The 6th Deadly Sin of Nonprofit Strategy: “No Annual Review”

A major complaint about strategic planning is that it is not worthwhile because no one can predict the future – so why try to set a five year strategy?  People who think this way don’t understand strategy correctly.

A strategy should not attempt to tell you specifically what you will “do” during the second week of the tenth month of the third year of the strategy time frame.  That would be kind of goofy, right?  And yet, when some people hear “strategic plan,” that’s what they think.

As I said in my last blog “a strategy is a general explanation of how you are going to guide your organization’s performance into the future – from here to there.  It includes ‘themes’ the organization is going to follow, not exact detailed plans.”

But this explanation is based on certain assumptions you make.  And the strategy is also based on your understanding of your internal and external environments – as captured in your SWOTs (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats).  Therefore, an organization needs to regularly monitor its assumptions and its SWOTs for significant changes.  This needs to happen at least annually in a formal way.  And senior leaders in organizations need to be thinking about these things on a regular basis.

What if assumptions prove to be incorrect or the SWOTs change significantly?  Call a time out!  It is unlikely that there have been enough changes in the environment that you need to totally revisit your mission and vision.  You may need to adjust some of your goals.  But then you should rework your SWOTs to see if the strategy you had set still works.  If not, then make a new strategy!  A strategy is not set in stone.

The other thing to check regularly is your performance on your mission metrics.  If your strategy is not providing you with improved results, then – once again – call a time out.  Re-examine what you are doing.  If you think that you have given the strategy enough of a chance and it is not working, then you need a new strategy.

My favorite story about this is when I was doing some research on Mothers Against Drunk Driving.  The group I was studying was very clear on their metrics – they were (and are) committed to reducing the number of deaths from drunk driving crashes.  They had a strategy in place and they were following it.  But after two years the results were not what they wanted.  “What did you do?” I asked.  “We called a ‘time out’ and got everyone together to make a new strategy.  If the drunk driving death numbers are not going down as fast as we want then we need a new strategy.”  Indeed, if the strategy is not producing results then you need a new strategy.  These MADD leaders adjusted their strategy and the numbers started going down faster.  Of course an organization can only do this if it has done the hard work necessary to design those mission metrics.

No one can see into the future when developing a strategy.  And we don’t have to.  All we can do is make certain assumptions that we check regularly.

The final deadly sin will be out soon:  “Not Ambitious Enough”

For more ideas on how you can lead breakthroughs in your organization, follow this blog and check out my web site at www.SheehanNonprofitConsulting.com   You will find free resources you can download, including a Breakthrough Strategy Workbook that you can download at no cost.  You can also check out my book, Mission Impact:  Breakthrough Strategies for Nonprofits, and buy it if you are interested.  And you can follow Sheehan Nonprofit Consulting on Facebook.

The 5th Deadly Sin of Nonprofit Strategy: “Lots of Plans, No Strategy” aka “What is Strategy Anyway?”

When I ask for a copy of a strategy or a strategic plan, I usually get a lot of paper with plans and lists and budgets and – sometimes – a few vague goals.  But rarely do I see a “strategy.”

So what is a strategy anyway?  Keeping it simple, a strategy is a general explanation of how you are going to guide your organization’s performance into the future – from here to there.  Essentially it is a “performance story.”  It includes “themes” the organization is going to follow, not exact detailed plans.  A strategy is like a tune played by a jazz group; everyone knows the tune to follow even though the exact notes aren’t scripted.

The first problem I find is that most “strategic plans” don’t tell you where the organization is going.  What future are you pursuing?  What is your vision?  What are your goals?  Where are you going?  These questions are usually not answered.

Once you state the future you are heading toward, then you need to explain how you are going to get from here to there.  To do this, you need clarity on your current reality – which we usually do by assessing your SWOTs (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats).

Then it is time to create your strategy.  Ask yourself these questions:

*How are we going to leverage our strengths to help us best pursue our future?

*How are we going to fortify our weaknesses to help us best pursue our future?

*How are we going to leverage our opportunities to help us best pursue our future?

*How are we going to block our threats to help us best pursue our future?

Once you have answered these questions, themes will arise – a story will emerge.  You will begin to see which of the SWOTs will play more or less important roles in allowing you to most effectively pursue your future.  Those themes begin to help you build your strategy narrative – your story of how you are going to pursue your future for the next five years or so.

Once you have a concise strategy narrative – of no more than three to four paragraphs – then it is something you can easily share within the organization and help make sure that everyone is following the same strategy.  And what a great idea that would be!

I’ve been very simplistic here so this can be digested in a blog.  If you want to read more, I have a couple of free articles on my web site or if you are really intrigued you can send $26.10 to Amazon for a copy of my book and read about this in more detail.

The 6^th Deadly Sin is next:  How can you keep a strategy relevant?

For more ideas on how you can lead breakthroughs in your organization, follow this blog and check out my web site at www.SheehanNonprofitConsulting.com   You will find free resources you can download, including a Breakthrough Strategy Workbook that you can download at no cost.  You can also check out my book, Mission Impact:  Breakthrough Strategies for Nonprofits, and buy it if you are interested.  And you can follow Sheehan Nonprofit Consulting on Facebook.

The 4th Deadly Sin of Nonprofit Strategy: “Too Rushed”

I appreciate getting the calls, but I don’t feel like I can be helpful by the time they call.

“We have our strategic planning session scheduled for Friday afternoon, four weeks from now.  Are you available to facilitate?”

I ask a couple of questions to make sure that I am not assuming too much.  But almost always, my suspicion is confirmed – the organization has rushed through its strategy preparation and plans to rush through its strategy development process.

Rushing through Strategy Prep.  There are a number of problems with this, including the fact that the organization has usually left out the idea of seeking any input from stakeholders (see The 2^nd Deadly Sin).  But it’s much more than that.  How about taking some time to collect some environmental data that will be very helpful once you get into analyzing your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats?  An environmental scan can help uncover important data and can assure that everyone on the strategic planning committee has the same information before you get started.  This does not need to be a dissertation and you can often use easily available government data – if you don’t rush.  And involving stakeholders does not need to take forever.  But at least make sure you don’t ignore key constituencies like staff, donors, and volunteers.

Rushing through Strategy Development.  If you are developing a strategy that is going to guide you for the next five years, then I strongly recommend that you take the time to thoughtfully deliberate what the best strategy is.  I suggest setting aside at least two days for meetings.  And you can only get done that quickly if you begin with everyone in agreement on your mission metrics.  Effective decision making takes time, especially if your strategy committee is using consensus to make decisions – as most do.  And you need time to do some real brainstorming and dreaming about your future.  Inspiration cannot be rushed.  Hopefully you will have some constructive conflict that needs to be discussed and worked through.

Like many of the sins, it is easy to see how so many organizations make this mistake.  Nonprofits are trying to do much more with much less, even more so these days.  So taking the time to prep properly and then deliberate thoroughly can seem like a luxury.  Nonprofits know they need to do strategic planning – and maybe a funder is even requiring it.  But taking the time to do it right is not a luxury at all.  A new great strategy can more than help you make up for the time you invested in it.

Don’t fall prey to the temptation to cut this corner by rushing and end up with a half-baked strategy.

Deadly Sin #5 up next.

For more ideas on how you can lead breakthroughs in your organization, follow this blog and check out my web site at www.SheehanNonprofitConsulting.com   You will find free resources you can download, including a Breakthrough Strategy Workbook that you can download at no cost.  You can also check out my book, Mission Impact:  Breakthrough Strategies for Nonprofits, and buy it if you are interested.  And you can follow Sheehan Nonprofit Consulting on Facebook.