Why Vision Based Strategic Planning Matters
Planning is important. We are always told that, but how should organizations really be planning? There are fundraising plans, marketing plans, business plans, and more, but what we want to emphasize in this blog is the strategic plan. Often used as a buzzword by organizations and consultants alike, strategic planning is so much more than checking the boxes on some interviews and putting some ideas on the shelf. A proper strategic plan should set your strategic direction and guide your organization from top to bottom. Whatever your organization is attempting to accomplish, your strategic plan should be right there directing you. It is a guide. It should be comprehensive and instructive. While that explanation made some great and exciting points, it is abstract and probably does not capture the inner workings of how a strategic plan accomplishes all of those ideas. We believe in giving our clients more than abstract ideas and exciting buzzwords, so let’s start with understanding what a strategic plan is comprised of and how it will actually help your organization. It’s why we believe in Vision-Based Strategic Planning or Strategic Planning 2.0.
How Does a Strategic Plan Work?
A strategic plan is basically two items paired together, the overarching vision for your organization AND how to get there. If you imagine a car setting out on a road trip across the country, the strategy is the destination, and the plan is the locations/stops along the way that are required to get there. Both are useful pieces to understand, but to be successful with one component, you need the other. A great strategic plan perfectly aligns the two in order to direct an organization’s future. Allowing your mission and vision to actually guide all of your work is impactful, helpful, and impressive to outsiders looking in. Deciding you will implement a new fundraising strategy is great, but it won’t happen until you have planned for how to get there.
Key Features of a Strategic Plan
Organization Makeup
Current Offerings
Strategic Positioning - Mission, Vision, Elevator Pitch
Environment (PESTLE – Political, Environmental, Social, Technology, Legal and Economic)
Stakeholder Analysis
Marketing, Public Relations, and Brand Awareness
Sales
Operations
Leadership Challenges
Projected Financials
Risk Management
Short/Long Term Performance Measures
These features are what build out the planning process and they are driven by the strategy. By bringing these together, the planning pieces align to the strategy and ensure the success of the strategy. The plan achieves this by succinctly aligning your organization internally and externally. The strategy is developed by examining three key components of any organization…
Mission Statement: A short statement of why your organization exists and what makes it unique/special.
Vision Statement: A guide that allows an organization to align with declared goals.
Strategic Positioning: A more detailed statement of how to align your organization to successfully deliver on your mission and vision statements.
(Learn more about mission and vision statements here)
How NMBL Gets It Done
As we stated earlier and many other times in our blogs, we do strategic planning thoroughly. While many strategic plans are not worth the paper they are printed on, we focus on delivering a valuable resource. So how do we do this? We develop Vision-Based Strategic Plans. The result? A holistic plan that goes far beyond the more commonplace strategic planning process. A holistic plan is critical for accounting for your whole organization as well as adjusting to any changes that have occurred since last examining your strategic direction. After the last two years, few organizations can truly say nothing has changed. A holistic plan accounts for and examines metrics of success, competition, consumers, staff, and societal shifts (economic/political/social), industry changes, and every facet of your internal organization. Why does this matter? Let’s take a look.
Why Vision-Based?
Vision-based strategic planning is the best way to ensure that a strategic plan works as it should for your organization. A vision-based strategic plan is a plan tailored to suit your needs and effectively guide your organization toward its goals. The approach that we take pulls in detailed research from internal and external constituents to define the mission and vision for the organization, as well as planning, steps, and resources to reach goals. This process exceeds the typical strategic planning process that is oftentimes a budget-driven process or, as with many nonprofits that we have worked with, listening sessions with no clear directive. This style of strategic planning lacks value because it lacks, true understanding, direction, and a comprehensive strategic approach. Vision-based strategic planning utilizes deep listening to drive the vision and actions of the organization forward, and we feel this is critical to offer a plan that truly benefits an organization.
Maybe you have had a strategic plan done in the past. Think back to how that process went. Did your organization get value from the process? Does that plan continue to guide your actions and drive your mission? If not, it’s likely your organization isn’t deriving great value from the effort. Vision-based strategic planning is a value and goal-focused course of planning that we have applied internally, in previous experiences, and that we apply to our clients every single time. Be sure to learn more about our strategic planning insights by clicking here.
Interested in aligning your future? We want to help prepare your organization to meet its strategic goals. Download our free strategic plan prep kit here and click the button below to connect with us for a free strategic plan consultation.
