When you’re at the starting line, assume nothing.
It is notoriously difficult, particularly at the beginning of the strategic planning process, to unshackle your thinking from the ‘as is’ and reframe for the ‘to be’ with a mindset of possibility. Inferring what can and can’t be done in the future from what your organisation does today is natural, and there is a place for this within the planning process, but it’s not upfront as the first step. If this is the paradigm guiding the initial thinking, creativity is stifled. It is only with open mindedness and curiosity that we can unearth new ideas, which may be the incremental change, strategic pivot or fundamental shift we need to drive greater outcomes.
Strategic planning: Recognising change
We all know that the world changes rapidly, and so we should also accept that our previous theory of change may no longer be as relevant as it once was. Technology, people’s behaviour, the funding landscape have all likely evolved since your previous strategic plan, and it’s worthwhile interrogating these and what opportunities they present, before just assuming your role will remain the same.
So let go of sacred cows; perhaps it’s no longer most impactful for your role to be the deliverer of services as a new entrant to the sector is now doing this more effectively. Instead, can you refer your clients and instead use your subject matter expertise to be an effective advocacy organisation? Don’t get stuck in the ‘sunk cost’ of what you have already invested; great strategy embraces the power of now and looks for clarity on what decisions will help you direct your resources from this point onwards.
Taking people on the strategic planning journey
It can be incredibly difficult to centre your strategic planning process on creativity and open-mindedness, especially if you have long-term Board and staff members, who often have emotional ties to the past. Remind everyone that a new strategy is an opportunity to harness learnings from the past, but also pave a new way forward, and that no matter what form your input takes, it’s all about the ultimate impact. It can help to reassure those who are skeptical of putting everything up for grabs that the analytical phase will come later, where we can try to break the creative ideas, and examine what is really feasible from where you are today, but that starting from that mindset is robbing you of the opportunity to dream of something different.
Putting it into action:
Hold your initial session away from the workplace, either in a different physical location or online, to eliminate any visual cues that root people’s thinking in the current state. Also, any place with lots of light is great for strategic thinking.
Do not start your strategic planning process with your previous plan in hand. Yes, a reflection on how you progressed against the previous plan is necessary, but it’s very hard for people’s brains to move away from the past when the conversation begins there.
To explore some of the possibilities, create an ‘ideation’ phase (terrible consulting term for ‘idea generation’) which may involve desktop research, interviews with experts and workshops with your beneficiaries. The aim of this is to understand the current external landscape as well as the unmet needs of your stakeholders. Presenting the findings from this exploration is an inspiring way to commence your first strategic planning session, and elevates the thinking up from the current day to day operations of your organisation.
Photo by Mark König on Unsplash
Further resources, tools and information
- You can find a quick overview of creative thinking here
- You can learn more about ideation and strategy in this Forbes article
- 10 specific ideation techniques are explained here
- It’s also worth taking a look at this Harvard Business Review article about strategic planning