Regardless of where you land on the preparation continuum – some of us prefer improvisation to planning – you’ll be more successful with a thoughtful, well-designed plan.

You can create a strategic plan yourself or hire a consultant to help. Note to consultants: If you’re building a business, the world is filled with potential clients – nonprofits, for-profits, government bodies – looking for long-range planning support.

The planning process,
step by step

A typical planning sequence is outlined below. I’ve learned and borrowed from a variety of teachers and tools; a brief list of resources is included at the end of this post.

1. Clarify calendar and goals. Why now? What do you hope to achieve? There are many good reasons to launch a planning process:

• The impending retirement of a long-time leader
• Major changes in funding
• A potential merger or partnership
• Successfully completing and closing down a signature program

If a potential client says, “Well, we’ve finished the last plan, so it’s time for new one,” push a little harder for a more thorough answer. If you’re facilitating a planning process for your own organization, the same advice applies: go deeper.

2. Assemble your planning team. 6-8 people is optimal. The best mix is a combination of staff and board, plus one or two allies who bring a productive outside perspective. The job of the planning team is to affirm the process and calendar; help design questions for surveys and interviews; conduct interviews; review the consultant’s assessment; and participate in the planning retreat.

3. Gather info from the community. Typically, this begins with a survey of your constituents. Start with your own list; partners may be willing share the online survey link. Some consultants prepare and distribute additional surveys to staff and board.

At the same time, schedule phone interviews with important stakeholders: allies, funders, partner nonprofits, major donors, government officials, program participants, etc.

When conducted by a neutral person, such as a consultant, these confidential interviews might generate different data than interviews conducted by staff or board. There are pros and cons to each approach. In my experience, we do both: the consultant and planning team members split the interview list.

Your planning process is a great engagement opportunity. If your goal is to strengthen relationships, you may want to connect stakeholders to the organization and its leaders, rather than an outside consultant who steps away at the end of the process.

4. Prepare an assessment with recommendations. The consultant reviews the survey and interview data, then prepares a summary; for my clients, typically 6-8 pages. I’ll include a list of who we interviewed and may include quotes, without attributing them to specific people. This respects confidentiality.

As part of their assessment, some consultants incorporate tools such as a SWOT analysis. (SWOT = Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats.) Use whatever tools seem appropriate, given the circumstances.

5. Planning retreat. Engage the full board, key staff, and other planning team members in a facilitated retreat: typically half-day to multi-day. Seek a nice location away from the office.

6. Write the plan based on work completed at the retreat. You might share it with the planning team before it goes to the full board. You get better implementation if client writes the plan, while the consultant provides templates and editorial support.

Bonus points: Consider adding a focus group. Invite people you phoned and/or other important voices. Use the focus group to test your ideas, either following the retreat or once you’ve prepared an early draft of the plan.

That’s it! When the stars align, this process take three to four months; six months at most.

Planning isn’t magic 

I’ve assisted organizations that created solid strategic plans and then did a poor job implementing them.

I’ve also consulted with groups that avoided any sort of formal planning process and continued to do meaningful, creative work.

While I appreciate a good plan – let’s underline all the ways that a planning process provides a great excuse for community engagement – none of this is magic. Once the plan is written, then the real work begins. 

Tools and resources

There are many excellent planning tools and templates; these are a few of my favorites.

MacMillan Matrix. Created by Dr. Ian MacMillan at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. A useful tool for helping organizations sort out where to lead, where to support others, when to partner, and when to go it alone.

A helpful rephrasing for grassroots organizations was created by the Institute for Conservation Leadership.

Matrix Map. From Nonprofit Sustainability: Making Strategic Decisions for Financial Viability by Jeanne Bell, Jan Masaoka, and Steve Zimmerman (plus Zimmerman and Bell’s follow-up book, The Sustainability Mindset: Using the Matrix Map.) A simple, elegant conceptual framework that takes into account both mission and money.

Technology of Participation. Developed by the Institute for Cultural Affairs, this suite of tools can be used for a variety of group processes, including strategic planning.

The Facilitator’s Guide to Participatory Decision-Making by Sam Kaner of Community at Work. An uber-practical handbook for any sort of collaborative group effort.