The surprising — and emotional — process of getting to the why of strategic planning

When we talk with potential clients about strategic planning, they initially sound calm and dispassionate. But it’s usually more complex than that.

In our experience, the planning process is more powerful with a clear sense of purpose.

So we push.

• What challenges are you having?

• What will be different when you create this strategic plan?

Which brings me to Willa.

Willa (not her real name), the Executive Director of a well-known regional nonprofit, started by sharing her goals for planning.

Her goals initially sounded straightforward: The pandemic, remote work, and racial reckoning had turned previous plans upside down. The needs and relevance for their work had grown – but staff members often couldn’t figure out which part of their work was most important.

There had also been a leadership transition, leading to some confusion about organizational identity.

I probed a little deeper: How does this impact you?

Willa took a deep breath. She was quiet for a minute or two.

I could feel what was about to happen and I kept quiet too.

Then Willa started sobbing.

She explained how difficult the past year had been. She was working all of the time, seven days of the week, and could not keep up with the pace of work. When she finished work, she was so drained that she had no energy for her partner or her teenage children. She had no life beyond work. The organization’s success, and her personal success, did not feel worth the price that she was paying.

Willa might be an extreme example. Or not.

Many other leaders we’ve spoken with this year echo her words and sentiments.

So much of the work of The Ross Collective is supporting organizations to find a path forward.

In Willa’s case, it wasn’t about managing burnout, although that was a part of what was going on.

It wasn’t about doing more.

We did create a strategic plan with Willa and her team. The most powerful part was naming the truth of how leadership team members were feeling and giving staff and board the opportunity to reflect on that together.

Once we did that, team members could decide how they wanted to go forward, and what they wanted their new culture to look like, which emerged in their values…and then vision, mission, and strategies. We also worked with them to create criteria to determine what they would and would not do.

Over the course of the process, morale improved and energy among the team expanded. There were still hard days and tough choices. But everyone felt a renewed connection to the work, and that they had ways of talking more honestly about those hard choices and moving forward together.

The importance in this example was not just about Willa and her feelings.

It was about the overall misalignment of the organization.

Its transition to the new, reactive strategy was without conversation. The organization was doing the work of the here and now, leading to the longer hours and resulting in burnout of the organization members.

Taking a necessary break allowed key members to assess the current state of the organization and modernize the most important elements of the work it does.

Once the strategic plan is determined, then expectations can be reset – with each other, partners, and clients. This opportunity can be invigorating, giving new energy to the mission of the organization as it brings its values back to the forefront of the work it does.

Sometimes the overwhelm builds so much that we feel like we’re treading water, unable to stick our head above it all for more than a moment. I invite you to reach out to us and let us help you through the process! We’re happy to talk through an initial call to discuss your particular situation.