Strategic Planning
Yes, involving stakeholders in strategic planning is important. But not everyone is important. Oops, did I really just say that?
06 Jun 2012
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 2012
Have you ever asked, “How could someone come along and change our business?”
09 Mar 2012
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 2012
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 2012
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 2011
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 2011
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 2009
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 2008
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 2008
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 2008
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 2008
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 2008
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 2008
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 2008
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 2008