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Setting a strategic roadmap

publication date: Feb 1, 2018
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author/source: Roger Ali, MBA, CFRE

As an experienced leadership volunteer, I am often asked what is crucial to the success of an organization. In my opinion, well run organizations have a compelling vision, a clear mission and current strategic plan. I have been involved in developing a number of strategic plans both as a volunteer and senior staff leader and the single most important element for success is alignment with the mission and vision of the organization.

A strategic plan is essential to anchoring an organization around a set of key priorities that outlines what you do and provides a framework for how you are going to do it. Most often, the board of directors and organization's senior leadership develop a strategic plan.

A well-structured strategic planning process identifies strategies that will best enable an organization to advance its mission. The road to a great strategic planning process begins with a board of directors who understand their roles and responsibilities. Primarily in larger organizations, the role of the board during the creation of the strategic plan includes oversight of its creation and final approval. In smaller organizations, the board or sub-committee may be more heavily involved. Consistently, it should be the organization's senior leadership that executes the development of the plan, though stakeholder engagement, and presents the strategic framework to the board.

From my past leadership and volunteer experience, the strategic planning process can be categorized in the following phases:

Phase 1 - Environmental Scan: There is a lot of pre-work that can be done by staff or a consultant and/or board. This is often done through a board sub- or ad-hoc committee charged with strategic planning. It starts with a review of the environment, internal and external, and a set of key questions.

Phase 2 - SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis: The SWOT analysis is part of an organization's strategic planning process where it connects its objectives and strategies to actionable tactics. The senior leadership team and/or consultant and perhaps the board sub-committee may perform a SWOT analysis.

Phase 3 - Board and staff leadership work together on vision, mission and strategic direction using information collected in phases 1 and 2. In larger organizations, senior leadership and staff review the mission and vision of the organization and determine strategic goals to ensure they line up. This leads to further discussion and an understanding of what is to be accomplished in next three to five years.

Phase 4 - Senior leadership and staff review current plans, budgets and establish objectives and tactics to deliver on the proposed goals. Questions are asked about what has to be put in place to achieve these goals, funding needed and measurable outcomes. The CEO and leadership engage staff in the process and gets buy-in through planning and consultation.

Phase 5 - The board sub-committee receives the strategic plan and discusses the goals, objectives and risks and alignment with the organization's mission and vision. Ultimately, the board is responsible for approving the plan for use in developing operational and business plans and budgets. The strategic plan should also be communicated to key stakeholders in order to build community interest and support for the organization's programs and activities.

Once the strategic plan is put into action, it is the responsibility of senior leadership to provide regular status reports against the goals and objectives to the board. The board on a regular basis should monitor progress on activities outlining key strategies and goals against measurable outcomes. This continuous evaluation and analysis will help assess whether additional plans need to be developed to achieve the organization's long term goals, or accommodate new organization goals.

Ultimately, a strategic roadmap will help build organizational capacity, maximize resources, stay true to mission, and deliver high-quality programs and services. From my leadership experience, the process is critically important to ensure a clear, powerful direction to guide organizations for years to come.

Roger D. Ali is President and CEO of Niagara Health Foundation and Chair (volunteer) of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, Foundation for Philanthropy Canada.



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