When developing your strategic plan, it’s vital to gather input from diverse voices within and outside your organization. This ensures a broad perspective on the challenges and opportunities ahead.

However, make no mistake: strategy is not democratic.

While internal staff and external stakeholders play a critical role in informing the process, the responsibility for final decisions must rest with your staff and board leadership.

You’ve spent months working on an ambitious strategic plan. You set your sights high. You surveyed staff. You engaged board members. You spent countless hours making difficult decisions—weighing how different goals and activities would impact your mission. And today, you have a beautiful written plan in hand: one that outlines your goals and tasks for the next three to five years.

Strategic planning—an essential activity for any nonprofit—is an opportunity to step back from everyday work and thoughtfully review: Where are we today? Where do we aspire to go? How will we get there?