Strategic Planning

People who aren't important for strategic planning

Yes, involving stakeholders in strategic planning is important. But not everyone is important. Oops, did I really just say that?

06 Jun 20120 Comments

Instead of a Mission Statement

What’s your mission statement? Ok, name another nonprofit and tell me theirs. What if there were an alternative to the mission statement?

16 May 20120 Comments

Where are you most vulnerable?

Have you ever asked, “How could someone come along and change our business?”

09 Mar 20120 Comments

Dreaming Big, I Mean Really Freaking Big

My new boss, Jim, started on Monday of this week. He’s a storyteller by nature, so we’re going get along very well. It’s always nice learning new things from people, but if I’ve learned anything so far from him, it’s that it’s impossible to think too big. List...

20 Jan 20120 Comments

The $20 Million Dollar Dream

Sometimes I buy a lottery ticket, usually when the jackpot is something ridiculous like $200 million. I don’t expect to win, of course, but I enjoy the fantasy. It’s entertainment (for only a buck and it puts me in a good mood). But it’s also informative – what would you d...

12 Jan 20120 Comments

12 Lessons from Client Service

In my recent job change, I find myself in the first position where I’m not answering to clients. I’m not billable by the hour. It means fewer meetings and a very different kind of work. But I’ve also had an opportunity to reflect on the work I’m leaving behind. Working for...

15 Dec 20110 Comments

Starting a New Strategic Plan

I started sharing articles about non-profit strategic planning back when the Camp Fire council started its planning process in 2008. By the end of 2009, we had a plan in place and were working toward those goals. We made a ton of progress, but since then we’ve adjusted and adapted – ...

24 May 20110 Comments

What's the point of strategic planning?

I wrote about the strategic planning journey to explain that the process itself has value. But it would be silly to go through the process and then let that strategic plan gather dust. A strategic plan is a catalyst for change. In a recent planning session, our facilitator from SCORE made a good ...

27 Jan 20090 Comments

Strategic Planning: SWOT Analysis Toolkit

One of the most hardest parts of strategic planning is getting started. It’s such a nebulous concept. What’s the deliverable? Who should be involved? Where do we start? Last year, we looked at strategic planning process and one of the first phases included a SWOT analysis. What is a S...

21 Dec 20083 Comments

4 Strategic Planning Team Exercises

In a couple of weeks, we’ll resume strategic planning. We took a break to figure out some urgent issues, and like any intimidating task we found it all too easy to put it off for much longer. I’ll be posting more about our efforts as we go. Exercise Your Optimism! Anyway, as we get st...

17 Nov 20080 Comments

Sunday Clarity: Mission, Vision, and Strategy

The business world has an astonishing talent for obfuscation, muddling, and general confusion. Language gets misused and buzzwords trump actual meaning. But that doesn’t mean words don’t have value – it simply means that we must be more careful in their choice and use. From Life...

14 Sep 20080 Comments

The Strategic Planning Glossary

In my post Planning Your Strategic Planning, I set up the process for strategic planning. It’s a long process and there will be a lot of people involved, so it’s critical that everyone is speaking the same language. We put together a glossary of terms for our planning process. Consist...

14 Sep 20080 Comments

Entrepreneur.com talks about strategy pitfalls

Some good points from Entrepreneur.com on Why Strategy Fails: As a thing, a vision, a direction, everyone in the company owns strategy. As an action, it requires specific people to carry it out within the organization. Lack of such involvement is one of the major predictors of strategy failure...

12 Jul 20080 Comments

Planning Your Strategic Planning

So you understand the point of strategic planning. You’re gearing up to actually start. This post is all about pulling it off. Our biggest obstacle at first was an undefined goal and process. The problem with doing this blind is that it’s too easy to get distracted, waste time, and ...

14 Jun 20081 Comment

Strategic Planning: The Journey Begins

I believe that strategic plans (like business plans, college educations, and road trips) have more value in the journey than in the destination. The end result of your strategic planning process might be two pages or 20 pages. It might be loaded with all kinds of optimistic goals and lofty ambiti...

31 May 20081 Comment

How to Not to do Strategic Planning

We’re knee-deep in strategic planning right now. Like many organizations, Our Camp Fire council doesn’t have a strategic plan in place to work from. We haven’t done this process before, and weren’t sure how to go about it. We just figured we needed to do it. I’d like...

12 May 20080 Comments