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Open up options

A good strategy process will encourage people to challenge their established ideas and to consider all the different ways the organisation might work to meet its mission over the coming years.

Looking inside your organisation and looking outside at your external environment should give you lots of information about what works and what doesn’t, about where your strengths lie, as well as potential opportunities and possible barriers.

Innovate

Sifting through and reflecting on the information you have gathered will help you to identify more creative or innovative ways of doing things.

This process of opening up options is important: it will stop you clinging to past ways of doing things and will challenge you to approach issues from different perspectives.  The views of your stakeholders – service users, supporters and partners, for example – may also bring fresh perspectives to the table. 

Motivation and confidence

This stage of the strategic planning process can be extremely motivating and exciting. Opening up your choices now will also give you greater confidence in the decisions you go on to make because of the time you will have spent exploring different options. 

Tools

There are a range of tools that you might find useful:

• Ansoff matrix: helps you explore ways to expand your work
• NCVO’s Sustainable Funding Project’s income exploration tool(PDF 415KB): pros and cons of different funding and money-making options
• how to run a stakeholder workshop (article in Achieve More magazine, issue 2): get views on different ideas and ask for new ones

 What next?

With a range of ideas on the table, you now need to prioritise and make decisions.

What are your experiences of strategic planning? Share your triumphs and tribulations with our network members or write your own tips by commenting on this page.