‘What’s the use of running if you are not on the right road?’ (German proverb)
Earlier this week I took part in an excellent course on Strategic Planning, run by CES as part of the National Performance Programme providing support and training to people who work supporting frontline organisations. Beautifully clear, the course clarified issues surrounding strategic planning, and guided us in how to lead others through the process.
Before you groan and switch off at the thought of strategic planning, just give a thought to what it actually is; a way to look at your work and focus it to give the best results for your organisation and your beneficiaries.
The problem, I think, is that traditional ways of explaining strategic planning are awash with jargon and consequently off putting. For many it is seen as a management tool that can only be understood by ‘strategists’. Of course this is not the case, and anyone can and should develop strategy. Indeed, most people do on a daily basis as part of their everyday lives.
So how do you make the world of strategic planning more accessible and understandable? You can use online guidance, or one of the excellent tools that exist to guide you through. Or you can go on the training which is developed exactly for people like us – those supporting other groups to improve their work and make themselves more efficient, effective and sustainable.
Does anyone else have any ideas or successful stories about this? We would welcome your ideas and input…
I think you are right to point to both the jargon around strategy and its reputation as an, often mysterious, skill or practice owned by high level managers are off putting.
From some research we did with Partners in Evaluation (through the Performance Hub) we came up with a few ideas for how organisations can get the most out of strategic planning, including,
Actively involve people- start off with the assumption that strategy involves the whole organisation, even if it needs to be led and managed by a small team.
Use your vision and mission – starting off by getting staff and volunteers discussing your organisation’s purpose and reason for existing can be an empowering way of opening up strategic questions, and testing out the viability and desirability of different options for the future.
Be appreciative – Appreciative approaches are a good way to reconnect individuals to the larger purpose. They stretch vision about what might be possible in the future and allow disagreements to be discussed in a more positive environment. Rather than starting off with an assumption that there are things wrong with the organisation and strategy is a way of fixing problems, appreciative inquiry begin with a focus on what the organisation does well, what it is good at and how it can build on that.
Having fun! – because of all the technical jargon and management science around strategy some organisations are put off trying out new approaches or exercises for fear of “getting it wrong”. Strategy can be a process where organisations experiment with new ways of running meetings, consulting people and making decisions that they haven’t tried before.
There’s more detail on these points in our Introduction to Strategic planning, but I’m sure there are loads more expertise on this from forum members!
Caroline
Third Sector Foresight‘What’s the use of running if you are not on the right road?’ (German proverb)
Earlier this week I took part in an excellent course on Strategic Planning, run by CES as part of the National Performance Programme providing support and training to people who work supporting frontline organisations. Beautifully clear, the course clarified issues surrounding strategic planning, and guided us in how to lead others through the process.
Before you groan and switch off at the thought of strategic planning, just give a thought to what it actually is; a way to look at your work and focus it to give the best results for your organisation and your beneficiaries.
The problem, I think, is that traditional ways of explaining strategic planning are awash with jargon and consequently off putting. For many it is seen as a management tool that can only be understood by ‘strategists’. Of course this is not the case, and anyone can and should develop strategy. Indeed, most people do on a daily basis as part of their everyday lives.
So how do you make the world of strategic planning more accessible and understandable? You can use online guidance, or one of the excellent tools that exist to guide you through. Or you can go on the training which is developed exactly for people like us – those supporting other groups to improve their work and make themselves more efficient, effective and sustainable.
Does anyone else have any ideas or successful stories about this? We would welcome your ideas and input…
Jake
I think you are right to point to both the jargon around strategy and its reputation as an, often mysterious, skill or practice owned by high level managers are off putting.
From some research we did with Partners in Evaluation (through the Performance Hub) we came up with a few ideas for how organisations can get the most out of strategic planning, including,
There’s more detail on these points in our Introduction to Strategic planning, but I’m sure there are loads more expertise on this from forum members!