Question: Our organization is going to do some strategic planning, but to tell you the truth I don't know exactly what it is. Is strategic planning the same as long-range planning? What should be included in a strategic plan?
Answer: Strategic planning is sometimes called long-range planning, but the two are not exactly the same. What makes them different has to do with the fast pace at which things change compared even to 25 years ago. Instead of a "long-range" plan with a window of 5-10 years, we are better able to address the future by forming a "strategic posture" with a 3-5 year window. Even then, a governing board should spend 75% of its time listening to clients and their needs and using that changing information to revise their Strategic Plan annually. It's not just another thing that boards do. It's the single most important job of a governing board.
The essential strategic question is, "What services shall we provide for which people in which places and in what order of priority?" The answer to this question becomes the Strategic Plan.
In the Relationship Model™, the Strategic Plan is an official board policy. It might be thought of as "Part Two" of the Board Governance Manual. It is separate in order to call attention to it as the most important policy of the board and to make it easy to hand to a client, donor or regulatory agency.
The ten components of a Strategic Plan include:
Strategic Context
A brief history of the organization and its planning process places the Strategic Plan into the historical context of the organization's life cycle.
Values
Values may be expressed in three categories:
- Personal, e.g. integrity, openness, truthfulness,
- Relational, e.g. affirmation, involvement, empowerment and
- Organizational, e.g. Bible translation, education, evangelism
The organizational values are the values that bring people into the same organization and are therefore fundamental to the Strategic Plan.
Target Groups
Target groups are the individuals and groups who are the focus of the organizational values that we share. These people groups may be expressed in national, ethnic or religious groups, as gender or age groups, in terms of physical or emotional or economic wellness, or any other designation that enables the organization to identify individuals or groups in mutually exclusive terms.
Services/Needs
Services deliver the benefits (desired outcomes) to our target groups. Services are different from programs in that services are strategic ("what" the organization does) while programs are tactical ("how" the organization delivers the services). For example, feeding the hungry is a service. Operating a food bank is a program that delivers that service.
Places
This is a geographical reference to where the services are delivered. It may be expressed in terms of countries, states, provinces or counties, cities and town, or locations in a city, depending on the scope of the organization.
Vision
This is a statement of what we envision the organization to look like 20 years hence, beyond the planning horizon. The Vision of the organization is challenging, drawing them into the future, motivating the organization's people to achieve more than they imagine is possible. Vision determines Mission, not the other way around.
Mission
The Mission is a statement of purpose, what the organization exists to accomplish. It is the organizations expression of how it intends to realize the Vision.
Priorities
Determining how resources will be allocated among competing target groups, services and places is the challenge of setting priorities. To set priorities adequately it is important to give expression to priorities in terms of target groups, services and places separately. Priorities may be expressed in the allocation of human resources, operational funding, capital assets and income.
Indicators of Results
The means by which strategic results can be measured are the indicators of results. Strategic results of services, particularly spiritual services, are always a challenge. Many organizations measure these anecdotally, numerically or not at all. Results are measured and expressed in terms of the benefits people have received, e.g. the benefits of the health care received, not how many received health care.
Strategic Goals
To measure strategic goals properly, they need to be S.M.A.R.T. (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant to the Mission and Time-limited). Strategic goals can only be set after the Indicators of Results have been identified and one year's strategic results have been measured.
GovernanceMatters.com Inc. offers guidance in the strategic planning process that will enable an organization to complete its planning concisely and comprehensively. Even better, it comes with training that enables an organization to revise its strategic plan annually without outside assistance.
Les Stahlke, President
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