In the BoardSource session “Financial Leadership in this Emerging Economy”, the presenter, John Griswold noted that the strategic plan used to be for 5 to 7 years, now it is for 2 to 3 years. To which a Board trustee from a grant giving foundation replied—“forget the strategic plan—I want to see strategic thinking”.
We pay attention to what the grant makers are saying is important to them. After all, they are a significant source of funds for nonprofits. So is this a trend that nonprofits should be aware of—should they abandon their strategic plans—those nearly year long processes that result in a large binder with fancy charts and graphs and goals, objectives, and action items?
While I did not get to follow up with the Trustee who made the comment, I think she was expressing a common frustration—the strategic plan in the nice binder that sits on the shelf for 5 years until it is time for the next strategic plan. And in between, the plan is not looked to for guidance or updated annually or considered until then.
The common sentiment—“you don’t plan to fail, you fail to plan” embodies the reasons behind a strategic plan. But Boards and management, who spend countless hours and dollars on a plan and then don’t continually use it, cannot say that “the plan on the shelf” is truly planning. True strategic planning does include strategic thinking. It is not a “one and done” event. It is a continual process of incorporating your plan into every Board meeting and updating and modifying your action steps as you strategically look at what is happening in the world around you.
So it is not an issue of a strategic plan OR strategic thinking, it is strategic planning AND strategic thinking.
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4 comments:
Nice post. Today, strategic plans need to be dynamic and thought about more frequently than in the past.
Recently, I asked an author to define what he meant by 'thinking strategically'. He wrote back that it is really a process and referred to an outline presented by Duggan that defines 'strategic intuition' as
1. Examples from history-having a working knowledge of what came before
2. Presence of mind-speaks of self awareness
3. Flashes of insight-which occur when one "switches off"
4. Resolve - the courage to see it through
Tonya Welch
ManagePro.com
Tonya,
Great definition of thinking strategically. Thank you!
Its a nice blog posted by you. I was seeking for this type of blog that have a fresh and interesting content.
Management Leadership
Cindy-
I like this post. Especially the idea of those time consuming "strategic plans" that never get executed and how 5-7 year planning cycles are going to 2-3 years, or even straight out the window!
I have seen one page balanced scorecard be much more effective than a "plan" as it has specific initiatives and measures of success that aren't so granular that they can't be managed. Instead, with a strategy map and a short scorecard, anyone can understand how an organizational is performing in comparison to their vision and mission.
Thanks again for highlighting this issue!
-jjs
ClearPointStrategy.com
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