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.
Why? Consider a large group (e.g., more than 10 individuals) tasked with making final decisions related to your strategic direction. Perhaps—if they have a high level of trust and communication, and are well-informed about the organization—they may be equipped to make the best decisions for the organization’s future. But more frequently, a group of this size lacks focus. The organization ends up with a watered-down strategy that aims to please everyone, or one that reflects only the loudest voices.
That is not strategic. Your strategic plan should consider many perspectives but be determined by a few.
So how do you manage an inclusive yet decisive process? Consider these ideas.
Establish a clear decision-making group of five to eight individuals who understand your organization. This group should include board and staff leaders. You may consider adding select staff who are not on the leadership team but still influence the organization—those who have been with the organization for a long time, lead key programs, and/or are looking for opportunities to grow. (Curious about your board’s role in strategic planning? Learn more about what we’re seeing in the field and our recommendations here.)
Engage many voices early on—and be clear about how their input will shape outcomes. The best time to include a wide audience is during the discovery phase. Gather feedback and ideas from a range of staff, board, funders, program recipients, community leaders, and other stakeholders. (In addition to early engagement during the discovery process, be sure to involve all staff and stakeholders during implementation. The whole team should understand the overall vision and how it impacts their roles.)
Communicate. Strategic planning can seem like a “black box” for those not actively involved in it. You’ve probably heard feedback such as: “I took a survey a few months ago but haven’t heard anything about the plan since. What’s going on? Is the strategic plan still a priority?” Developing a strategic plan takes time—six months is not unusual, and some plans can take a year or longer—so keep your team and board updated. The planning team should update their direct reports, send all-staff update emails, set up an internal website, make the strategic plan a standing agenda item at staff meetings, etc.
Be transparent about everything—from the process, to who’s involved, to who holds ultimate authority. It is sometimes unavoidable that participants will wish for greater involvement, or feel all their ideas weren’t heard. But being consistently transparent can mitigate these issues. In the end, the team is much more likely to embrace a strategy if members feel they were treated with respect.
Should you listen to a lot of voices? Yes. It makes the plan better. But in the end, it is the job of a small number of leaders (paid and volunteer) to decide and then bring everyone along.
Learn more about Benefactor Group’s Strategic Planning services here.
