Operationalizing a Nonprofit Strategic Plan
In our previous blog post, 5 Common Reasons Why a Strategic Plan Never Gets Executed, we explain why they get put on the shelf and never looked at again. However, at NMBL Strategies we would much rather focus on the when the nonprofit strategic plan is well executed and successfully operationalized. To quote John “Hannibal” Smith of the A-Team we “love it when a plan comes together.” As Hannibal aptly explains - it’s not just the plan that is important, it’s the execution that ensures success. Or said another way, the teams playing in the Super Bowl don’t come out and tell everyone they’re going to Disney World before their game is played. They need to execute. They need to win the Super Bowl first. So how do you operationalize a strategic plan? The following offers some key considerations when it comes to operationalizing a nonprofit strategic plan.
Plan for Operationalizing
Valuable time, money, and resources are needed to properly operationalize a strategic plan. Make sure these are properly allocated at all levels and that every group within the nonprofit organization understand their role within the plan. Providing necessary tools to make the organization’s team successful is critical from the outset. For example, if one part of the team is anticipated to double membership over the next five years, be prepared to include budgets and staff time for mailings, speaking engagements, salons, events, etc.
One opportunity that unfortunately often gets overlooked is how to engage the Board during the process of operationalizing the plan. Their focus is obviously on their fiduciary and governance duties, as it should be, but include in each Board Member’s annual overview that will be responsible for assisting with both operationalization needs AND their fiduciary and governance duties. If your Strategic Plan identifies that you need a Finance & Endowment Policy and in turn, the CFO/Director of Finance is charged with developing it, be sure to actively engage with the Board Finance Committee or Fundraising Committee for input, insights, and referrals to develop the right policy.
Know Where You Need Help
Asking for help is not a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of self-awareness; however, it can also be one of the hardest things for which to ask. As a part of your planning process, it is good to acknowledge your own strengths and weaknesses. For example, if you are going to run a capital campaign, but have no development staff or no one who has ever run a capital campaign, engaging the right group to lead you through the process will be the difference between success and failure. Whether you identify your help from a consultant or another staff or board member, early identification means not having to backtrack. This also allows the responsible party to stay on schedule and also likely means opportunities for future collaboration and cross-training. See assistance as an opportunity, not a weakness, and you will be setting your organization up for a stronger, more collaborative future.
Develop Check Points
When setting out on a long road trip, you don’t just look at the map and say, here’s where I leave from and here’s where I’m going to, rather you plot out where you will stop for gas, eat or stay for the night on your journey. Checkpoints in operationalizing your plan work much the same way. Using the aforementioned example of doubling your membership, you might consider the following steps. An organization might look at hiring a mail house, enlisting a designer for a direct mail campaign, looking at the frequency of mailings, determining the content in each mailing, targeting the mailing audience, utilizing tracking on response and data and ultimately using that information to inform future mailings. Each step in this process is a checkpoint you should plan for and know of ahead of time. The same holds true for each step in operationalizing a strategic plan. Be honest, fair and hold yourself and your team accountable, but also recognizing the only constant is change.
Follow Up At All Levels
All levels of the organization need to keep operationalization of the strategic plan at the forefront of their work. The Board of Directors cannot simply say - strategy is our role and operations is the role of the staff. They need to hold the team accountable by regular check-ins and likely some form of a dashboard. The staff cannot say, I’m not a part of this piece of the plan, so therefore I will be disengaged with other aspects of the work. Instead, everyone needs to work as a team to seamlessly execute the best possible outcome. For example, it might be easy for the team to say membership is only part of Development/Fundraising; however, in all actuality strong programs and marketing are equally critical to membership and, thus Programs/Operations team and Marketing/Communications team need to be actively involved. Finally, engaged clients, donors, and partners are essential to a good strategic plan. Keeping them engaged and updated ensures their buy-in and acknowledgment of their value to your organization.
Whether you’re about to develop your strategic plan or have just completed it, NMBL has significant experience operationalizing Strategic Plans (including this work recently with America’s Black Holocaust Museum). Reach out today to see how we can ensure your future success.
