment and focus.
Strategic planning creates clarity about why board and staff value certain approaches and initiatives
Through developing a shared vision of success, board and staff become more aligned behind individual goals
Through developing priorities and objectives together, board and staff become more invested in them and more focused on those priorities
Those benefits are powerful – and life-giving. In other words, they represent the whole enchilada – not just the cherry on top!
Try this:
With your team, discuss whether you are working off of a strategic plan, and if not, what is holding you back?
What benefits do you imagine strategic planning could bring?
Next time: Right-sizing your strategic planning.