Mar-May: Effective Strategic Planning series (4Good)

Part 1: Cultivation & Organizational Development 

Wednesday, March 19, 2014 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM EDT

Strategic planning should be a means not only to produce a strategy, but also to engage and cultivate stakeholders, develop leadership, and generate new energy, commitment and consensus around mission. Its primary product is not a written plan, but strategic thinking within the organization, which is achieved through a process of planning followed by a process of implementation. A well-conceived and managed planning process can be the most effective form of organizational development.

https://4good.org/sam-frank/strategic-planning-part-1-cultivation-organizational-development

Part 2: Plan Development & Implementation 

Wednesday, April 16, 2014 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM EDT

Strategic planning has a dicey reputation for any number of reasons:

1) it often is tedious and time-consuming;
2) the issues it identifies are either obvious or not critical to the mission (or both);
3) the actions it specifies are vague and unmeasurable;
4) it is ignored once the plan is written (or the written plan is never quite finished);
5) it simply adds tasks to an already over-stretched staff;
6) it has no results visible to stakeholders;
7) it does not advance your mission.
These problems are not inherent to strategic planning; they are signs that it has been done badly. This webinar will look at how a nonprofit can infuse its mission into the daily activity of staff and board through a straightforward, rigorous, and even morale-building process. It will offer both a structure and tools for planning.

https://4good.org/sam-frank/effective-strategic-planning-part-2-plan-development-implementation

Part 3: Measure, Monitor, Report 

Wednesday, May 14, 2014 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM EDT

No matter how rewarding a planning process is in cultivating your stakeholders, focusing your board and staff, and developing your organization, and no matter how promising the goals and objectives of your plan, strategic planning cannot be successful unless it drives action. A bit of wisdom from the business world is that we manage what we measure. This webinar rounds out our strategic planning series with a look at selecting what to measure and how to use, track and report the data.

https://4good.org/sam-frank/effective-strategic-planning-part-3-measure-monitor-report